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Tonight, President Joe Biden will take the debate stage against Republican presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump. The first presidential debate of 2024 will be broadcast live on CNN at 9 p.m. ET from the network’s studios in Atlanta and will be moderated by Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Both presumptive presidential party’s nominees accepted CNN’s invitation to participate in the debate back in May after the Biden campaign challenged former president Trump to debate in a video posted to YouTube. Both Biden and Trump have reportedly agreed to the network’s debate rules, including having their microphones muted when it is the other person’s time to speak and being prohibited from communicating with their staff during the 90-minute debate’s two commercial breaks.
For the first time since 1976, the presidential debate was not organized and conducted pursuant to the Commission on Presidential Debates’ rules, which means the debate will not occur in front of a live audience. But just because there won’t be a live audience for what is widely anticipated to be one of the most-watched presidential debates of all time, that doesn’t mean the virtual streaming audience won’t be watching with rapt attention. If you’ve recently cut the cord, you can still watch the first presidential face-off live without cable (and for free, in some cases) with select streaming service subscriptions, including (but not limited to) a Peacock subscription, FuboTV subscription, or by signing up for DirecTV’s free trial. DirecTV offers a free five-day trial for new customers (starting at just $80/month after the trial ends), allowing subscribers unlimited access to CNN, along with over 160 additional cable channels. The debate will also be live-streamed on CNN.com.
