NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden begins an intense period of private preparations Friday at Camp David for what may be the most consequential presidential debate in decades.
The 81-year-old Democrat's team is aware he cannot afford an underwhelming performance when he faces Republican rival Donald Trump for 90 minutes on live television June 27. Biden's team expects aggressive attacks on his physical and mental strength, his record on the economy and immigration and even his family.
Trump, 78 and ever confident, will stay on the campaign trail before going to his Florida estate next week for two days of private meetings as part of an informal prep process.
The ex-president's allies are pushing him to stay focused on his governing plans but expect him to be tested by pointed questions about his unrelenting focus on election fraud, his role in the erosion of abortion rights and his unprecedented legal baggage.
The CNN debate will be full of firsts, with the potential to reshape the presidential race. Never before in the modern era have two presumptive nominees met on the debate stage so early in the general election season. Never before have two White House contenders faced off at such advanced ages, with widespread questions about their readiness.
And never before has a general election debate participant been saddled with a felony conviction. The debate stage meeting comes just two weeks before Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial.
“You can argue this will be the most important debate, at least in my lifetime,” said Democratic strategist Jim Messina, a 54-year-old who managed President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.
The ground rules for the June 27 debate, the first of two scheduled meetings, are unusual.
The candidates agreed to meet at a CNN studio in Atlanta with no audience. Each candidate’s microphone will be muted, except when it’s his turn to speak. No props or prewritten notes will be allowed onstage. The candidates will be given only a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.
There will be no opening statements. A coin flip determined Biden would stand at the podium to the viewer’s right, while Trump would deliver the final closing statement.
The next debate won't be until September. Any stumbles June 27 will be hard to erase or replace quickly.
Biden arrived at Camp David on Thursday night and is expected to hunker down with senior campaign aides until the debate. While traveling to the mountainside retreat, he gave a thumbs up to reporters when asked how debate prep was going.
The president’s aides have been reluctant to share details about his preparations, run by former chief of staff Ron Klain. But they've signaled he's preparing to be aggressive and wouldn't shy away from using the term “convicted felon” to describe his opponent.
One adviser not authorized to speak publicly about debate strategy noted Biden has been increasingly punchier in recent remarks about Trump and plans to carry that theme through to the debate. That’s still while trying to project himself as “the wise and steady leader” in contrast with Trump, the adviser said.
Among some political operatives, there's the sense Biden may have more to lose given his struggle to generate momentum amid signs of weakness within his political coalition. Trump and his allies have set an extraordinarily low bar, however, by suggesting for months Biden is contending with serious physical limitations that make it difficult for him to stand for 90 minutes or string together two sentences.
“It's like the mirror test. Put a mirror under Biden’s nose, and if it fogs it up, he wins, right? That’s about what the threshold is for Biden,” Republican strategist and Trump ally David Urban said with a laugh. “Can Biden demonstrate that he’s mentally nimble? That’s the big question.”
Yet Trump sought to shift expectations in a Thursday interview with the “The All-In Podcast” in which he veered sharply away from his typical Biden taunts. He said Biden “destroyed” vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan in their 2012 debate.
“I assume he’s going to be somebody that will be a worthy debater," Trump said of Biden. "I don’t want to underestimate him.”
Biden's aides have dismissed concerns about his age and mental readiness. They're fighting against what they allege is deceptive editing of video clips to suggest he's confused.
But while some Democrats project confidence, Biden's allies also say he has spent much of the last two weeks traveling — in Europe and on the West Coast — limiting his ability to prepare. Others note incumbent presidents typically struggle in the season's opening general election debate.
Messina made both points even as he sought to play up the political stakes for Trump. He suggested Trump was taking an unnecessary political risk by debating Biden.
“I wouldn’t have done the debate if I was him,” Messina said of Trump. The strategist added, “Why would you want to give him this air? He decided he wanted to do this to knock him out, and if he doesn’t, then I think he’s in real trouble.”
Trump’s team sees the faceoff as an opportunity to demonstrate a clear contrast with Biden's leadership ability and governing record.
And while downplaying his preparations, Trump aides have a pattern of insisting he doesn't prepare for debates when, in fact, he does — in his own way. Instead of mock debates with lecterns and stand-ins or hours spent poring over policy books, the ex-president is expected to rely on a series of conversations about policy and strategy with aides and political allies.
Trump will also make public appearances over the coming days.
On Saturday, he's set to host a rally in Philadelphia and deliver a keynote address to a conference of Christian conservatives in Washington. He also has a fundraiser in New Orleans on Monday before going to his Florida estate for meetings.
“Biden needs rehearsals with handlers to find some way to explain this mess he’s made of our nation,” Trump spokesman Brian Hughes said. "President Trump is always prepared to present to Americans his record of success and Biden’s weakness and failures.”
Biden's camp is aware Trump will likely focus on his son Hunter, as the then-president did on the debate stage four years ago. Hunter Biden was recently convicted on three felony charges related to the purchase of a gun while allegedly being addicted to drugs. Republicans have also criticized Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings when Joe Biden was vice president.
