Trump lands in Atlanta A private plane carrying Donald Trump has touched down in Atlanta ahead of tonight’s debate. The former president’s plane was greeted by a group of his supporters on the tarmac. What you need to know about tonight"s debate Joe Biden and Donald Trump will hold the first of two scheduled US presidential debates on Thursday, a high-stakes rematch between two well-defined political foes. The earlier-than-usual confrontation will give both men a chance to make their case for a second-term to what could be one of the largest television – and internet – audiences of the election cycle. Thursday’s show down also carries the risk that Americans already dissatisfied with their options will come away even more dismayed. Polls show an extremely tight race between the 81-year-old incumbent and the 78-year-old former US president – and both candidates remain broadly unpopular. The 90-minute debate is scheduled to kick off at 9pm ET inside a CNN studio in Atlanta. Donald Trump was pictured stepping off his plane after it touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson international airport in Atlanta. Also seen exiting Trump’s private plane were his campaign advisers Steven Cheung, Jason Miller, Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, as well as his former campaign adviser Corey Lewandowski and the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz. It could be the moment when a rematch that few seem to want finally comes to life: like two ageing prizefighters, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will enter the arena of political bloodsport on Thursday evening to resume a verbal sparring bout that will revive memories of the ugly exchanges when the two debated face to face four years ago. A CNN studio in Atlanta will host the first presidential debate of the campaign between the same two candidates who contested the last election, which Biden won. With more than four months to go until polling day in November, it is the earliest in any US presidential campaign that a debate between the two main candidates has ever been staged. While some see the timing as premature, it could provide a chance to open up a contest that has become overshadowed by, among other things, Trump’s recent felony conviction, as well as assorted other legal travails that see him facing 54 criminal charges for trying to overturn the last election and for retaining classified documents. Both candidates are deeply unpopular: Trump because his opponents see him as an aspiring dictator who threatens democracy, Biden because, at 81 (although just three years older than his Republican opponent), he is viewed – even among many Democrats – as too old for another term as president. Knife-edge polls indicate a race essentially tied, with a national polling average for May and June showing the candidates at 46% each. Polls in seven key battleground states – Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina – give Trump a narrow advantage, though usually within the margin of error. NBC News’ Sahil Kapur writes that the debate hall is right next to the Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Georgia Tech, which is currently hosting a party under a sign that reads “Make America DRUNK Again”. Trump lands in Atlanta A private plane carrying Donald Trump has touched down in Atlanta ahead of tonight’s debate. The former president’s plane was greeted by a group of his supporters on the tarmac. It is not clear if Melania Trump, the former first lady, will join her husband at tonight’s debate. Melania Trump’s office did not return a request for comment about whether she would be in Atlanta during the presidential debate, according the New York Times. The former first lady has largely been absent from the campaign trail this year, and she notably did not attend Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York. Donald Trump Jr, Trump’s eldest child, will not attend the debate due to a family commitment involving his oldest daughter, according to NBC News, citing a source. Trump’s second son, Eric Trump, is not expected to be in Atlanta for the debate, but Eric’s wife, Lara Trump, will attend in her official capacity as Republican National Committee (RNC) chair, NBC reports. Jill Biden, the first lady, will be in Atlanta for tonight’s debate, according to the Biden campaign. Jill Biden is expected to be the only Biden family member in attendance, according to the New York Times. She is expected to watch the debate from a separate hold room on the debate campus. After the debate, Biden and his wife are scheduled to stop by a nearby Democratic watch party, before flying to Raleigh overnight. "He must be stopped": Trump"s niece to join Biden campaign in debate spin room Candidates traditionally bring along their family members for support during a debate. Less common: bringing a member of your opponent’s family for support. On Thursday night, Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, will be in the post-debate spin room making the case for Joe Biden. Mary Trump, one of the former president’s harshest critics, has warned that her uncle is a threat to democracy and should not be re-elected. She did not hold back. In a statement, she said: I’m in Atlanta tonight to remind everyone who Donald is as a person and how he would rule as a president because the stakes are far too high for us to get this wrong: We cannot afford to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the levers of power again. Donald cannot be trusted and we must recognize that his last administration was simply a warm-up for much worse to come just as January 6th was a dress rehearsal for a man who will stop at nothing to ascend, once again, to this country’s highest office. He is desperate for power and has shown himself both unworthy of wielding it and obsessed with regaining it purely for his own benefit. He must be stopped. Joining Mary Trump in the spin-room – a chaotic room where campaign staff and surrogates try to persuade reporters that their candidate won the debate – will be: Keisha Lance-Bottoms, former Atlanta mayor and a senior advisor on the Biden-Harris campaign Texas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett California governor Gavin Newsom California congressman Robert Garcia Former Louisiana congressman Cedric Richmond Georgia senator Raphael Warnock Joe Biden and Donald Trump will debate on Thursday for the first time this election cycle and it holds the potential for some