Washington, June 15 (EFE).- The campaigns of the US president, Joe Biden, and the virtual Republican presidential candidate and former governor Donald Trump (2017-2021) have accepted the rules of the CNN network format for the first televised face-to-face before the presidential elections next November, which include muted microphones while they do not intervene and the absence of prior annotations.
The electoral debate will take place on June 27 in Atlanta and will be presented by journalists from the aforementioned network Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
The 90-minute debate will include two commercial breaks, as CNN detailed this Saturday, and campaign staff will not be able to interact with their candidate during that time.
Both candidates also agreed to appear on identical podiums, and their positions on these will be determined by flipping a coin.
Among the parameters accepted by the Biden and Trump campaigns, it is established that the microphones will be closed throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak.
Contestants will also not be allowed on stage accessories or pre-written notes, although they will receive a pen, a notebook and a bottle of water.
As in the past, moderators “will use all tools at their disposal to enforce time and ensure a civil discussion,” the network said.
To meet CNN’s requirements for debate, candidates must be eligible to be president under the Constitution and have submitted a formal declaration of candidacy to the Federal Election Commission, something Robert F. Kennedy Jr. minority candidates also meet. , Cornel West and Jill Stein.
All entrants must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to reach the 270 electoral vote threshold to win the presidency and receive at least 15% support in four national polls, making only Biden and Trump eligible to participate, and which at the moment Kennedy, the third most popular presidential candidate, does not fulfill.
Last April, the five largest television networks in the United States prepared a joint letter to ask Biden and Trump to participate in televised debates, amid speculation that this election year they would not reach an agreement to hold this traditional face-to-face debate, for decades organized by the Presidential Debates Commission and not by the networks directly, like this year.
Organizing a presidential debate in June, before the conventions of both parties, which make the candidacies official, is not common, but this primary campaign has cleared the way for Trump and Biden since the spring.
ABC will host the second and final presidential debate in September. Televised presidential debates have been part of the United States tradition in every election cycle since 1976. EFE
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