President Joe Biden won a coin toss ahead of next’s week presidential debate and chose where he will stand on the stage, instead of speaking last, when he squares off with Donald Trump.
That means Trump will now get the final word during closing statements at the first debate on CNN.
Biden and his campaign elected to stand on the right side of the stage instead of reserving a speaking slot. It’s unclear why the president viewed the speaking location as the most important decision.
CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will host the 90-minute debate from Atlanta that is set for 9pm ET on June 27. There will be no studio audience.
According to the network, there will be only two commercial breaks, and campaign staff will be blocked from interacting with Biden and Trump during that time. During the debate, microphones will be muted until their turn to speak.
Props and pre-written statements won’t be allowed on the stage, but Biden and Trump can each bring a pad of paper and a bottle of water to their podiums.
The debate is the first of two scheduled debates between them. ABC is set to host another debate on September 10, roughly two months before Election Day.
The window for qualifying for next week’s debate closed at midnight on Wednesday with both men satisfying the network’s thresholds for state ballots and polling numbers. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. failed to qualify under those guidelines, which Kennedy called “undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly” in a campaign statement.
Trump refused to debate his Republican rivals for the party’s nomination this year, and Trump and Biden have not debated against each other since the 2020 campaign.
In their final match-up in September 2020, Trump repeatedly talked over Biden and debate moderator Chris Wallace, who struggled to keep order on the stage.
“Folks, do you have any idea what this clown is doing?” Biden said at one point before he laughed out the phrase “will you shut up, man.”
Trump also refused to denounce white supremacist violence and militia groups and called on the far-right Proud Boys gang to “stand back and stand by” – which quickly turned into the group’s slogan.
Trump’s final word at the June 27 debate will give him what he falsely claimed he was denied during his hush money trial in New York. The criminally convicted former president unloaded an all-caps rant on his Truth Social against what he called “corrupt” Manhattan prosecutors who delivered closing statements in his criminal trial, which is common practice.
“WHY CAN’T THE DEFENSE GO LAST? BIG ADVANTAGE, VERY UNFAIR. WITCH HUNT,” he wrote.