history-making moments. Debates can inform voters on both the issues and temperaments of the candidates, potentially swaying an undecided voter toward one candidate’s direction. They can also make for good TV, creating soundbites that resonate for decades to come. From the candidates’ physical appearances to gaffes to planned attacks to off-the-cuff retorts, here are some memorable moments from US presidential debate history. The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) has released a statement complaining that CNN rejected its request to include a pool reporter inside the studio during tonight’s presidential debate. The WHCA “is deeply concerned that CNN has rejected our repeated requests to include the White House travel pool inside the studio”, a statement by WHCA president and NBC correspondent Kelly O’Donnell reads. The debate, which is being held on a closed set, will not feature an audience. Print pool photographers will be present for the entirety of the debate, while one print pool reporter will be permitted to enter during commercial breaks, according to CNN. The letter says: That is not sufficient in our view and diminishes a core principle of presidential coverage. The White House pool has a duty to document, report and witness the president’s events and his movements on behalf of the American people. Donald Trump is on his way to Atlanta, where he is scheduled to land in about an hour. Trump aide Margo Martin, in a post to X, shared a video of the former president boarding his plane. Biden arrives in Atlanta ahead of debate Joe Biden has arrived in Atlanta ahead of tonight’s presidential debate, where he was greeted by a crowd of supporters who chanted “four more years” and “let’s go Joe”, according to a pool report. While on Air Force One en route to Georgia, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House’s press secretary was asked how the president feels about “standing toe to toe with his main adversary tonight”. According to the Washington Post, replied: He likes to fight. He likes to fight for the American people. US district judge Aileen Cannon, who is presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case, has granted a request from the former president’s defense team to hold a hearing to challenge some of the evidence gathered against him. Cannon said she would schedule a hearing to consider whether prosecutors had improperly obtained the cooperation of Trump’s lawyers through an exception to attorney-client privilege. But Judge Cannon also denied a defense request for a hearing on a separate claim that FBI officials had submitted false or misleading information to obtain a warrant to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for classified documents. The supreme court’s ruling earlier today to allow Idaho hospitals to provide emergency abortions – for now – has left key questions unanswered and could mean a final decision is delayed to beyond the November elections. A draft decision in the case was briefly posted on the court’s website yesterday and abruptly removed. The final version of the decision published today appeared to closely resemble the draft. Responding to the order, Joe Biden said the ruling ensures that Idaho women can get the care they need while the case continues to play out, adding: Doctors should be able to practice medicine. Patients should be able to get the care they need. The White House’s press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said: No woman should be denied care or wait until she’s near death or forced to flee her home state just to receive the healthcare she needs. Merrick Garland, the attorney general, said the justice department will continue pressing its case and using “every available tool to ensure that women in every state have access to that care”. His statement reads: Today’s order means that, while we continue to litigate our case, women in Idaho will once again have access to the emergency care guaranteed to them under federal law. Donald Trump has appeared to share his talking points for tonight’s debate on his Truth Social platform. The post shows what appears to be a set of recommendations from Andrew Wheeler, Trump’s former Environmental Protection Agency chief. Wheeler, in the post, advises Trump to pledge to reduce carbon emissions and to point out that Joe Biden rejoined the Paris climate accord, and “all that does is send American dollars overseas”. Ammar Moussa, a Biden campaign spokesperson, shared Trump’s talking points on Twitter/X, writing: Donald Trump is just posting his debate talking points. Thanks I guess. Edward Helmore Robert F Kennedy Jr’s anger and frustration at what he describes as his exclusion from the debate despite six qualifying polls and confirmed ballot access in five states – with Democratic legal challenges to his inclusion in five more, including one in New Jersey under the state’s “sore loser law” – comes as Democrats accuse him of being a political stooge for Republicans. Biden supporters worry Kennedy’s famous name and his history of environmental advocacy could sway voters from the left. His family members are largely against his candidacy, which they have made clear in public statements and by visiting the Biden White House en masse on St Patrick’s Day in March. But Republicans also have not welcomed his quixotic intervention in a tight race that could serve to siphon off vital votes from both candidates. Donald Trump has described him as “far more LIBERAL than anyone running as a Democrat, including West and Stein”, referring to third-party candidates Cornel West and Jill Stein. Robert F Kennedy Jr, the independent US presidential candidate polling at about 8%, won’t be at tonight’s Biden-Trump TV smackdown in Atlanta. But he’s not taking the diss quietly, and has accused debate host CNN of colluding with the major party campaigns to exclude him. In an email statement on Wednesday, the Kennedy campaign claimed that 71% of Americans want to see him on the debate stage, and in an act of counter-programming he plans an alternative “real” debate on Elon’s Musk’s Twitter/X platform at the same time. “The American people want leaders who trust them to make up their own minds,” Kennedy said. Instead, our last two presidents are restricting voters from choosing anyone other than themselves. Presidents Biden and Trump have sucked trillions of dollars from the pockets of working people and Americans deserve to hear from the one candidate who can hold them to account.