# June 2024 United States presidential debate

The June 2024 United States presidential debate was a presidential debate held by CNN on June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of the 2024 United States presidential debates before the presidential election.

## Background
### Agreement

In April 2024, ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, and Fox News prepared a letter to the presidential campaigns of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, after concerns that the Biden campaign would fault the Commission on Presidential Debates for failing to enforce its rules against Trump and over uncertainty regarding Trump's presence; Trump did not appear at a scheduled debate in November 2020 and did not appear in debates for the Republican primaries. The five networks issued their statement with the Associated Press, C-SPAN, NewsNation, NPR, PBS NewsHour, USA Today, and Noticias Univision. On May 15, Biden and Trump agreed to two debates, the first on June 27 with CNN and the second on September 10 with ABC News. The arraignment forwent the involvement of the Commission on Presidential Debates, a non-profit corporation that had arraigned debates for every presidential election since 1988.
Though Trump told Scripps News he would have no objection to independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s appearance in the debate, the Biden campaign wrote in a memo that Kennedy should be excluded. As part of the requirements, the Kennedy campaign needed to garner at least fifteen percent support in four approved polls by June 20 and appear on a sufficient number of ballots to be capable of winning the election; the Kennedy campaign's strategy of delaying appearances on ballots to prevent legal challenges from mounting conflicted with CNN's requirements. On May 29, Kennedy filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that the Biden and Trump campaigns colluded to prevent him from appearing at the debate.
Debate rules written by CNN allocated two minutes for answering the question posed by the moderators, Dana Bash and Jake Tapper, and one minute for rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals. Notably, CNN implemented muted microphones, attempting to avoid the first 2020 debate in which Trump repeatedly interrupted Biden. Audience members were not invited.

### Preparations

The Biden campaign hired Ron Klain, Biden's former chief of staff, to assist him in debating Trump; Klain helped Biden during the 2020 presidential debates. White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed collected material on policy contrasts with Trump.
According to political advisor Marc Lotter, Trump "views his rallies as debate prep" and engaged with limited debate preparation, though he acknowledged that he acted egregiously interrupting Biden in the first 2020 debate and prepared more than he had done in 2020. The Trump campaign did not appoint a Biden stand-in for Trump to debate. At a rally in Racine, Wisconsin, Trump suggested Biden would be a formidable opponent, alleging Biden would be on cocaine and that the moderators would assist him; Trump issued a similar claim in 2016 against Hillary Clinton and 2020 against Biden. Speaker of the house Mike Johnson told CNN's Kaitlan Collins that the claim Biden would take drugs prior to the debate was unfounded, but reserved he could take energy drinks.

## Debate
### Broadcast

The debate began at 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on June 27, 2024. It was broadcast on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN Max, CNN's website, and CNN's YouTube channel. CNN simulcast its broadcast with networks and news organization, allowing the debate to appear on PBS, The Washington Post's website, C-SPAN, Fox News, ABC News, NBC News, and The New York Times's website. Biden and Trump did not shake hands upon taking the stage.

### Course of the debate

Moderator Jake Tapper began the debate with inflation figures. Biden responded quickly, attributing the economy to Trump's presidency. Trump rebutted by claiming he built the "greatest economy in the history of our country" before the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump claimed that Biden supported the job growth of illegal immigrants, defending his ten percent tariff, and criticized the 2020–2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. He argued that Biden began his term with successes from the Trump presidency, but chose to implement negative reform.

### Rhetoric and presentation

During the debate, Biden faltered in his appearance, speaking with a hoarse voice and failing to recall statistics and express his opinion at moments. He appeared on CNN's broadcast next to Trump with an agape and silent expression. According to a campaign source who spoke to The Wall Street Journal, Biden contracted a cold; he coughed in the beginning of the debate. During a question about abortion, a strength for Democrats, Biden discussed immigration, a weakness for Democrats. He criticized Trump's character several times. The Wall Street Journal listed five instances of Biden stumbling, including referring to COVID-19 as Medicare in "We finally beat Medicare" and failing to establish a position on border security.
Trump drew a contrast to his performance in the first 2020 debate, in which he repeatedly interrupted Biden, but he progressively engaged in hyperbole as the debate progressed, referring to Biden as a "Manchurian candidate". Trump espoused several erroneous remarks, including claiming that every legal scholar supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade (1973).

