U.S. President Joe Biden has dismissed concerns about his health and doubts about his re-election bid in November, brushing off a poor performance in the presidential debate as a “bad episode” and insisting that only “the Lord almighty” could persuade him to exit the race.

Mr. Biden, 81, said this on July 5 in a television interview, a week after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta against his Republican rival Donald Trump, following which some of his own Democratic Party leaders started urging him to step down and his approval rating plummeted.

In the 22-minute high-stakes interview on ABC News aimed at quelling a burgeoning rebellion in the Democratic party, Mr. Biden, who is seeking a second term, said he had “a bad night” and he was “exhausted” and “sick” during his first presidential debate with Mr. Trump.

He asserted that only the “Lord Almighty” could make him drop out of the race to win the November 5 election.

He claimed that he is “running the world” and no one is “more qualified” to be President.

Asked whether he would be willing to have an independent cognitive evaluation and release the results to the American people, Mr. Biden said: “Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I’ve had tests. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world.”

The President said in the interview that he was “sick” before the debate. Asked whether it was a bad episode or a sign of a more serious condition, Mr. Biden dismissed those concerns.

“It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and — and a bad night,” Mr. Biden said during his first interview after the debate, adding that his top party leadership are asking him to stay in the race.

“Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact the docs (doctors are) with me. I asked if they did a COVID test because they were trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold,” he said and reiterated multiple times that he was running for the presidency.

Blaming himself for the bad debate night in Atlanta, Mr. Biden said, “Yeah, look. The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault but mine. I prepared what I usually would do sitting down as I did come back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council for explicit detail,” adding that Mr. Trump “lied 28 times” during the debate.

Mr. Biden said none of the major Democratic party leaders have asked him to drop out and asserted that he would withdraw only if the “Lord Almighty” asked him to.

“If the Lord Almighty came down and said ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” he added.

The President tried to avoid questions on both his mental fitness and cognitive tests.

“Do you dispute that there have been more lapses, especially in the last seven months?” Mr. Biden was asked.

“Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I’m still in good shape,” he responded.

“Are you more frail?” he was asked. “No. Come keep my schedule,” he said.

Mr. Biden alleged that Mr. Trump is a pathological liar.

Asked by the interviewer whether he was being honest with himself about his ability to beat Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden said, “Yes. Yes, yes, yes.” He pointed to previous polls that showed he couldn’t win in 2020 as proof and subsequent down-ballot elections, denying extensive polling that reflects a race where he is trailing.

In a reaction to Biden’s interview, Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna, according to The New York Times, said he expected “complete transparency” from the White House and a willingness to answer “many legitimate questions” from the news media and voters about the president’s abilities.

“He has to earn that trust, and that requires more than one interview,” Khanna was quoted as saying by the daily.

ABC News said it offered a similar one-on-one interview to Trump, 78, but the former president declined.

Earlier during a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin, Biden asserted that he is in the race and will win the election again.

“We had a little debate last week. Can’t say it was my best performance. But ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do? Well, here’s my answer. I am running and going to win again,” Mr. Biden told his cheering supporters.

“…Some folks don’t seem to care who you voted for, well, guess what? They’re trying to push me out of the race. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can. I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump. I beat him in 2020. And by the way, we’re going to do it again in 2024.” Biden also took this opportunity to address the issue of his advancing age.

“You probably also noticed a lot of discussion about my age. I keep seeing all those stories about I’m being too old. Let me say something. I wasn’t too old to create over 15 million new jobs to make sure 21 million Americans are insured under the Affordable Care Act; to beat Big Pharma, the first firm to ever do that, and lower the cost of it to $35 a season,” he said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to the press with New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Maryland Governor Wes Moore after attending a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and other Democratic governors at the White House in Washington, U.S., July 3, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Democratic governors of New York, Minnesota and Maryland on Wednesday said they would support U.S. President Joe Biden’s reelection bid after a candid discussion with him about his weak performance in last week’s debate.

