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How Trump and Harris are preparing for their first debate of 2024
Washington — Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are set to face off for the first time this week as Election Day quickly approaches — with the race upended since the last debate matchup between Trump and President Biden.
Hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the debate could be the only time Trump and Harris go head to head on the debate stage.
Tuesday’s debate follows weeks of back and forth over whether the matchup would occur — and under what terms. Though the president and former president agreed in May to participate in two presidential debates, one hosted by CNN in June and another hosted by ABC in September, the second debate was thrown into question once Mr. Biden left the race in July.
Trump suggested on multiple occasions that he would not participate at all, criticizing the network. But after Harris baited the former president, accusing him of “backpedaling” on the debate, Trump agreed to the Sept. 10 matchup, while proposing additional debates on Fox and NBC News. Harris only agreed to the ABC debate.
What we know about the debate structure so far
AP
Tuesday’s 90-minute debate, which will be moderated by ABC anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis, will take place without an audience. It’s also expected to feature two commercial breaks, when campaign staff will not be allowed to interact with the candidates, among other rules that mirror the rules at the CNN debate.
During the debate, the candidates will have two minutes to answer questions and for rebuttals, along with an extra minute for follow-ups, clarifications or responses, ABC outlined. No props or pre-written notes are permitted onstage.
The candidates will have two minutes to deliver closing statements, and Trump will deliver the final statement after winning a coin toss, ABC said. There will be no opening statements.
Candidates’ microphones will only be live when it’s their turn to speak, an issue that the two sides have been at odds over for weeks. While the Harris campaign argued that both candidates’ microphones should be on throughout the debate, Trump said his campaign agreed to the same rules regarding microphones in place for the first presidential debate. The Harris campaign ultimately agreed to have the microphones muted when a candidate isn’t speaking, although the campaign said a pool of reporters will be present and will be able to hear what a muted candidate may be trying to say.
The Harris campaign wrote in a letter to ABC obtained by CBS News that the vice president “will be fundamentally disadvantaged by this format,” while noting that the campaign accepted the terms so as not to “jeopardize the debate” from occurring.
How Donald Trump is preparing for the debate
Heading into the debate, both Trump and Harris highlighted their policy platforms on the campaign trail in battleground states throughout the country, where they remained locked in a close race with fewer than 60 days before Election Day. Trump campaigned in North Carolina and Wisconsin in recent days.
The former president has been reviewing policy positions with advisors in the lead up to the debate, sources familiar with the former president’s preparation told CBS News, though his preparations are characterized as somewhat informal and include speaking with voters and engaging with the media.
Trump told “Good Morning New Hampshire” last week that he’s “been preparing all my life for this debate.”
“So, you know, I do. I have meetings on it,” Trump added. “We talk about it, but there’s not a lot you can do.”
How Kamala Harris is preparing for the debate
Harris traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday to prepare for the presidential debate, according to campaign officials and advisers to the vice president. She is set to remain in the area until Tuesday’s debate.
The vice president and her team have used the time to go back to the drawing board on their debate strategy, a senior campaign official told CBS News, after the decision was made to keep candidates’ microphones muted during the debate when they aren’t speaking. While Harris had planned to pepper Trump with questions, her campaign has had to seek out a new approach, fearing that her ability to most effectively engage with the former president will be hampered by the microphone restrictions.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was involved in Harris’ debate preparations against former Vice President Mike Pence in 2020, praised Harris’ debate skills and intellect on Sunday, telling CNN’s “State of the Union” that “she is a very focused and disciplined leader.” But he noted that “it will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate.”
“It’s no ordinary proposition, not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining policy ideas and how they’re going to make people better off,” Buttigieg said. “It’s because he’s a master of taking any form or format that is on television and turning it into a show that is all about him.”
When and how to watch the presidential debate
The debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 10. CBS will have coverage beginning at 8 p.m. ET. Find your local CBS station here or tune into CBS News 24/7.
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TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs at same Brooklyn detention center that held R. Kelly, Sam Bankman-Fried, other high-profile inmates
A second judge refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Wednesday and he could remain in federal custody at a Brooklyn detention center until his trial for sex trafficking charges. Combs joins other high-profile inmates, such as singer R. Kelly, fallen cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, rapper Ja Rule —even Al Sharpton served a brief stint— who were held at the same federal detention center.
Notorious for its horrible conditions —inmates won a $10 million class action settlement after enduring frigid conditions during an 8-day blackout in 2019— the waterfront industrial complex, MDC Brooklyn, houses 1,200 inmates.
JOHANNES EISELE/AFP via Getty Images
Violence and corruption have long plagued the facility; U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown of the Eastern District of New York wrote the detention center had “dangerous, barbaric conditions” in a recent sentencing opinion. Two inmates were stabbed to death in recent months and several correction officers have been convicted for smuggling contraband and accepting bribes.
Combs joins a list of high-profile personalities that have landed at the MDC Brooklyn, partly because the city’s other federal detention center, MDC New York, closed in 2021, also due to horrible conditions. The disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his cell there in 2019. “Numerous and serious” instances of misconduct among corrections staff gave Epstein the opportunity to kill himself, a subsequent federal watchdog investigation found.
Kelly sued the federal detention center in 2022 for wrongly putting him on suicide watch after his sentencing. Kelly sought $100 million because he said the detention center knew he wasn’t suicidal after he was convicted in 2021 for racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which bars transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Former crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried survived on bread, water and sometimes peanut butter when he was in the MDC Brooklyn, his attorney said, because the detention center continued to serve him a “flesh diet” despite requests for vegan dishes.
Ja Rule stayed at the MDC Brooklyn for a brief time before being released after serving most of his two-year sentence for illegal gun possession. Most of his prison time was spent in a state prison in New York.
Sharpton served a 90-day sentence in 2001 and went on a hunger strike for protesting the U.S. Navy bombing of the island of Vieques, in Puerto Rico.
Combs was taken into custody on Monday and according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo told CBS News, “It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” after a first federal judge denied Combs bail on Tuesday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors who argued the hip-hop mogul, who is accused of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women, is a flight risk and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.
Agnifilo said the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
contributed to this report.
