Will Biden and Trump be sitting or standing for CNN presidential debate?
The first presidential debate of 2024 between presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and President Joe Biden will be a tightly controlled affair, with both campaigns signing on to several rules and requirements. There will be no live audience, open microphones, prewritten notes or chairs.
The latter may seem an obvious inclusion, but false claims pushed by a right-leaning publication and echoed by Trump in recent weeks attempted to cast dispersion on this point, suggesting the Biden campaign wanted a seated debate.
In 2020, Biden and Trump both stood behind podiums for their two debates, conforming with what has become a hallmark element of televised U.S. presidential debates stretching back decades.
“I hear now we’re sitting at tables. I don’t want to sit at a table,” the GOP frontrunner said in a May 22 “Cats & Cosby Show” on WABC Radio. “I said, ‘No, let’s stand.’ But they want to sit at a table.”
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In CNN’s agreed-upon rules for their 90-minute debate, “both candidates agreed to appear at a uniform podium,” and a coin flip will decide their podium positions. A June 18 fact check by USA TODAY found the claim that Biden requested seating to be false, citing a spokesperson from Biden’s campaign and one from the network.
Emily Kuhn, a CNN spokesperson, told USA TODAY that the claim was “not accurate.”
“[The] proposed format was to have both candidates stand, and both sides agreed to the rules when they agreed to debate,” Kuhn said.
The false claims coincide with public discussion over presidential age limits and critiques of both Biden and Trump’s advanced ages. Biden, 81, is the oldest president in U.S. history. If Trump is elected again, he would be the second oldest in U.S. history.
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The first debate will be held on June 27, 2024, at 9 p.m. E.T. and will air live on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, and CNN Max.
Contributing: Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
Kathryn Palmer is an elections fellow for USA TODAY. Reach her at kapalmer@gannett.com and follow her on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: In CNN's Biden-Trump debate, will the candidates sit or stand?