## Responses and analysis
### Biden's response

At a Waffle House in Atlanta, Biden said it is "hard to debate a liar". According to an advisor, Biden will debate against Trump on ABC News in September.
Following the debate, Biden held a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Trump won the state by one percentage point in 2020.

### Trump's response

Following the debate, Trump held a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, where Biden won by six percentage points in 2020.

### Kennedy's response

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared at an event he staged in Los Angeles entitled "The Real Debate"; a live audience was present. Moderated by libertarian host John Stossel and livestreamed on X, Kennedy answered the questions posed by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. He criticized CNN for excluding him in the debate—claiming that the network promoted COVID-19 lockdowns and that his omission allowed Biden and Trump to espouse their beliefs on "forever wars and out-of-control spending". Kennedy advocated for the availability of abortion, the Trump wall, altering NATO's objective to promote peace, and non-interventionism within the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Stossel imposed the same time limitation as Bash and Tapper. Following Trump and Biden's debate, Kennedy told NewsNation's Elizabeth Vargas that voters are "tired of choosing the lesser of two evils" and appeared on Fox & Friends to criticize the debate as a "sad story for democracy".

### Democratic response

Vice president and Biden's running mate Kamala Harris defended Biden's performance but said he had a "slow start".
In text messages and on social media, leading Democrats expressed concern for Biden's performance. Maria Shriver, posted a tribute to Biden on X. Former senator Claire McCaskill said Biden's performance was "hard and heartbreaking". Civil rights leader Al Sharpton said that the debate would not be "easily forgotten."
Considerations for Biden to withdraw his candidacy emerged among Democratic operatives and donors. Two Democratic politicians who spoke to NBC News proposed discussing Biden's withdrawal. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang wrote on X that the Democrats should "nominate someone else". The Democratic National Committee charter includes provisions to establish a process to anoint a nominee if the current nominee is incapacitated or resigns, but provides no system for a nominee who refuses to withdraw from the election; interim committee chair Donna Brazile considered invoking the clause in 2016 to remove Hillary Clinton. The committee intends to nominate Biden prior to the Democratic National Convention in August in order to prevent Ohio Republicans from omitting Biden from the general election ballot.
Biden was defended by Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, senator John Fetterman—whose debate performance against television host Mehmet Oz was poorly received, and Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman and representative Joyce Beatty. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries and former House minority leader Nancy Pelosi rejected claims that Biden should resign.

### Republican response

Former representative Adam Kinzinger said Democrats should "make a decision about what is their strongest hand" to defeat Trump.

### Media coverage

The New York Times declared Trump the winner of the debate.
The editorial boards of The New York Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution released articles stating Biden should withdraw his nomination. The Washington Post's editorial board said Biden should consider withdrawing, canceling his plans in the days following the debate to reach a conclusion. Editorials by economist Paul Krugman, political commentator Thomas Friedman, and journalists Nicholas Kristof, Jonathan Alter, and David Ignatius urged Biden to end his candidacy. MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, who hosts Morning Joe, issued similar sentiments; according to Axios, Biden watches Morning Joe frequently. Comedy Central's Jon Stewart and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow acknowledged Biden's weaknesses in presenting his message.

### International response

Chinese journalist and former Global Times editor Hu Xijin said the debate was "very entertaining for many Chinese people". The debate was a trending topic on microblogging website Weibo, where users noted Biden's age. Trump's tie was compared to the red scarves worn by young communist revolutionaries; Trump has been referred to as a "nation-builder" in China for ostensibly allowing China to ascend in global affairs. Israeli newspaper Haaretz and British tabloid The Sun criticized Biden's performance, a statement made by German politician Norbert Röttgen and former British ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch.