The first debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump is about two weeks away, and the network hosting the debate has provided the rules that the two candidates will abide by.

What You Need To Know

  • CNN has provided further information about the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump

  • Both Biden and Trump will stand at neutral podiums, and the positioning of those podiums will be determined via coin flip

  • Candidates' microphones will be muted during the debate until it is their turn to speak, seemingly an effort to limit interruptions and crosstalk

  • There will be no audience at the debate, and no props or pre-written notes will be allowed; each candidate will be given a pen and a pad of paper with which to take notes, as well as a bottle of water

  • The debate will take place Thursday, June 27, at CNN’s studio in Atlanta

The debate will take place Thursday, June 27, at CNN’s studio in Atlanta — a key city in the crucial battleground state of Georgia. It will be moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, and the roughly 90 minute debate will include two commercial breaks.

According to the rules, which were agreed upon by both candidates’ campaigns, both Biden and Trump will stand at neutral podiums, and the positioning of those podiums will be determined via coin flip.

Candidates' microphones will be muted during the debate until it is their turn to speak, seemingly an effort to limit interruptions and crosstalk.

There will be no audience at the debate, and no props or pre-written notes will be permitted. However, each candidate will be given a pen and a pad of paper with which to take notes, as well as a bottle of water.

CNN said that in order to qualify for the debate stage, candidates must meet the thresholds to be a candidate under the U.S. Constitution, as well as be on the ballot in enough states to reach 270 Electoral College votes -- enough to win the White House -- and receive at least 15% in four national polls that meet the network's standards. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is working to get on the ballot in several states, has been fighting to get on the debate stage, even going as far as to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging collusion between the network and the Biden and Trump campaigns.

The debates took shape last month after Biden challenged Trump to face off, forgoing the traditional debates sponsored by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The second will take place in September, hosted by ABC News.

Trump quickly accepted and later challenged Biden to additional debates, including one hosted by Fox News in October, but Biden's campaign said no dice.

"We made clear what we wanted," Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz told Spectrum News last month. "We wanted two debates, we wanted to make sure it was fair and not focused on theater, but the actual policy issues here, and he agreed to them. But what Donald Trump is continuing to do, he's playing games with the American people because he does not want to talk about the issues ... enough with the games."

The debate will come ahead of the presidential nominating conventions -- when Trump and Biden will officially become their respective parties' nominees once again -- as well as ahead of Trump's sentencing in his New York hush money trial. A jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to an adult film star ahead of the 2016 election to cover up an alleged extramarital affair. Trump has denied the affair and has vowed to appeal his conviction.

Biden's campaign launched a $50 million ad blitz on Monday attacking Trump as a convicted felon, which will run ahead of the first debate through the end of June. Trump's campaign responded by baselessly calling his trial a sham.