“The president has always had our backs. We’re going to have his back as well,” Maryland Governor Wes Moore told reporters after a meeting with Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House that included 24 Democratic governors and the mayor of Washington, D.C., some joining online.

Mr. Moore said the governors were frank in relaying negative feedback from constituents about Mr. Biden’s poor performance during the debate with Republican rival Donald Trump. He said there was clearly work to do before the Nov. 5 election, but Biden had made it clear he would stay in the race.

“The president… he’s our nominee. The president is our party leader,” Mr. Moore said. There has been growing talk among Democrats in recent days that 81-year-old Biden should drop out of the race.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she felt confident after the meeting and all the governors pledged their support to Mr. Biden. The president is “in it to win it,” she said.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said Mr. Biden’s debate performance on Thursday was bad but he felt Mr. Biden was fit for office.

“Obviously we, like many Americans, are a little worried. We’re worried because the threat of a Trump presidency is not theoretical,” Mr. Walz said, adding that the previous Trump presidency was marked by “chaos, destruction.”

Nearly a dozen of the State leaders attended the meeting in person, but only three spoke with reporters afterwards.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who participated in person, posted his reaction on social platform X: “I heard three words from the President tonight — he’s all in. And so am I.”

Mr. Biden’s campaign said the president reiterated his determination “to defeat the existential threat of Donald Trump at the ballot box in November” and discussed the importance of electing Democrats up and down the ballot.

“All participants reiterated their shared commitment to do everything possible to make sure President Biden and Vice President Harris beat Donald Trump in November,” it said.

File picture of U.S. President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday acknowledged his performance during the June 27 presidential debate wasn’t his best, but blamed it on jet lag after two overseas trips earlier in June.

Mr. Biden has faced mounting questions about his 2024 reelection bid after last week’s shaky debate performance, with one House of Representatives fellow Democrat on Tuesday publicly calling on him to withdraw from the race.

Speaking at a campaign event in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday evening, Mr. Biden admitted the debate against former President Donald Trump, his Republican rival, did not go well.

“I didn’t have my best night, but the fact is that you know, I wasn’t very smart,” Mr. Biden said, speaking at the campaign fundraiser without the aid of a teleprompter. “I decided to travel around the world a couple times, going through around 100 time zones… before… the debate.

“Didn’t listen to my staff and came back and nearly fell asleep on stage,” he said. “That’s no excuse but it is an explanation.”

Mr. Biden traveled to France and Italy during two separate trips in the space of two weeks last month, flying overnight from the Group of Seven summit in Bari, Italy, to appear at a fundraiser with former President Barack Obama in Los Angeles on June 15 before returning to Washington the following day.

He then spent six days at Camp David preparing for the June 27 debate.

White House officials have blamed Mr. Biden’s halting performance during the debate on a cold. Mr. Biden did not mention being sick during Tuesday’s fundraiser.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Tuesday showed that one in three Democrats think Mr. Biden should end his reelection bid following the debate, but no prominent elected Democrat does any better than Mr. Biden in a hypothetical matchup against Mr. Trump.

The two-day poll found that both Mr. Trump, 78, and Mr. Biden, 81, maintain the support of 40% of registered voters, suggesting that Mr. Biden has not lost ground since the debate. Election Day is November 5.

India vs South Africa 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup final will be held at the Kensington Oval on June 29, 2024

NTA announces new dates for UGC-NET, CSIR UGC-NET, NCET exams

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday night announced the new dates of cancelled and postponed examinations, including the UGC-NET, amid a raging row over alleged irregularities in their conduct. The UGC-NET, which was cancelled a day after being conducted on June 18, will now be held from August 21 to September 4.

Opposition forces disruptions in both Houses of Parliament over alleged NEET irregularities 

The row over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET examination for medical college admissions rocked both Houses of Parliament on Friday, with the Lok Sabha getting adjourned for the day after Speaker Om Birla disallowed adjournment motions on the issue. 

