Presidential debate 2024: Photos reveal the subtle stage modifications for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

From Rob Crilly, Chief U.S. Political Correspondent for DailyMail.com

When Donald Trump takes to the debate stage tonight he will have one clear advantage. At 6ft 3in he will tower over 5ft 4in Kamala Harris.

He has already used the issue as a wedge.

'No boxes or artificial lifts will be allowed to stand on during my upcoming debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,' he posted on his Truth Social platform. Any such allowance would be 'a form of cheating.'

It seems the Harris campaign has come up with a workaround. Images of the debate stage show clearly that her lectern is considerably shorter than Trump's, avoiding the appearance that she is dwarfed by the apparatus of politics.

It is not the first time she has done this. Her aides bought new chairs when she moved into the VP's office, reflecting the fact that it was now in use by a more petite figure than previous occupants.

But Trump's campaign staff say the visuals will be jarring.

Malpractice mistake by the Harris team. Somebody is going to get fired.

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By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kamala Harris is losing support among independent voters with just eight weeks until the 2024 election.

Donald Trump leads the vice president in this demographic 49 percent to 46 percent, according to a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll released the day of their first debate.

Of all voters, the two candidates are only split by 1 percentage point.

The Tuesday results among independents show a 7-point dip for Harris from August, which was her first full month in the presidential race.

It's likely that third party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspending his campaign last month helped with Trump's uptick in support among independent voters.

In 2020, President Joe Biden won independent voters by 15 points.

'Those are two important groups that are likely to be the ones who the campaigns are going to be targeting very heavily throughout the campaign,' said Cook Political Report Editor-in-Chief Amy Walter, referencing independent and Lantino voters.

Of all voters polled in the latest survey, a third say that the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday will help determine who they will cast their ballot for in November.

From Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Pennsylvania:

The 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is must see TV Tuesday night, but crucial voters in Pennsylvania tell DailyMail.com even though they’re tuning in, their minds are made up about 2024.

Michael Redel from Chester County is a decided voter but he will be watching.

‘I hope to get some direction for the country, more than for myself,’ he said.

He will be voting for Harris.

‘I think right now, our Democracy is top of mind for me,’ he said. He is a registered Democrat but was once an Independent and hopes to go back to it someday.

‘I agree with her policies, and I don’t think Trump should be president,’ Redel said.

Kayla Quinn for Delaware County said she will likely vote for Trump because she’s frustrated about where her tax dollars are going, but she will still watch the debate.

‘I’m looking for real arguments, not just petty back and forth,’ she said. ‘I just want to see some real arguments and some real solutions brought up.’

From Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Pennsylvania:

The 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is must see TV Tuesday night, but crucial voters in Pennsylvania tell DailyMail.com even though they’re tuning in, their minds are made up about 2024.

Michael Redel from Chester County is a decided voter but he will be watching.

‘I hope to get some direction for the country, more than for myself,’ he said.

He will be voting for Harris.

‘I think right now, our Democracy is top of mind for me,’ he said. He is a registered Democrat but was once an Independent and hopes to go back to it someday.

‘I agree with her policies, and I don’t think Trump should be president,’ Redel said.

Kayla Quinn for Delaware County said she will likely vote for Trump because she’s frustrated about where her tax dollars are going, but she will still watch the debate.

‘I’m looking for real arguments, not just petty back and forth,’ she said. ‘I just want to see some real arguments and some real solutions brought up.’

From Sarah Ewall-Wice, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Pennsylvania:

The 2024 presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is must see TV Tuesday night, but crucial voters in Pennsylvania tell DailyMail.com even though they’re tuning in, their minds are made up about 2024.

Michael Redel from Chester County is a decided voter but he will be watching.

‘I hope to get some direction for the country, more than for myself,’ he said.

He will be voting for Harris.

‘I think right now, our Democracy is top of mind for me,’ he said. He is a registered Democrat but was once an Independent and hopes to go back to it someday.

‘I agree with her policies, and I don’t think Trump should be president,’ Redel said.

Kayla Quinn for Delaware County said she will likely vote for Trump because she’s frustrated about where her tax dollars are going, but she will still watch the debate.

