President Joe Biden (Left), Donald Trump (Center), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. by Gage Skidmore / Flickr (Right)
CV NEWS FEED // One week before the first 2024 presidential debate, CNN confirmed that President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off head-to-head.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has not met the criteria to qualify for the June 27 debate in Atlanta, Georgia.
CNN also noted that due to the results of a coin flip which Biden won, Trump will have the debate’s “last word.”
“The debate qualification window closed at 12:00:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, with Biden and Trump meeting the constitutional, ballot qualification and polling thresholds set by the network,” CNN reported:
According to parameters set by CNN in May, all participating debaters had to appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency and receive at least 15% in four separate national polls of registered or likely voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting.
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Biden and Trump were the only candidates to meet those requirements.
>> BIDEN, TRUMP AGREE TO TWO DEBATES <<
National Review explained that Kennedy “needed to earn at least 15 percent support in four nationwide polls” in order to qualify for the debate.
“By Thursday, he sat just above the 15 percent mark on three approved national polls,” National Review continued:
CNN also required all participating debaters to get on a sufficient number of state ballots in order to reach 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. Currently, Kennedy only has 89 electoral votes for being present on the ballot in six states — California, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Utah
On Thursday, USA Today noted that the independent candidate “filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission [FEC] in May.”
In the complaint, Kennedy claimed that CNN and the campaigns of the two major party candidates collectively “engaged in flagrant violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act.”
He alleged: “The violations occurred when … CNN colluded with the Biden Committee and the Trump Committee to schedule and did schedule a debate with criteria that were designed to result in the selection of certain pre-chosen participants, namely Biden and Trump.”
>> POLL: TRUMP UP 18 POINTS IN IOWA <<
CNN also announced Thursday that “Trump will get the final word” at the debate “after a coin flip to determine podium placement and the order of closing statements.”
“The coin landed on the Biden campaign’s pick — tails — which meant his campaign got to choose whether it wanted to select the president’s podium position or the order of closing statements,” CNN went on:
Biden’s campaign chose to select the right podium position, which means the Democratic president will be on the right side of television viewers’ screens and his Republican rival will be on viewers’ left.
Trump’s campaign then chose for the former president to deliver the last closing statement, which means Biden will go first at the conclusion of the debate.
This past weekend, the campaigns of both candidates agreed to rules for the Atlanta debate – some of which were markedly different from the rules of presidential debates in the recent past.
CNN indicated that “the June 27 clash will have no studio audience,” a fact it called a “key departure from the two Biden-Trump debates of 2020.”
“The debate will include two commercial breaks … and campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time,” CNN added:
Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
While no props or pre-written notes will be allowed on the stage, candidates will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
Political commentator Chris Cillizza wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that of the four major announced debate rules, three serve as an advantage to Biden while one will likely work in Trump’s favor.
“Surprised Trump team agreed to these rules honestly,” Cillizza wrote.