Former Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren gets bail in alleged money laundering case, walks out of jail

Jharkhand High Court on Friday granted bail to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in alleged land scam case. Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay ’s court granted him regular bail.

Monsoon arrives in Delhi bringing heavy rainfall leaving four death

Four people died and several were injured as the south-west monsoon arrived in the national capital bringing with it 228 mm of rainfall in a span of 24 hours, mostly concentrated between 3 a.m. and 8.30 a.m., on Friday. This is the highest rainfall in a 24-hour period in Delhi in June after 1936, while the average rainfall for June in the last 30 years is 75.2 mm.

India slams ‘deeply biased’ U.S. report on religious freedom

India on Friday slammed the U.S. State Department’s report on International Religious Freedom for 2023 as “deeply biased” and said it reflected “one-sided projection of issues”. During the weekly press briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the report questioned the “integrity” of certain legal judgments of the Indian courts and highlighted the United States’s own record in handling domestic hate crimes.

German Chancellor to visit India in October, ease of doing business and migration top on agenda: envoy

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is scheduled to visit India in the second half of October for inter-governmental consultations during which ease of doing business, migration, geopolitics and climate change will be high on the agenda, German Ambassador to India Philipp Ackermann said on Friday.

India achieves an ‘outstanding outcome’ in FATF mutual evaluation 2023-24

India has achieved an outstanding outcome in the Mutual Evaluation conducted during 2023-24 by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), said the government on June 28. The Mutual Evaluation Report of India, which was adopted in the FATF plenary held in Singapore from June 26 and June 28, places India in the “regular follow-up” category, a distinction shared by only four other G-20 countries.

‘Global south’ should reform world governance to make it more effective, balanced: Xi Jinping

Underlining the importance of the “Global South”, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday said that the Global South should actively participate in reforming and developing the global governance system and make the global governance architecture more balanced and effective. 

Joe Biden concedes debate fumbles but declares he will defend democracy

President Joe Biden forcefully tried on Friday to quell Democratic anxieties over his unsteady showing in his debate with former President Donald Trump, as elected members of his party closed ranks around him in an effort to shut down talk of replacing him atop the ticket.

Supreme Court makes it harder to charge Capitol riot defendants with obstruction, charge Trump faces

The Supreme Court on Friday limited a federal obstruction law that has been used to charge hundreds of Capitol riot defendants as well as former President Donald Trump. The justices ruled 6-3 that the charge of obstructing an official proceeding, enacted in 2002 in response to the financial scandal that brought down Enron Corp., must include proof that defendants tried to tamper with or destroy documents. Only some of the people who violently attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, fall into that category.

Coal, electricity buoy core output in May

Output growth in India’s eight core infrastructure sectors eased to 6.3% in May, from April’s 6.7% pace, with a double-digit rise in coal and electricity production offsetting contractions in three sectors, including cement and fertilisers.

RBI raises WMA limits of States/UTs by 28% to ₹60,118 crore

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday increased the Ways and Means Advances (WMA) limits of State governments and Union territories to ₹60,118 crore from ₹47,010 crore. “Based on the recommendations made by the Group constituted by the Reserve Bank and consisting of select state Finance Secretaries and taking into account the expenditure data of the states for the recent years, it has been decided to revise the WMA limits of the State Governments/ UTs, effective from July 1, 2024,” the RBI said in a circular. 

2024 T20 World Cup Final | History and heartbreak beckon as the T20 extravaganza reaches much-awaited climax

India has not won an ICC title since 2013. South Africa has reached the final of a men’s World Cup for the first time, after seven semifinal defeats. Come Saturday, at the grand finale of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup at the Kensington Oval, a jinx will be broken. This is a battle between the two unbeaten teams in the tournament.

T20 World Cup: Rohit, Dravid back Kohli, say ‘there’s a big one coming up’

India head coach Rahul Dravid and skipper Rohit Sharma have thrown their weight behind the struggling Virat Kohli, saying the stylish batter has shown the intent and is due for a “big one” in the T20 World Cup finals against South Africa.