Biden's allies are also concerned, however, their famously combative rival might be on good behavior.
“For both campaigns, the goal here is reaching an audience of moderate, independent, swing voters in swing states who will, in many ways, be the deciding factor in this election,” said former Biden administration official Bill Russo.
“Trump has kind of a golden opportunity here. If he can pretend that he’s a reasonable human being for 90 minutes while he’s in the spotlight, he’s got a lot to gain,” Russo added. “The real key here is which Trump shows up.”
Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Jill Colvin in New York and Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Will Weissert in Washington contributed.
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, left, speaks at a campaign rally in Las Vegas, June 9, 2024, and President Joe Biden speaks at White House in Washington, June 4, 2024. Biden won the Democratic caucuses in Guam and the Virgin Islands on Saturday, June 8, the final two contests of a 2024 primary calendar that has set the stage for a historic general election rematch against Trump. Biden and Trump have largely pivoted to the general election, despite the persistent protest votes they faced in later contests. (AP Photo)
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event Tuesday, June 18, 2024, in Racine, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
President Joe Biden boards the Marine One helicopter at Gordons Pond State Park at Rehoboth Beach, Del., Thursday, June 20, 2024, en route to Camp David. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — Supporters of Bolivia’s president rallied outside his palace on Thursday, giving some political breathing room to the embattled leader as authorities made more arrests in a coup that shook the economically troubled country a day earlier.
Bolivia’s government announced that a total of 17 people had been arrested for their alleged involvement in the attempted government take-over, including the army chief, Gen. Juan José Zúñiga, who was arrested the day before.
The South American nation of 12 million watched in shock and bewilderment Wednesday as military forces appeared to turn on the government of President Luis Arce, seizing control of the capital’s main square with armored vehicles, repeatedly crashing a small tank into the presidential palace and unleashing tear gas on protesters. Zúñiga and former navy Vice Adm. Juan Arnez Salvador were both arrested and remained in custody.
Senior Cabinet member Eduardo del Castillo did not elaborate on the other 15 people who were arrested on Thursday other than to identify one civilian, Aníbal Aguilar Gómez, as the “mastermind” of the thwarted coup. He said the alleged conspirators began plotting in May.
Riot police guarded the palace doors and Arce — who has struggled to manage the country's shortages of foreign currency and fuel — emerged on the presidential balcony to condemn Zúñiga and declare that “no one can take democracy away from us.”
Analysts say that the surge of public support for Arce, even if fleeting, provides him with a reprieve from the country’s economic quagmire and political turmoil. The president is locked in a deepening rivalry with the popular former President Evo Morales, his erstwhile ally who has threatened to challenge Arce in 2025 primaries.
“The president’s management has been very bad, there are no dollars, there is no petrol,” said La Paz-based political analyst Paul Coca. “Yesterday’s military move is going to help his image a bit, but it’s no solution.”
Some protesters gathered outside the police station where the former army general was being detained, shouting that he should go to jail. “It’s a shame what Zúñiga did,” said 47-year-old Dora Quispe, one of the demonstrators. “We are in a democracy, not a dictatorship.”
Before his arrest late Wednesday, Zúñiga alleged without providing evidence that Arce had ordered the general to carry out the coup attempt in a ruse to boost the president’s popularity. That fueled a frenzy of speculation about what really happened, and opposition senators and government critics echoed the accusations, calling the mutiny a “self-coup" — a claim strongly denied by Arce's government.
In La Paz's main Plaza Murillo, supporters addressed Arce, yelling, “Lucho, you are not alone!” as fireworks exploded overhead. Lucho, a common nickname for Luis, also means “fight" as a Spanish verb.
Some Bolivians said they believed Gen. Zúñiga's allegations on national TV that the coup attempt was a hoax.
“They are playing with the intelligence of the people, because nobody believes that it was a real coup,” said 48-year-old lawyer Evaristo Mamani.
Lawmakers and former officials, particularly those allied with Morales, bolstered the allegations. “This has been a setup,” said Carlos Romero, a former official in the Morales government. “Zúñiga followed the script as he was ordered."
Soon after the military maneuver was underway, it became clear that any attempted takeover had no meaningful political support. The rebellion ended bloodlessly by the end of the business day. Arce named a new army commander, who ordered troops to retreat.
“Here we are, firm, in the presidential palace, to confront any coup attempt,” Arce said after facing down Zúñiga. Hundreds of the president's supporters surged into streets surrounding the palace Wednesday night, singing the national anthem and cheering for Arce.
The U.S. deputy secretary of state for management, Rich Verma, condemned Zuniga's actions and speaking in Paraguay on Thursday noted that “democracy remains fragile in our hemisphere.”
The short-lived mutiny followed months of mounting tensions between Arce and Morales, Bolivia's first Indigenous president. Morales has staged a dramatic political comeback since mass protests and a deadly crackdown prompted him to resign and flee in 2019 — a military-backed ouster that his supporters decry as a coup.
