Updated 8m ago
What time is the ABC presidential debate?
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The presidential debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET and last 90 minutes, with two commercial breaks.
There will be no opening statements — questioning by moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC will begin immediately. Both candidates will get two minutes for closing statements at the end of the debate.
Updated 8m ago
How to watch the presidential debate
The debate is being hosted by ABC News, which is allowing other networks to simulcast it. CBS News’ prime-time coverage begins at 8 p.m. ET — check your local listings.
Viewers can also stream the debate on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu, as well as CBS News 24/7 in the player above, on the CBS News app and on Paramount+. Post-debate analysis will continue on CBS News 24/7 until 11:35 p.m. ET.
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Updated 8m ago
How Trump has been preparing for the debate
The former president has been reviewing policy positions with advisers 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.
In a call with reporters on Monday, Trump adviser Jason Miller said that preparing for debating Trump is like “trying to prepare for Floyd Mayweather or Muhammad Ali.”
“You don’t know what angle they’re going to come at you with. You don’t know what style of contrast that they’re going to deliver. There’s an amazing mix of humor and charm as well as very hard hitting facts of why we’re doing this, because Americans are suffering,” Miller said.
“In this debate, President Trump will tie Kamala Harris to her record, her record on the border, her record with global instability, and her record being the deciding vote for high prices,” Miller added. “And if President Trump ties Kamala Harris to her record, which we are very confident he’ll do and that’ll be a success, because the American people will see what a dangerous radical liberal she is.”
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.”
Updated 8m ago
How Harris has been preparing for the debate
The vice president was in Pittsburgh over the weekend to prepare for the debate before arriving in Philadelphia on Monday. She practiced with extended mock debates on a stage with lights to recreate the debate environment, while focusing on policy and an effort to draw a contrast with the former president. For the debate prep, Philippe Reines, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, played Trump, with a source saying he even dressed like the former president.
After the Harris campaign made an unsuccessful push to have both candidates’ microphones unmuted during the debate, the vice president and her team also used the time in Pittsburgh to go back to the drawing board on their debate strategy, a senior campaign official said. Harris had planned to pepper Trump with questions, but her campaign has had to seek out a new approach due to the microphone restrictions.
Surrogates for Harris have appeared to downplay expectations for the debate, like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told CNN’s that “it will take almost superhuman focus and discipline to deal with Donald Trump in a debate.” Buttigieg was involved in Harris’ debate preparations against former Vice President Mike Pence in 2020.
“It’s no ordinary proposition,” Buttigieg said. “Not because Donald Trump is a master of explaining policy ideas and how they’re going to make people better off. 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.”
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