Los Angeles, United States:

A bad tempered and unedifying US presidential debate between the two oldest candidates ever to run for office degenerated into a squabble over golfing prowess on Thursday.

The first head-to-head in an already painfully long campaign saw 81-year-old Joe Biden and his 78-year-old challenger Donald Trump trade insults and accusations for 90 minutes on prime time television.

There was name-calling: “You’re the worst!” “No, YOU’RE the worst!”

There were accusations: “You’re a whiner!”

And then they fought over their golf handicaps.

“He can’t hit a ball 50 yards,” said Trump, on one of the few occasions the two men directly addressed each other.

“He challenged me to a golf match. He can’t hit a ball 50 yards.”

Trump’s own vitality was never in question, he boasted, insisting “I’m in as good a shape as I was years ago.”

Not to be outdone over his putting prowess, Biden insisted he was game on the green.

“I’d be happy to have a driving contest,” he said. “I got my handicap when I was the vice president down to a six.”

Trump scoffed.

“A six handicap?” he snorted. “I’ve seen your swing. I know your swing.”

The exchange came towards the end of the CNN-hosted debate, which had started without the handshake that is customary on such occasions and gone downhill from there.

The animosity between the two men was palpable, with Biden taking an early swing at a man he said had “the morals of an alley cat.”

“How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil penalties for molesting a woman in public… for having sex with a porn star… while your wife was pregnant,” he said, in reference to Trump’s alleged dalliance with adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

The Republican former president again denied adultery, but a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush-money payments to her.

Trump wasted few chances to hammer home his claim that Biden was “weak” and not “a leader.”

He also took aim at Biden’s perceived mental frailties, an issue that polls repeatedly show voters are concerned about.

“I took two tests, cognitive tests. I aced them, both of them, as you know, we made it public,” he said.

“He took none. I’d like to see him take one, just one, a real easy one, like go through the first five questions. He couldn’t do it.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, took the stage Thursday evening for a debate that offered an unparalleled opportunity to define their unpopular presidential rematch.

The debate provided Mr. Biden, the 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, the chance to reassure voters that he’s capable of guiding the U.S. through a host of challenges as he moved to sharpen the choice voters will face in November. Mr. Trump, 78, had the opening to try to move past his felony conviction in New York and convince an audience of tens of millions that he is suited to return to the Oval Office.

ALSO READ | Politics of memes: How Biden and Trump are fighting each other on the internet

Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden entered the night facing stiff headwinds, including a public weary of the tumult of partisan politics and broadly dissatisfied with both, according to polling. But the debate was highlighting how they have sharply different visions on virtually every core issue — abortion, the economy and foreign policy — and deep hostility toward each other.

The two candidates strode on stage and walked directly to their lecterns, avoiding a handshake.

The first question went to Mr. Biden, pressed to defend rising inflation since he took office, which he pinned on the situation he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden needed to clear his throat twice during his first answer, sounding hoarse, and Trump smirked as Biden started speaking.

The current president and his predecessor hadn’t spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Mr. Trump skipped Mr. Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort to overturn his loss that culminated in the January 6 Capitol insurrection by his supporters.

Mr. Trump has promised sweeping plans to remake the U.S. government if he returns to the White House and Mr. Biden argues that his opponent would pose an existential threat to the nation’s democracy.

ALSO READ |The Hindu editorial on the 2024 U.S. Presidential election as a Biden-Trump rematch

Thursday’s broadcast on CNN, moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, marked the earliest general election debate in history. It’s the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news outlet after both campaigns ditched the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had organised every matchup since 1988.

Aiming to avoid a repeat of their chaotic 2020 matchups, Mr. Biden insisted — and Mr. Trump agreed — to hold the debate without an audience and to allow the network to mute the candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to speak. The debate’s two commercial breaks offered another departure from modern practice, while the candidates have agreed not to consult staff or others while the cameras are off.

