The first of three presidential debates between major party candidates Joe Biden and Donald Trump kicks off tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST (Sept. 29). Former Vice President Biden and incumbent Trump are expected to meet at the Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio for the socially-distanced, live-broadcast event, ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Fox News host and debate moderator Chris Wallace and the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the evening’s debate topics last week. The 15-minute segments will include “The Trump and Biden Records,” “The Supreme Court,” “Covid-19,” “The Economy,” “Race and Violence in our Cities” and “The Integrity of the Election.”
In total, the debate will last 90 minutes without commercial breaks. Biden and Trump will have two minutes to respond to questions from Wallace, who will then use the remaining time to open up further discussion about the topic.
Though Wallace is a host of “Fox News Sunday,” the political commentator has been at odds with Trump several times in the past, often when the president deems his coverage of him to be unfavorable.
“My job is to be as invisible as possible,” Wallace said ahead of the debate. “I’m trying to get them to engage, to focus on the key issues, to give people at home a sense of, ‘Why I want to vote for one versus the other?’”
Trump responded to Wallace’s role as moderator while appearing on “Fox & Friends” last week.
“He’ll ask me tough questions and it’ll be unfair, I have no doubt about it,” Trump said. “But he’ll be controlled by the radical left. They control him.”
The upcoming debate is also on the heels of shocking revelations about Trump’s tax record, which The New York Times broke on Sunday (Sept. 27). The second presidential debate is set for Oct. 15, followed by a third on Oct. 22.