Recap of the first 2024 presidential debate between Biden and Trump

Asked
about
his
age,
Trump,
78,
bragged
about
his
performance
on
cognitive
tests
and
his
recent
success
on
the
golf
course.

“I
took
two
cognitive
tests.
I
aced
them,
both
of
them,”
he
said.

He
then
added,
“I’m
in
very
good
health.
I
just
won
two
club
championships.”

Trump
seemed
to
be
referring
to
the

cognitive
test
he
took
while
president
in
2018.
Rep.
Ronny
Jackson
—
who
was
Trump’s
White
House
physician
—
said
at
the
time
that
the
former
president
scored
a
perfect
30/30
the

Montreal
Cognitive
Assessment.

–
Josephine
Rozzelle

Biden
called
Trump
a
“whiner”
who
falsely
claimed
to
have
won
their
last
White
House
race
and
would
likely
do
so
again
if
he
lost
a
second
time.

“I
doubt
you’ll
accept
it
because
you’re
such
a
whiner,”
Biden
said
after
Trump
said
he
would
accept
the
outcome
of
November’s
election
if
the
results
were
legal
and
fair.

“You
can’t
stand
loss,”
Biden
added.

“Something
snapped
in
you
when
you
lost
the
last
time.”

—
Dan
Mangan

Biden,
81,
and
Trump,
78,
were
asked
to
respond
to
concerns
about
whether
they
are
too
old
to
serve
as
president
for
the
next
four
years.

They
ended
the
round
by
bickering
about
each
other’s
golf
games.

Biden
initially
quipped
that
he
was
accused
of
being
too
young
for
the
first
half
of
his
political
career,
before
touting
his
efforts
to
bring
foreign
investment
to
the
U.S.

Trump
responded
by
boasting
that
he
had
“aced”
cognitive
tests.
He
then
defended
his
physical
health
by
referring
to
his
abilities
as
a
golfer,
saying,
“You
have
to
be
able
to
hit
the
ball
along
the
way.”

Trump
claimed
Biden
“can’t
hit
a
ball
50
yards.”

Biden
shot
back,
“I’m
happy
to
play
golf
with
you
if
you
carry
your
own
bag.
Think
you
can
do
it?”

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Trump
claimed
that
the
environment
fared
the
best
under
his
administration.

“I
had
the
best
environmental
numbers
ever,”
Trump
said
“And
my
top
environmental
people
gave
me
that
statistic
just
before
I
walked
on
the
stage
actually.”

Average
U.S.
energy-related
carbon
emissions
were
in
fact
higher
during
the
first
three
years
of
Trump’s
administration
than
during
that
of
Biden’s,
according
to
April
data
from
the
independent
U.S. Energy
Information
Administration.

From
2017
to
2019,
when
Trump
was
in
office,
the
U.S.
emitted
an
average
of
5.2
billion
metric
tons
of
energy-related
CO2
emissions
versus
an
average
of
4.9
billion
metric
tons
from
2021
to
2023,
when
Biden
was
in
office.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

Biden
“has
a
cold,”
two
people
familiar
with
the
situation
told
NBC
News.

The
people
clarified
that
the
president
does
not
have
Covid-19.

Biden’s
quiet,
raspy
voice
and
occasional
coughing
has
garnered
significant
attention
throughout
the
debate.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Biden
said
Trump
has
“the
morals
of
an
alley
cat”
as
he
slammed
the
Republican
over
the
infidelity
allegations
at
the
center
of
Trump’s
criminal
hush
money
case.

Biden
blasted
Trump
for
having
“sex
with
a
porn
star
while
your
wife
was
pregnant.”
He
was
referring
to
the
claim
by
adult
star
Stormy
Daniels
that
she
had
a
one-night
stand
with
Trump
in
the
mid-2000s,
while
he
was
married
to
his
current
wife
Melania
Trump.

Trump
replied,
“‘I
did
not
have
sex
with
a
porn
star.”

A
New
York
jury
last
month
convicted
Trump
of
falsifying
business
records
related
to
a
scheme
to
silence
Daniels
from
speaking
about
the
alleged
sex
before
the
2016
presidential
election.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Biden
said,
“The
only
person
who
is
a
convicted
felon
is
the
man
I’m
looking
at
right
now,”
referring
to
Trump,
who
was
found
guilty
last
month
of
crimes
related
to
a
hush
money
payment
to
a
porn
star.