Mr. Trump and his aides have spent months chronicling what they argue are signs of Mr. Biden’s diminished stamina. In recent days, they’ve started to predict Mr. Biden will be stronger on Thursday, aiming to raise expectations for the incumbent.

Mr. Biden’s team too predicted that he would rise to the occasion, and expressed hope that Mr. Trump would be forced to address his positions they believe are anathema to voters.

“Joe’s ready to go. He’s prepared. He’s confident,” his wife, Jill Biden, told donors ahead of the debate. “You know what a great debater he is.”

Heading out of the debate, both Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump will travel to states they hope to swing their way this fall. Mr. Trump is heading to Virginia, a onetime battleground that has shifted toward Democrats in recent years.

Mr. Biden is set to jet off to North Carolina, where he is expected to hold the largest-yet rally of his campaign in a state Mr. Trump narrowly carried in 2020.

New Delhi:

US President Joe Biden and his Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, clashed in their first debate of the 2024 presidential election cycle. With no live audience present, the two candidates did not greet each other with a customary handshake and stood just feet apart at their respective podiums, setting the stage for a night of pointed exchanges.

On Economy

President Biden wasted no time in criticising Trump’s economic legacy during the latter’s tenure in the Oval Office. “Donald Trump left me an economy that was in free fall,” Biden stated. He then slammed Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. “He said things were fine during the pandemic- just inject a little bleach in your arm. I turned our country around,” Biden claimed. 

In another sharp rebuke, Biden highlighted job losses under Trump’s administration, stating, “Donald Trump is the only president besides Herbert Hoover who left office with fewer jobs than when he began. Donald Trump had the largest national debt of any US president over a four-year period.”

On Foreign Policy

The debate took a heated turn when the topic shifted to foreign policy, specifically the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. Trump seized the opportunity to criticise Biden’s execution of the withdrawal, calling it “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country’s life.” 

“I was getting out of Afghanistan, but we were getting out with dignity, with strength, with power” he added. 

Biden responded by saying, “When he was president they were still killing people in Afghanistan. He didn’t do anything about that.” 

Referring to allegations that Trump had labeled these soldiers as “suckers,” Biden invoked the memory of his late son Beau, who served in Iraq and later succumbed to cancer.

“My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser,” Biden declared.

On Immigration

Immigration was another hot-button issue during the debate. Biden accused Trump of exaggerating and spreading falsehoods about the state of the country’s immigration crisis. “The idea that illegal immigrants are being welcomed in the United States is simply not true,” Biden said. “There’s no data to support what he said. Once again, he’s exaggerating. He’s lying.”

Trump countered by claiming that Biden had failed to secure the southern US border, which he claimed had allowed scores of criminals into the country. “I call it Biden migrant crime,” Trump declared.

On Abortion Rights

The debate took a heated turn when Biden attacked Trump for being an advocate for abortion ban. He called Trump’s actions “a terrible thing” after the Republican boasted of nominating Supreme Court justices that helped overturn Roe v. Wade. “It has been a terrible thing, what you have done,” Biden said, in one of his firmer critiques of his presidential predecessor.

Trump defended his position by arguing that returning the issue to the states was the right course of action and accused Biden of not supporting any limits on abortions.

Addressing the plight of women who have been raped and now face greater obstacles in accessing abortion services, Biden added, “It’s just ridiculous, and they can do nothing about it. You have the morals of an alley cat.”

Four months before US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump face off at the polls, they will wage political battle Thursday in the first televised debate of the 2024 election.

The candidates are polling neck and neck ahead of the November 5 vote as they attempt to woo any Americans still fine-tuning their decision.

Here are some of the major biographical details to know about Trump, a Republican whose supporters remain wildly devoted despite his multiple criminal charges and the first felony conviction against a former president.

Political experience

The bombastic 78-year-old billionaire was a political novice when he successfully ran for president in 2016 against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Until that point, Trump had never been up for election in any race involving a popular vote.

However, he had often repeated that he might run for the White House, an assertion that was widely considered a publicity stunt.