Morales has vowed to run against Arce in 2025 elections despite a constitutional court ruling that said he was ineligible because he had already served. The possibility of Morales running again has rattled Arce, whose popularity has plunged as the country’s foreign currency reserves dwindle, its natural gas exports plummet and its currency peg to the U.S. dollar collapses.
Morales’ allies in Congress have made it almost impossible for Arce to govern. The cash crunch has ramped up pressure on Arce to scrap food and fuel subsidies that have put a strain on state finances, a combustible move ahead of elections.
Defense Minister Edmundo Novillo said Wednesday's turmoil had its roots in a private meeting Tuesday in which Arce dismissed Zuñiga over the army chief’s threats to arrest Morales if he proceeded to join the 2025 race. Arce has also denied the legitimacy of Morales’ presidential bid.
In their meeting, Zuñiga gave officials no indication he was preparing to seize power, Novillo said.
"He admitted that he had committed some excesses,” he said of Zuñiga. “We said goodbye in the most friendly way, with hugs. Zuñiga said that he would always be at the side of the president.”
Mere hours later, panic gripped the capital of La Paz. Tailed by armored vehicles and supporters, Zuñiga burst into government headquarters and declared the armed forces sought “to restore Bolivia's democracy."
The influx of soldiers sent Bolivians into a frenzy, thronging ATMs, queuing outside gas stations and ransacking grocery stores. By one count, Bolivia has had more than 190 coup attempts and revolutions since its 1825 independence.
The country’s fragmented opposition rejected the coup even before it was clear it had failed. Former interim President Jeanine Áñez, detained for her role in Morales’ 2019 ouster, said that soldiers sought to “destroy the constitutional order," but appealed to both Arce and Morales not to run in the 2025 elections.
Even if proven false, the accusations of Arce's involvement stoked confusion and threatened more chaos. Santa Cruz Gov. Luis Fernando Camacho, also detained for allegedly orchestrating a coup in 2019, demanded answers.
“Was it a media spectacle put on by the government itself, as General Zúñiga says? Was it just some military madness? Was it simply another example of lack of control?” he wrote on social media platform X.
Zúñiga's answer came as a shock, telling reporters that Arce had asked him directly to storm the palace and bring armored vehicles into downtown La Paz.
“The president told me: ‘The situation is very screwed up, very critical. It is necessary to prepare something to raise my popularity,'” Zúñiga alleged the Bolivian leader told him.
Bolivian officials have insisted the general was lying to justify his actions. Prosecutors said they'd seek the maximum sentence of 15 to 20 years in prison for Zúñiga on charges of “attacking the constitution.”
Political experts have struggled to comprehend the reasons driving Wednesday's turmoil.
“This is the weirdest coup attempt I have ever seen,” said Kathryn Ledebur, director of the Andean Information Network, a Bolivia-based research group. “Bolivia’s democracy remains very fragile, and definitely a great deal more fragile today than it was yesterday.”
DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
People arrested in connection with the previous day's uprising are presented by the police to the press in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The government announced more arrests over their alleged involvement in what President Luis Arce called a coup attempt. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police guard the government palace the day after a now-ousted Bolivian army chief led some soldiers to storm the building in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The rebellion was short-lived as authorities arrested the general and his soldiers retreated. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
A supporter of Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist in front of the government palace in Plaza Murillo, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Arce addressed supporters who gathered in Plaza Murillo, after Wednesday’s apparent failed coup attempt. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Supporters of Bolivian President Luis Arce crowd into Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace located in Plaza Murillo, in an apparent coup attempt on Wednesday against Arce, but he vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Military police block entry to Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of government palace located in Plaza Murillo, on Wednesday, as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Alicia Chura, a supporter of Bolivian President Luis Arce, shouts against Juan Jose Zuniga, a former top Army general who led some soldiers to storm the presidential palace, outside police offices in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The rebellion was short-lived as authorities arrested Zuniga and his soldiers retreated. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Bolivian President Luis Arce raises a clenched fist surrounded by supporters and media, outside the government palace in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday in an apparent coup attempt against Arce, but he vowed to stand firm and named a new army commander who ordered troops to stand down. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
An armored vehicle and military police form outside the government palace at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Police guard the government palace the day after a former top Army general led some soldiers to storm the building in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The rebellion was short-lived as authorities arrested the general and his soldiers retreated. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Bolivian police hold the detained Juan Jose Zuniga, former general commander of the Army, in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. An apparent failed coup attempt erupted Wednesday in the country, and Zuniga appeared to be leading the rebellion. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Army Cmdr. Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga sits inside an armored vehicle at Plaza Murillo in La Paz, Bolivia, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Armored vehicles rammed into the doors of Bolivia's government palace Wednesday as President Luis Arce said the country faced an attempted coup. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Supporters of Bolivian President Luis Arce protest against Juan Jose Zuniga, a former top Army general who led some soldiers to storm the presidential palace, outside police offices in La Paz, Bolivia, Thursday, June 27, 2024. The signs read in Spanish, left, "No to the coup. Respect democracy!" and "Yes to democracy! Jail the coup plotters." Authorities arrested Zuniga and his soldiers retreated the previous day. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
