Biden and Trump agree on ground rules for their first debate next week

(NewsNation) – Ten days before the meeting, the current and former presidents of the United States reached a final agreement on the format, calendar and rules of their first debate, on June 27, in Atlanta.

CNN confirms that the campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump agreed to a set of rules that had never been used in previous debates, including no hearings, no notes, no help from aides and no interruptions from the other man.

To enforce the “no interruption” rule, CNN will mute one candidate’s microphone while the other is speaking. The hope is to avoid the chaotic scenario of the first debate of 2020 when Trump constantly interrupted and ridiculed Biden to the point where he finally said, “Will you shut up, man?”

Will the rules favor Biden?

“(Trump) is the king of interrupting people. He loves to make jokes. He loves his one-liners, his jokes,” Democratic strategist Krystal Knight said Sunday on “NewsNation Prime.” “This will benefit President Biden by giving him the opportunity to fully explain himself and fully elicit his comments… without interruption from Donald Trump,” she added.

Knight says the lack of a studio audience will also help Biden, as he won’t have to listen to Trump supporters.

“They love to pester. They love to stand up, clap and boo. I don’t think Donald Trump is as insightful as many people think he is, and so I think his downfall will obviously be that he doesn’t have energy in the room from an audience (or) helpful advisors.”

The two men will not be able to ask their advisors for help during the two commercial breaks of the 90-minute debate. The only items on the candidates’ podium will be a pad of paper, a pen and a bottle of water.

Preparation vs. campaign

Debate preparation time will be at a premium between now and June 27, as both men will be busy campaigning.

According to The New York Times, Biden’s debate preparation will be overseen by his first White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, who served in the same role in 2020.

Last week, Trump met with Senators Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and Eric Schmitt, Republican of Missouri, to review policy and other possible debate topics, multiple sources confirmed to The hill. Schmitt is a close Trump ally, while Rubio is among those being considered as a potential running mate on the Republican ticket.

Under CNN rules, debate participants must be present at the polls in enough states to give them the opportunity to obtain the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is officially on the ballot in states that have a total of 89 electoral votes. Over the weekend, CNN said that “while not impossible,” Kennedy is unlikely to qualify.

For the first time since it was formed in 1987, the Commission on Presidential Debates will not be involved in the two debates scheduled so far. Cooperation with the Commission was a condition of candidates receiving federal campaign funds, but in 2008 former President Barack Obama refused federal money and the restrictions associated with it. Since then, most leading candidates have followed suit.

The genesis of next week’s debate, and the September 10 debate to be hosted by ABC, emerged quickly early this spring. Biden released a campaign video challenging the former president to meet him for debates in June and September. Trump accepted the challenge and the debates were scheduled before the end of the day.

The history of modern debate

The modern tradition of the presidential debate began in 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon met four times. But there were 16 years until the next meeting. Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter faced off three times, and the first vice presidential debate entered the mix. Democrat Walter Mondale and Republican Bob Dole met once.

The first debate involving a major independent candidate took place in September 1980, when Republican challenger Ronald Reagan shared the stage with independent John Anderson. Incumbent President Jimmy Carter refused to participate in a three-way debate, but faced Reagan a month later.

A trio of three-way debates took place in 1992 between incumbent George HW Bush, Arkansas governor Bill Clinton, and businessman Ross Perot.

The nation overdosed on debates starting more than a year before the 2000 general election. Republican candidates met 13 times over five months in “town halls” and formal debates. The Democratic hopefuls held nine joint events. Eventual nominees Al Gore and George W. Bush held three debates, while their running mates met once.

Debate fever reached its peak more than 19 months before the 2008 election, when Republicans held 16 town halls and debates while Democrats held 19 meetings.

The Associated Press and The Hill contributed to this report