Family and religion

Trump was born in 1946 to a wealthy New York family. Contrary to legend, he is not a self-made man, but rather followed in the footsteps of his father, who built a family empire constructing buildings in the area.

Trump was handed the reins to the family business in the 1970s, and later became a fixture in US households via his reality TV show “The Apprentice,” which first aired in 2004.

The father of five children via three different wives is hardly a model of Christian piety, yet he has deftly wooed America’s evangelical right.

Constantly praising family and religious values, Trump landed conservative Christians a resounding victory with the appointment of Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the national right to an abortion.

Wealth

Trump’s finances have been the subject of much speculation over the years. However a judge ruled earlier this year that Trump and his company had unlawfully inflated his wealth and manipulated the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms.

That said, Trump remains exceedingly rich: He is worth no less than several billion dollars according to Forbes magazine, thanks to his real estate empire and the Trump Media and Technology Group, which includes his social media platform Truth Social.

Vibe

Pugnacious, angry and a populist, Trump stunned the world when he was elected president in 2016.

Worshiped by supporters, he is considered by detractors to be a danger to American democracy and to the country’s traditional international alliances.

The former president is combatively thin-skinned, yet relentlessly mocks his political rivals with rhetoric that has become increasingly belligerent as the election approaches.

He labels his opponents “fascists,” while saying immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.”

And he still claims, falsely, to have won the 2020 election.

Legal Troubles

Trump’s life is awash with substantial legal allegations, convictions and rulings.

Most recently in May he was convicted in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels during the heat of the 2016 election.

That made Trump the first ever former US president convicted of a felony. He is due for sentencing on July 11.

Trump faces three other pending criminal cases, including charges related to his unprecedented attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden, both at the federal level and in Georgia — where he asked officials to “find” enough votes to reverse Biden’s victory in the state.

He is additionally accused of illegally retaining secret nuclear and defense documents after leaving the White House at his Florida estate.

Apart from the criminal cases, Trump was found liable in a civil case for sexually abusing former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll in 1996 and defaming her, with a judge ordering him to pay her $88 million.

He was also fined $355 million plus interest by a New York judge for manipulating the value of properties to obtain favorable loans.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

On June 27 Americans will tune in to the first debate of the 2024 US election — a highly anticipated showdown between President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump.

The televised face-off comes just four months ahead of the November vote, with the candidates running neck and neck in the polls, each vying for a second term.

Here are some of the major biographical details to know about Biden, a Democrat and Washington veteran, ahead of Thursday’s big event.

– Political experience –

Mr Biden is no stranger to Washington. The 81-year-old longtime politician served as vice president under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.

Before that, he spent 36 years in the Senate. He was first elected by Delaware voters at age 29, making him one of the youngest senators ever.

– Family and religion –

Mr Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1942 and is the eldest of four children. The Democrat often alludes to his Irish-American, middle-class upbringing.

His father worked a number of different jobs, and while his family was not poor, they did experience financial setbacks.

On the religion front, Mr Biden is a devout Catholic who attends mass regularly, but he nonetheless supports abortion rights.

A family man, Mr Biden has been quick to proclaim his love and support for his son Hunter, who was recently convicted on charges stemming from his purchase of a handgun while addicted to crack cocaine.

The president is sometimes referred to as the “mourner-in-chief” for appearing empathetic with constituents during times of tragedy.

His own life has been marked by multiple sorrows. He lost his first wife Neilia and their young daughter Naomi in a car accident in 1972. Hunter along with Mr Biden’s other son Beau were also injured in that accident.

Beau then died of cancer in 2015.

Mr Biden has been married to First Lady Jill Biden since 1977. In addition to raising Beau and Hunter, the couple has a daughter, Ashley.

– Wealth –

While Mr Biden is not a billionaire like his Republican rival Trump, he is still rich.

Biden’s fortunes are estimated at around $10 million, largely thanks to two homes the family owns in Delaware, according to Forbes magazine.