Trump
quickly
retorted,
noting
that
Biden’s
son
Hunter
also
is
a
convicted
felon,
having
recently
been
found
guilty
of
gun
crimes.

–
Dan
Mangan

Trump
and
Biden
sparred
over
abortion,
their
longest
back-and-forth
of
the
evening
so
far.

Trump
claimed
“everybody
wanted”
federal
abortion
protections
under
Roe
v.
Wade
to
be
abolished
and
for
the
issue
to
be
handed
to
individual
states.

And,
referring
to
a
quote
from
former
Virginia
Gov.
Ralph
Northam,
Trump
suggested
that
Biden
supported
allowing
abortions
up
until
the
moment
of
birth.

Biden
denied
the
claim,
saying
he
supported
the
precedent
of
Roe,
which
was
in
effect
in
the
U.S.
for
nearly
half
a
century.

Trump’s
leave-it-to-the-states
position
is
“like
saying
you’re
going
to
turn
civil
rights
back
to
the
states,”
Biden
said.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Biden
stumbled
early
in
the
debate,
losing
his
train
of
thought
at
times
and
pausing
for
a
long
moment
before
CNN
moderators
cut
him
off.

Biden
got
into
trouble
when
he
spoke
about
strengthening
the
U.S.
health
care
system.

“Making
sure
that
were
able
to
make
every
single
solitary
person
eligible
for
what
I’ve
been
able
to
do
with
the,
with
the
Covid,
excuse
me,
with
dealing
with
everything
we
have
to
do
with,
look
….”
Biden
said,
trailing
off.

“Look,
if,
we’ve
finally
beat
Medicare,”
Biden
said,
before
moderator
Jack
Tapper
said,
“Thank
you,
President
Biden.”

Trump
later
cracked,
“I
don’t
know
what
he
just
said.”

Trump’s
Truth
Social
account
quickly
posted
a
video
clip
of Biden’s
garbled
answer.
“WOW—WHAT
IS
HE
SAYING?!”
the
post
was
captioned.

–
Dan
Mangan

Trump
said
that
Biden
inherited
“an
unbelievable
situation”
from
his
administration.

Biden
entered
office
in
January
2021
in
the
throes
of
the
pandemic
when
thousands
were
dying
from
the
Covid
illness.
Americans’
daily
lives
were
massively
disrupted
by
the
nationwide
lockdown,
which
also
created
massive
economic
disruption
that
have
loomed
heavily
on
the
Biden
administration.

“I
gave
him
an
unbelievable
situation
with
all
of
the
therapeutics
and
all
of
the
things
that
we
came
up
with,”
Trump
said.
“We
gave
him
something
great.
Remember,
more
people
died
under
his
administration,
even
though
we
had
largely
fixed
it.”

At
the
time,
Trump
said
that
injecting

disinfectants
could
be
a
viable
cure
for
Covid
illness.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

The
first
question
of
the
night
was
about
the
economy,
and
it
went
to
Biden.

Asked
about
high
inflation,
Biden
blamed
Trump
for
botching
the
government’s
response
to
the
Covid-19
pandemic,
leaving
him
a
badly
damaged
economy.

Biden
said
his
administration
had
to
“try
to
put
things
back
together.”

But
“there’s
more
to
be
done,”
Biden
acknowledged.
“we’re
working
to
bring
down
the
price
around
the
kitchen
table,
and
that’s
what
we’re
going
to
get
done.”

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Biden
poked
fun
at
claims
by
Republicans
that
he’s
using
drugs
or
other
“performance
enhancers”
to
prepare
for
the
debate.

“I
don’t
know
what
they’ve
got
in
these
performance
enhancers,
but
I’m
feeling
pretty
jacked
up,”
Biden’s’s
official
X
account
tweeted,
with
a
photo
of
him
holding
a
can
with
printing
on
it
that
said,
“Get
Real,
Jack.
It’s
Just
Water.”

“Try
it
yourselves,
folks,”
the
post
added.

–
Dan
Mangan

The
trophy
that
Biden
and
Trump
are
eyeing
tonight:
voters
still
making
up
their
minds.

A
two-day

Reuters/Ipsos
poll
published
June
13
found
about
20%
of
survey
respondents
were
undecided
about
who
to
vote
for
or
whether
they
will
vote
at
all
in
November.
And
a

Quinnipiac
University
poll
released
Wednesday
found
that
16%
of
voters
are
open
to
changing
their
candidate
choice.

