The first presidential debate between President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will focus on a number of topics, including the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Court and the racial reckoning in the country, the debate commission announced today.
The first presidential debate, slated for September 29 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, will be broken into six 15-minutes segments.
The commission said that the topics are subject to change based on “news developments,” but the six segments will be “The Trump and Biden Records,” “The Supreme Court,” “Covid-19,” “The Economy,” “Race and Violence in our Cities” and “The Integrity of the Election”.
Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate the first debate.
Both Trump and Biden are preparing for the presidential debates in their own way.
Trump said this month that he prepares for the debates “everyday” by “just doing what I am doing.”
“I’ve been all over the place, and I watch this guy sitting home, and I think, maybe I’m doing it wrong,” Trump told Fox News.
Biden has said that he is “looking forward” to debating Trump and “holding him accountable.”
“I know how to handle bullies — we’ll find out,” Biden said as a fundraiser this month. “I hope I don’t get baited into getting into a brawl with this guy. It’s going to be hard because I predict he’s going to be shouting.”
The candidates will also field questions about the Supreme Court days after Trump is set to announce his nominee to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday.
Biden has made criticism of Trump’s response to the coronavirus — which has now killed 200,000 Americans — a central focus of his campaign. T
rump, meanwhile, has defended his response to the virus while focusing on violence and destruction that has accompanied some demonstrations against racial injustice that have taken place across the country in recent months.
The subsequent presidential debates will take place on Oct. 15 and Oct. 22. Vice President Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) will meet for the vice presidential debate on Oct. 7.