BIDEN and TRUMP face off at first debate as oldest people in history to ever contest for US Presidency

Thursday, June 27, 2024 - Democratic Presidential candidate and US president Joe Biden and his Republican party challenger, Donald Trump, will square off on Thursday night, June 27 at a highly anticipated debate, offering voters a rare side-by-side look at the two oldest candidates ever to seek the country's highest office.

The 90-minute televised debate, the first between a sitting president and a former president, will air at 9 p.m. ET (0100 GMT on Friday) on CNN and might have a record breaking viewership given that a record 84 million watched Trump's first debate in 2016 against Hillary Clinton.

The debate takes place more than four months before the Nov. 5 Election Day.

Trump, 78, will take the stage as a felon who still faces a trio of criminal cases, including charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The former president, who has suggested he will punish his political enemies if elected, will need to demonstrate to undecided voters that he does not pose a threat to democracy, as Biden claims.

Biden, 81, is under intense pressure to avoid stumbling on the debate stage and deliver a good debate performance, after months of assertions his faculties have degraded with his age.

Biden has trailed Trump in polls of most battleground states made Trump raise in millions of dollars after he was convicted in connection with hush money payments made to a porn star.

Biden campaign spokesperson, Michael Tyler, said the debate would show the contrast between Biden's efforts to help Americans and Trump's "unhinged campaign of revenge and retribution."

Trump will focus on Biden's handling of the southern U.S. border in the face of record numbers of migrants crossing illegally as well as the economy, particularly inflation, while also questioning his world leadership at a time of war in Gaza and Ukraine, Trump advisers said.

"Thursday night is going to be a great opportunity for President Trump to highlight his strength with Joe Biden's weakness, highlight his record of success with Joe Biden's record of failures," campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.

The second and final debate in this year's campaign is scheduled for September.