At
the
same
time,

multiple

polls
have
found
that
a
majority
of
respondents
said
they
planned
to
tune
into
tonight’s
debate.

Taken
together,
these
results
underscore
the
stakes
of
the
debate
in
a
near
dead-heat
presidential
race
that
will
likely
be
decided
by
tight
margins.

For
Biden
and
Trump,
it
means
threading
a
needle
to
try
to
appeal
to
voters
in
that
undecided
group,
despite
their
diverse
and
competing
concerns.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

The
nonpartisan
Commission
on
Presidential
Debates
has
sponsored
every
presidential
debate
since
1988
—
until
now.
Tonight’s
debate
came
about
rather
untraditionally.

Biden
publicly
challenged
Trump
to
a
debate
on
May
15,
saying

in
a
video,
“Make
my
day,
pal.”

By
the
end
of
the
day,
the
two
candidates
had

agreed
to
tonight’s
debate
hosted
by
CNN
and
a
Sept.
10
debate
hosted
by
ABC
News,
neither
of
which
would
have
the
involvement
of
the
commission.

Biden’s
campaign
chair
Jen
O’Malley
Dillon
sent
a
letter
to
the
commission
the
same
day,
informing
them
that
the
Democratic
incumbent
would
not
be
participating
in
the
three
CDP-planned
debates
in
September
and
October.
In
the
letter,
O’Malley
Dillon
called
the
commission’s
long-used
model
“out
of
step”
with
the
interests
of
voters.

Both

Biden’s
and
Trump’s
campaigns
took
issue
with
the
fact
that
the
commission
planned
the
first
debate
for
Sept.
16,
by
which
time
a
handful
of
states
will
have
already
begun
mailing
out
absentee
ballots.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle

Artificial
intelligence
products
ChatGPT
and
Copilot
repeated
a
debunked
claim
that
CNN
would
be
delaying
its
video
feed
of
the
presidential
debate
by
up
to
two
minutes,

NBC
News
reported.

CNN
earlier
Thursday
denied
a
verified
X
user’s
assertion
that
the
network
“will
implement
a
1-2
minute
delay
for
tonight’s
presidential
debate
instead
of
the
standard
7-second
delay.”

The
user’s
post
was
prefaced
with
the
word
“BREAKING”
in
the
style
of
a
breaking
news
report,
but
contained
no
source
or
evidence
to
back
up
the
claim.

CNN’s
official
public
relations
account
on
X
responded
directly
to
the
post:
“This
is
false.
The
debate
will
begin
live
at
9pm
ET.”

The
user’s
post
nevertheless
spread
quickly
on
social
media,
and
according
to
X’s
tally
had
racked
up
more
than
4
million
views
with
less
than
an
hour
before
the
start
of
the
debate.

NBC
asked
five
AI
chatbots
if
there
will
be
a
delay
in
the
debate
broadcast.
OpenAI’s
ChatGPT
and
Microsoft
Copilot
answered
incorrectly,
while
Meta’s
AI
and
X’s
Grok
answered
the
question
correctly.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Biden’s
campaign
will
run
ads
during
the
debate
targeting
Trump
on
issues
ranging
from
abortion
bans,
the
Jan.
6,
2021,
Capitol
riot,
and
the
Republican
challenger’s
legal
losses
in
court
cases
involving
hush
money
payments
to
a
porn
star,
sexual
assault,
and
financial
fraud.

The
first
ad,
titled
“Willow’s
Box,”
features
a
woman
named
Amanda
Zurawski,
who
the
campaign
said
nearly
died
twice
after
she
was
denied
health
care
following
her
miscarriage
in
Texas,
which
has
a
ban
on
abortions.

Trump
has
boasted
about
his
appointments
as
president
of
three
conservative
justices
to
the
Supreme
Court,
who
were
part
of
a
majority
that
voted
to
reverse
the
half-century-old
ruling
that
first
established
a
constitutional
right
to
abortion.

–
Dan
Mangan

The
Biden
campaign
said
it
set
a
new
hour-long
record
for
the
campaign
of
grassroots
fundraising
late
Thursday
afternoon,
only
to
break
it
the
following
hour.

“The
6-7
pm
hour
was
Team
Biden-Harris’
best
grassroots
fundraising
hour
of
the
campaign
–
besting
the
5-6
pm
hour
which
was
our
prior
record
hour
for
grassroots
fundraising,”
a
campaign
official
told
NBC
News.