– Vibe –

Mr Biden is not a profound orator nor does he draw an ecstatic response from his supporters like Trump. Yet he is known for a certain stubborn determination, and cultivates an image of empathy.

The latter trait has recently been tainted, however, by US support for Israel in the war in Gaza, particularly among younger and Arab-Americans.

Mr Biden’s advanced years and his increasingly stiff gait have played into Republican taunting and public concern about his age.

– Legal woes –

Mr Biden was cleared early this year of any wrongdoing after keeping classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

However in a shock for his campaign, a report from the special counsel overseeing the matter said Biden came across as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” a line that Democrats dismissed but Republicans pounced on.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Atlanta, United States:

There will be no studio audience, depriving candidates of the momentum that comes from ginning up supporters. Microphones will cut out when a candidate’s speaking time is over. Thursday night’s presidential debate will not be business as usual.

CNN, which is hosting President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump for their first debate of the 2024 campaign in Atlanta, wants to avoid the chaos seen when the two men squared off in 2020.

Here are some facts about the 90-minute debate, a key moment in the race for the White House, but one whose impact is difficult to predict.

 Averting mayhem 

In their first war of words four years ago, Trump repeatedly cut off the veteran Democrat, launched into lengthy diatribes and taunted his rival, who ended up shouting at one point: “Will you shut up, man?”

It was hardly the height of presidential decorum.

To cut down on the hijinks, CNN has set up a series of rules, to which both campaigns agreed.

Among the most notable: When the candidates take the stage at the network’s Atlanta studios at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday), there will be no one in the audience.

Microphones will be muted except for the candidate asked to speak. There will be two commercial breaks during the showdown between 78-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden, the two oldest presumptive White House nominees in history.

Moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, both regular CNN on-air presenters, will “use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion,” the network said.

Trump gets last word 

Biden won the coin toss, allowing him to choose either his podium position or whether he preferred to speak first or second in final statements.

The incumbent chose the podium on the viewers’ right, and Trump opted to have the last word.

No live fact-checking 

CNN has not revealed the debate themes and does not plan to fact-check candidate statements in real time — even if Trump repeats the baseless charge that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

For Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor of communication at the University of Pennsylvania, “one problem with a debate that features Donald Trump is that the moderators don’t fact check in real-time, nor should they.”

“It’s highly risky to try to do that and it would be disruptive of the debate if they did,” she told AFP. “The danger is instead of informing, a debate could actually increase the amount of inaccurate knowledge.”

Biden and Trump will not have teleprompters and they cannot bring pre-written notes to the stage, although they will be provided with paper and pen. Consulting with campaign staff during commercial breaks will not be allowed.

Debate airs on all networks 

Both candidates rejected the oversight of the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates formed in 1987 to manage such events.

Instead, they made a direct deal with CNN. The news network, now owned by media conglomerate Warner Bros Discovery, afforded its rivals the opportunity to broadcast the debate live in the name of public service, under certain conditions.

The screen must bear the CNN logo and outside commentary is forbidden.

Fox News — which regularly attacks CNN as biased against Trump — plans to hit the airwaves two hours before the event, with talk show hosts Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity providing pre-game insights.

In the past, Hannity has called Tapper a “radical left-wing partisan talk show host masquerading as a journalist.”

 Impact on campaign? 

The debate will certainly be a key moment in the campaign, watched by tens of millions: a record 84 million tuned in to watch Trump’s first battle with Hillary Clinton in 2016, and 73 million saw Trump and Biden duke it out in 2020.

But it will not necessarily be a game-changer.

This is the first time a debate has been organized so early in the race, more than four months before Election Day, and even before the candidates have been formally nominated by their respective parties.

“The worry is that the public in the United States doesn’t pay much attention to news in summer,” said Jamieson.

“In general, presidential debates don’t affect a sufficient number of votes to decide the outcome of an election. But when an election is close, as this one may be, debates can play an important role.”

ABC is scheduled to host a second debate on September 10.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)