Donald Trump, Joe Biden to finally face each other in first debate this year M Haris

United States President Joe Biden and rival Donald Trump are set to engage in their first 2024 debate in what promises to be a high-stakes event, the BBC reported.

The debate, which will be hosted by CNN, will mark the third face-off between the Democrat and Republican candidates, after their previous two encounters in the 2020 elections.

Biden, 81, is intensively preparing for the debate with the assistance of Ron Klain, his former chief of staff.

Bob Bauer, who previously served as White House counsel under former president Barack Obama, will portray Trump, 78, in the mock debates with Biden, CBS News reported.

The Biden campaign on Sunday also said it plans to host hundreds of watch parties and events in battleground US states across to mark the upcoming debate.

Along with 1,600 events, the campaign said it will run a new batch of TV and digital advertisements in a bid to connect with voters.

According to Biden’s campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu, one of the strategies will be to attack the Republican rival on his legal troubles and character.

Meanwhile, the Republican has forgone traditional debate preparations and has instead been holding a series of meetings in recent weeks with US senators and advisors.

Trump has been reviewing with them at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida the policy points he would like to make during Thursday’s showdown.

“He is thinking about how to translate these really, really important topics into a message that works,” said Republican Senator JD Vance in an interview with Fox News earlier this week.

According to The Hill newspaper, Trump is also discussing how to approach topics like the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot, which Biden has called attack on American democracy.