—
Dan
Mangan

If
and
when
the
topic
of
inflation
comes
up
tonight,
expect
some
routine
finger-pointing
from
the
debaters.

Both
Biden
and
Trump
have
blamed
each
other
for
the
price
spikes
that
squeezed
consumers’
wallets
in
the
wake
of
the
pandemic.

Here
are
some

numbers
to
keep
in
mind:

• 
  1.4%:
  This
  was
  the
  consumer
  price
  index,
  a
  key
  inflation
  gauge,
  in
  January
  2021,
  when
  Biden
  took
  office.
  Biden
  has
  
  repeatedly
  
  claimed
  that
  his
  administration
  inherited
  a
  9%
  inflation
  rate,
  which
  is
  not
  true.
• 
  9.1%:
  This
  was
  the
  CPI
  in
  June
  2022
  when
  the
  post-pandemic
  inflation
  spike
  hit
  its
  peak.
  It
  was
  the
  highest
  rate
  in
  40
  years.
• 
  3.3%:
  This
  was
  the
  
  CPI
  in
  May,
  the
  most
  recent
  reading
  of
  inflation.
  Trump
  has
  claimed
  that
  he
  would
  end
  “the
  Biden
  inflation
  nightmare,”
  as
  he
  put
  it
  during
  a
  speech
  on
  June
  22,
  though
  inflation
  has
  cooled
  significantly
  from
  its
  highs
  over
  the
  course
  of
  the
  the
  Biden
  administration.
• 
  19.3%:
  This
  is
  the
  cumulative
  level
  that
  prices
  have
  increased
  in
  the
  years
  since
  Biden
  took
  office.
• 
  7.8%:
  This
  is
  the
  cumulative
  level
  that
  prices
  increased
  during
  the
  Trump
  administration.

New
inflation
metrics
come
out
tomorrow,
including
the
Personal
Consumption
Expenditures
index,
which
is
the
preferred
measure
of
the
Federal
Reserve,
which
is
in
charge
of
the
highly
important
decision
of
adjusting
interest
rates.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

It’s
June
27,
making
tonight’s
debate
the
earliest
presidential
debate
in
modern
U.S.
history
by
nearly
three
months.

Before
tonight,
the
earliest
presidential
debate
was
on
Sept.
21,
1980,
when
Ronald
Reagan
debated
John
Anderson,
who
was
running
as
an
independent,
according
to
the
Commission
on
Presidential
Debates.

Last
election
cycle,
the

first
debate
between
Biden
and
Trump
was
on
Sept.
29,
2020.
The
cycle
before
that,
Hillary
Clinton
and
Trump

first
faced
off
on
Sept.
26,
2016.

Debates
have
historically
occurred
after
candidates
receive
their
official
nominations
from
their
respective
parties.
Tonight,
Biden
and
Trump
remain
presumptive
nominees.

The

Republican
National
Convention
is
set
for
July
15-18

in
Milwaukee.
The
Democratic
National
Convention
will
take
place
in
Chicago
on
Aug.
19-22.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle

One
of
Biden’s
biggest
financial
boosters
said
he’s
hoping
to
see
what
he
describes
as
the
“real”
Trump
versus
the
“real”
Biden
in
Thursday’s
debate.

“My
hope
is
that
the
audience
and
by
extension,
the
voters
will
see
the
real
true
Trump,
as
well
as
the
real
true
Biden,”
Haim
Saban
said
in
an
email
to
CNBC.
He
did
not
respond
to
follow-up
requests
for
further
comment.

But
the
one-line
statement
does
suggest
that
Saban,
like
many
other
donors,
will
be
carefully
watching
how
the
two
perform
on
stage
as
he
tries
to
raise
money
for
Biden.

—
Brian
Schwartz

With
Melania
Trump’s
whereabouts
unknown
just
hours
before
the
debate’s
kick-off,
Biden
seized
the
opportunity
to
take
a
veiled
shot
at
Trump
over
it
on
social
media.

“The
best
part
of
the
campaign
trail
is
having
you
by
my
side,
Jilly,”
Biden
wrote
in
a
post
on
social
media
site
X,
responding
to
Dr.
Jill
Biden’s
earlier
post
about
her
readiness
to
support
her
husband
on
the
campaign
trail.

The
split
screen
of
the
Biden
family’s
unified
front
versus
the
former
First
Lady’s
noticeable
absence
from
Trump’s
campaign
events
has
been
a
theme
of
the
presidential
race
so
far.

Stephanie
Grisham,
Melania
Trump’s
former
White
House
chief
of
staff,
told
NBC
News
that
it
would
be
“very
surprising
if
she
[Melania]
didn’t
attend”
the
debate.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

Trump
said
on
Saturday
that

his
secretly
chosen
running
mate
would
join
him
at
tonight’s
debate.

But
so
far,
that’s
not
proving
to
be
much
of
a
clue.

Trump
stepped
off
his
plane
Thursday
night
accompanied
by
a
host
of
characters
who
are
not
being
vetted
as
potential
running
mates,
such
as
senior
advisors
Chris
LaCivita
and
Susie
Wiles,
as
well
as
longtime
allies
Corey
Lewandowski
and
Rep.
Matt
Gaetz,
R-Fla.

It’s
unclear
if
any
potential
running
mates
will
be
with
Trump
at
the
debate
venue
in
Atlanta,
although
several
of
them
will
be
attending
a
nearby
fundraiser
and
VIP
watch
party.

The
fundraiser
is
being
co-hosted
by
former
Georgia
Republican
Sen.
Kelly
Loeffler
and
her
husband
Jeffrey
Sprecher,
CEO
of
Intercontinental
Exchange,
according
to
an
invitation.
Tickets
for
the
event
cost
between
$10,000
and
$25,000,
with
funds
directed
to
the
Trump
47
Committee,
a
joint
fundraising
operation
that
benefits
the
Trump
campaign.

Most
of
the
people
on
Trump’s
reported
short
list
of
potential
running
mates
are
expected
to

attend
the
watch
party:
North
Dakota
Gov.
Doug
Burgum;
Republican
Sens.
Marco
Rubio,
Fla.,
and
JD
Vance,
Ohio;
as
well
as
Republican
Rep.
Elise
Stefanik.

—
Brian
Schwartz

Independent
presidential
candidate
Robert
F.
Kennedy
Jr.
is
also
participating
in
the
debate
—
sort
of.

While
Kennedy
is
easily
the
biggest
third-party
challenger
in
the
cycle,
he
did
not
meet
CNN’s

debate
qualifications,
which
require
that
eligible
candidates
must
appear
on
enough
state
ballots
that
they
could
potentially
win
270
electoral
votes.

Rather
than
sit
this
one
out,
however,
Kennedy
will
be

appearing
on
a
livestream
and
giving
his
own
real-time
answers
to
the
questions
posed
to
Trump
and
Biden.
His
“debate”
will
take
place
in
West
Hollywood,
rather
than
Atlanta,
and
will
be
moderated
by
John
Stossel.

The
“Real
Debate”
will
stream
on
X.

Elon
Musk,
the
social
media
platform’s
owner,
promoted
the
event
from
his
account
ahead
of
CNN’s
debate.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Atlanta,
where
Biden
and
Trump
meet
tonight,
has
mirrored
the
U.S.
economy’s
fragile
but
steady
postpandemic
recovery.

The
Atlanta
area

unemployment
rate
came
in
at
2.8%
in
April,
below
the
national
figure,
keeping
up
with
the
strong
national
labor
market
Biden
has
taken
credit
for.

But
Trump’s
more
lax
approach
to
business
regulation
could
appeal
to
a
city
that
is
swarming
with
entrepreneurs.

Despite
pandemic
headwinds
to
small
businesses,
Atlanta
has
had
a

startup
surge,
hitting
an
all-time
record
of

323,669
new
business
formation
filings
in
2021.
The
city
is
also
home
to
several
large
corporate
headquarters
such
as


The
Coca-Cola
Company,


United
Parcel
Service
and


Delta.

But

living
costs
are
10%
higher
in
Atlanta
than
they
are
in
the
rest
of
Georgia,
according
to
the
real
estate
database
RentCafe.

Strong
jobs
numbers
accompanied
by
inflation-boosted
costs
of
living
are
a
familiar
pair
for
Biden.
His
economic
messaging
threads
a
needle
between
celebrating
what
he
has
accomplished
and
sympathizing
with
Americans
who
work
and
still
struggle
to
make
ends
meet.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

Tonight’s
debate
between
Biden
and
Trump,

hosted
by
CNN,
will
air
live
beginning
at
9
p.m.
ET
on
CNN,
CNN
International
and
CNN
en
Español.
Major
broadcast
networks
simulcasting
the
debate
include
NBC,
ABC
and
CBS.

CNBC
will
stream
the
debate
here
live,
starting
at
9
p.m.
ET.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle

New
economic
indicators
this
week
paint
a
mixed
picture
of
the
state
of
the
economy,
one
that
will
likely
be
spun
by
both

Biden
and

Trump
tonight
to
corroborate
competing
economic
narratives.

So
far,
the
week’s
numbers
are
tepid.

Consumer
confidence
dipped
slightly
to
100.4
in
June
from
101.3
in
May,
according
to
the
latest
monthly
reading
published
Tuesday
by
the
nonprofit
research
group
The
Conference
Board.

Biden
has
repeatedly
acknowledged
that
many
Americans
do
not
feel
good
about
the
economy,
while
Trump
has
used
some
negative
economic
vibes
to
argue
for
the
superiority
of
“MAGAnomics”
over
“Bidenomics.”

The

Labor
Department
on
Thursday
reported
that
initial
jobless
claims,
a
weekly
unemployment
metric,
decreased
to
233,000
from
239,000
last
week,
which
could
bolster
Biden’s
claims
that
the

labor
market
is
strong.

However,
the
number
of
people
collecting
unemployment
benefits
continues
to
rise,
and
the
unemployment
rate
ticked
up
to
4%
in
May
for
the
first
time
since
January
2022.

The
U.S.
economy
is
also
growing
at
a
slower
pace,
according
to
a
U.S.

Bureau
of
Economic
Analysis
estimate
Thursday
of
first-quarter

gross
domestic
product,
which
came
in
at
1.4%,
the
lowest
quarterly
rate
since
the
second
quarter
of
2022.

Several
gauges
of
inflation,
likely
to
be
a
central
economic
focus
tonight,
will
be
released
Friday
morning,
including
the
personal
consumption
expenditures
index,
the
Federal
Reserve’s
preferred
inflation
data
point.

—

Rebecca
Picciotto

Trump’s
niece,
Mary
Trump,
will
be
in
Atlanta
tonight
for
the
debate,
but
she
will
not
be
in
her
uncle’s
corner.

Biden’s
campaign
announced
that
Mary
Trump,
who
has
been
a
fierce
critic
of
her
uncle,
will
be
a
guest
of
the
campaign
in
the
spin
room
after
the
debate
concludes
late
Thursday
night.

“I’m
in
Atlanta
tonight
to
remind
everyone
who
Donald
is
as
a
person
and
how
he
would
rule
as
a
president
because
the
stakes
are
far
too
high
for
us
to
get
this
wrong:
We
cannot
afford
to
allow
Donald
Trump
anywhere
near
the
levers
of
power
again,”
Mary
Trump
said
in
a
statement
provided
to
CNBC
by
the
Biden
campaign.

—
Brian
Schwartz

Several
Democratic
Party
donors
are
going
to
be
closely
watching
how
hard
Biden
punches
back
against
Trump
during
their
debate
Thursday
night,
according
to
people
familiar
with
the
matter.

These
donors,
some
of
whom
were
granted
anonymity
to
speak
freely,
acknowledge
that
if
Biden
can
land
some
verbal
blows
against
Trump,
they’ll
have
an
easier
time
raising
money
for
him.

“All
of
us
want
Biden
to
come
out
swinging
and
swinging
hard”
against
Trump,
said
Charles
Myers,
a
former
vice
chairman
at
Evercore
and
a
Biden
bundler,
about
the
expectations
from
party
donors.

If
Biden
struggles
to
fight
back
and
respond
to
the
often
rowdy
Trump,
money
could
be
hard
to
come
by.

“Democrats
and
donors
are
fired
up
about
this
election.
They
know
what’s
at
stake.
Biden’s
performance
will
not
change
that
unless
he
bombs
tonight,
which
is
highly
unlikely,”
Myers
added.

—
Brian
Schwartz

Biden’s
campaign
is
releasing
a
new
video
featuring
criticism
of
Trump
by
several
former
Trump
aides.

The
video
includes
Trump’s
vice
president,
Mike
Pence,
saying
earlier
this
year,
“I
cannot
in
good
conscience
endorse
Donald
Trump.” 

John
Bolton,
who
served
as
Trump’s
national
security
advisor,
is
shown
in
the
video
saying,
“Xi
Jinping
and
Vladimir
Putin,
Kim
Jong
Un,
they’re
fully
prepared
to
take
advantage
of
him.”

Trump
defense
secretary
Mark
Esper
calls
him
a
“threat
to
democracy”
in
the
video.

—
Dan
Mangan

While
opinion
polls,
especially
those
for
national
presidential
contests,
are
imperfect
measures
of
where
an
election
stands,
numerous
recent
surveys
have
offered
the
same
assessment:
The
race
is
tight.

The
New
York
Times’
average

polling
tracker
currently
shows
Biden
and
Trump
are
virtually
tied,
46%
to
45%,
respectively.

FiveThirtyEight’s
tracker
is
even
narrower,
showing
Trump
with
just
a
0.2-point
average
lead
in
the
polls
over
Biden,
41.1%
to
40.9%.

But
when
it
comes
to
which
candidate
is
more
likely
to
prevail
in
the
debate,
more
voters
say
they
have
higher
expectations
for
Trump,
according
to
recent
polls
by

Ipsos
and

New
York
Times/Siena
College.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Major
stock
indexes

closed
slightly
higher
in
the
hours
before
the
debate,
and
on
the
eve
of
new
inflation
data
that
could
affect
the
Federal
Reserve’s
decision
on
whether
to
adjust
interest
rates.

The
upcoming
report
on
May’s
core
personal
consumption
expenditures
index
could
show
that
Biden-era
inflation
woes,
which
are
declining
but
still
persistent,
are
continuing
to
cool.
That
in
turn
could
boost
traders’
hopes
that
the
Fed
will
be
more
likely
to
lower
rates
later
in
the
year.

While
the
economy
has
skirted
fears
of
a
postpandemic
recession
and
the
stock
market
has

performed
well
under
Biden
overall,
the
Democratic
incumbent
has
struggled
to
make
his
case
to
voters,
whose
economic
attitudes
remain
broadly
negative.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Trump
in
a
Truth
Social
post
shared
debate
“talking
points”
suggestions
on
the
climate
that
he
received
from
former
Environmental
Protection
Agency
administrator
Andrew
Wheeler.

Wheeler,
among
other
things,
told
Trump
to
argue
that
during
his
presidential
administration,
“CO2
emissions
went
down,”
and
that
“Biden
just
increased
the
energy
costs
for
everyone.”

Biden
campaign
rapid
response
director
Ammar
Moussa
promptly
posted
the
advice
on
social
media
platform
X,
and
wrote,
“Thanks
I
guess.”

—
Dan
Mangan

Thanks
to
Biden’s
lack
of
Democratic
primary
challengers
and
Trump’s
decision

not
to
participate
in
the

Republican
primary
debates,
tonight
marks
the
first
time
either
candidate
has
debated
since
they

faced
each
other
nearly
four
years
ago,
on
Oct.
23,
2020.

The
lapse
is
unusual
for
presidential
candidates,
at
least
one
of
whom
typically
debates
in
their
party’s
primary.
Whether
the
lack
of
practice
will
leave
Biden
or
Trump
rusty
in
tonight’s
debate
remains
to
be
seen.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle

The
candidates’
microphones
will
be
muted
tonight
unless
it
is
their
turn
to
speak,
a
new
rule
likely
prompted
by
the

persistent
interruptions
that
defined
Biden
and
Trump’s
last
faceoff
during
the
2020
campaign.

Lights
in
the
candidates’
field
of
view
will
turn
yellow
when
they
have
15
seconds
left
to
speak
and
flash
red
when
they
are
down
to
their
last
five
seconds,
CNN

explained
in
a
video
Wednesday.
The
displays
will
turn
solid
red
when
a
candidate’s
time
is
up,
at
which
point
their
microphone
will
be
muted
and
the
other’s
turned
on.

Biden
and
Trump
will
know
when
their
microphones
are
muted
thanks
to
lights
on
each
of
their
lecterns.
When
the
lights
are
green,
the
microphone
is
on.
When
the
lights
are
off,
their
microphone
is
muted.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle

Will
she
or
won’t
she?

With
less
than
five
hours
before
the
candidates
face
off,
it
is
still
not
clear
whether
Melania
Trump
will
be
in
Atlanta
for
the
debate
between
her
husband
Donald
Trump
and
Joe
Biden.

The
former
first
lady
has
been
conspicuously
absent
from
Trump’s
side
on
the
campaign
trail
and
at
the
New
York
criminal
hush
money
trial,
where
he
was
convicted
last
month
of
crimes
related
to
paying
off
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels.

—
Dan
Mangan

Biden
and
Trump
have
debated
before,
but
their
first
faceoff
of
the
2024
election
cycle
is
bound
to
look
very
different.

That
is
due
to
the

rules
put
in
place
by
CNN,
which
is
hosting
the
debate
after
both
candidates
sidestepped
the
Commission
on
Presidential
Debates,
the
traditional
organizer
of
the
events.

Among
CNN’s
biggest
changes:
There
will
be
no
live
audience,
and
candidates’
microphones
will
be
muted
until
it
is
their
turn
to
speak.

In
another
break
from
tradition,
CNN
is
allowing
two
commercial
breaks
during
the
debate.
Campaign
staff
are
forbidden
from
interacting
with
their
candidate
during
those
times.

Trump
and
Biden
will
be
standing
at
lecterns
eight
feet
apart
during
the
90-minute
debate
in
Atlanta.
Biden
won
a
coin
flip
to
choose
his
lectern
position,
though
in
doing
so
he
allowed
Trump
to
get
the
final
word
of
the
night.

There
will
be
closing
statements
but
no
opening
statements.
Candidates
will
have
two
minutes
to
answer
questions,
and
one
minute
for
responses
or
rebuttals.

The
moderators
—
CNN
anchors
Jake
Tapper
and
Dana
Bash
—
will
have
discretion
to
allow
additional
time
for
follow-ups.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

Trump
will
debate
Biden
while
his
speech
is

restricted
by
gag
orders
in
multiple
civil
and
criminal
cases
against
him.

Judge
Juan
Merchan
recently
lifted
part,
but
not
all,
of
the
gag
order
on
Trump
in
his
criminal
hush
money
case
in
Manhattan
Supreme
Court.

Trump,
who
was
convicted
on
34
felony
counts
in
that
trial,
is
now
free
to
speak
about
witnesses
and
the
jury.
But
he
is
still
barred
from discussing
lawyers
and
staff
for
the
Manhattan
district
attorney’s
office
and
the
court,
plus
any
of
their
family
members.

At
least
two
other
gag
orders
on
Trump
still
appear
to
be
in
effect:
one
from
his
New
York
civil
business
fraud
trial,
and
one
from
his
federal
election
interference
case
in
Washington,
D.C.,
federal
court.

The
gag
order
from
the
civil
fraud
trial
barred
Trump
from
speaking
about
court
personnel.
It
was
imposed
after
Trump
repeatedly
verbally
attacked
the
judge’s
principal
law
clerk.

In
the
D.C.
case,
Judge
Tanya
Chutkan
restricted
public
statements
about
likely
witnesses,
court
staff
and
related
legal
counsel,
including
the
lead
prosecutor,
Special
Counsel
Jack
Smith.
A
federal
appeals
court
later
narrowed
that
gag
order,
allowing
Trump
to
speak
about
Smith.

—

Kevin
Breuninger

The
White
House
Correspondents’
Association
complained
about
the
exclusion
of
the
White
House
travel
pool
of
journalists
from
being
in
the
studio
during
the
debate.

“WHCA
is
deeply
concerned
that
CNN
has
rejected
our
repeated
requests
to
include
the
White
House
travel
pool
inside
the
studio,”
the
group
said
in
a
statement,
which
noted
it
had
asked
for
access
for
at
least
one
print
pool
reporter.

The
group
said
the
“White
House
pool
has
a
duty
to
document,
report
and
witness
the
president’s
events
and
his
movements
on
behalf
of
the
American
people.”

—
Dan
Mangan

CNN

announced
last
week
that
Biden
and
Trump
were
the
only
presidential
candidates
who
met
its
qualification
requirements,
solidifying
tonight’s
head-to-head
debate.

To
earn
a
spot
tonight,
presidential
hopefuls
had
to
cross

two
key
thresholds
by
June
20:

• Candidates
  had
  to
  appear
  on
  enough
  state
  ballots
  to
  reach
  270
  electoral
  votes.
• Candidates
  had
  to
  receive
  at
  least
  15%
  support
  in
  four
  national
  polls
  that
  met
  CNN’s
  standards.

Independent
Robert
F.
Kennedy
Jr.

failed
to
meet
those
requirements,
reaching
15%
in
just
three
surveys
and
gaining
ballot
access
in
only
10
states,
according
to
an
NBC
News
analysis.

—
Josephine
Rozzelle