‘I’m looking for real arguments, not just petty back and forth,’ she said. ‘I just want to see some real arguments and some real solutions brought up.’

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

President Joe Biden paid tribute to the late actor James Earl Jones on Tuesday.

In a statement released by the White House, Biden remarked how he had last seen the Star Wars, Lion King and Coming to America star a decade ago when the actor was honored with the Lincoln Medal at D.C.'s Ford’s Theatre.

That award, Biden wrote, was for 'exemplary character and accomplishments on film and stage.'

'I admired him for something else as well, something we both had in common - overcoming a childhood stutter to find our voice for something bigger than ourselves,' the president said.

'His legendary voice boomed wherever it was heard, an instrument and imprint that reverberated in the hearts of audiences worldwide,' Biden offered. 'And we’ve all heard it.'

The president noted how Jones' voice 'made us stop, stayed with us, and inspired us to reflect on everything from race and power, good and evil, to our place in the world.'

Biden pointed to Jones' rare accomplishment of earning an EGOT - collecting Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards - and how he was a distinguished Army veteran.

Jones passed away at the age of 93 on Monday.

By Nikki Schwab, Chief Campaign Correspondent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

A very refreshed looking Hillary Clinton is pictured on the cover of her forthcoming book Something Lost, Something Gain: Reflections on life, love, and liberty.

The 76-year-old former Democratic presidential nominee, secretary of state, senator and first lady promoted the upcoming release Tuesday on X.

'My new book, Something Lost, Something Gained, is out a week from today. I'm so excited to share it with you,' she wrote.

In the book, she 'moves past her dream of being president' and 'dives into new activism for women and democracy.'

She goes 'canoeing with an ex-Nazi' and details an effort to get Afghan women out of Afghanistan during the U.S. pull-out of the war.

The book comes as another woman, Vice President Kamala Harris, attempts to break the glass ceiling and become the nation's first female president - going up against the same rival, Donald Trump, that robbed Clinton of the opportunity eight years ago.

Harris and Trump will go head-to-head later tonight in their first general election debate.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Speaker Mike Johnson awarded the families of the 13 U.S. service members who were killed during the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal with Congressional Gold Medals on Tuesday.

The emotional ceremony took place under the stately U.S. Capitol Dome as a military quartet played solemn and respectful melodies to honor the sacrifice of the many young men and women killed.

The families of the lost soldiers sat quietly as Republican and Democratic leaders eulogized the fallen and paid their respects.

'The families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency, appreciation and recognition,' Johnson said opening the ceremony.

'Although we can never fully measure your lost, we can and we must memorialize the ultimate sacrifice that was paid.'

The White House has slammed 'dangerous' claims that Haitian migrants are abducting and eating pets in Ohio.

The Biden administration was responding to the allegations sparked by a town council meeting in Springfield that quickly spread on social media.

‘This kind of misinformation is dangerous,’ national security communications adviser John Kirby said on Tuesday.

‘Because there will be people that believe it, no matter how ludacris and stupid it is. And they might act on that kind of misinformation and act on it in a way where somebody can get hurt so it needs to stop.’

The Springfield Police Division has said it has received no reports about anyone stealing or eating pets.

Kirby noted that the Springfield police said it is not happening and called the claims 'absolute nonsense'.

A new poll out of Florida shows a much tighter race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump than expected in the state that has been progressively trending red in recent years.

The Morning Consult poll shows the Republican presidential up by only two points in his home state. It has Trump at 49 percent and Harris at 47 percent with the margin of error at two points.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Kamala Harris is bringing two former Donald Trump officials with her to the debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Once Trump's White House communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, and Olivia Troye, a former Homeland Security advisor to then-Vice President Mike Pence, are coming to the debate for the Democratic candidate.

Both will speak out against the former president and advocate for Harris' election at the site of the first debate between the vice president and Trump before the candidates take stage on Tuesday evening.

North Carolina is working to reprint millions of ballots after the state Supreme Court ruled election officials must remove Robert Kennedy Jr.' name from the ballots.

The state was set to mail out more than 132,000 ballots in its first round last week, but it had to delay after Kennedy sued to have his name removed.

More than half of counties in the state had already started printing 2024 ballots before Kennedy officials reached out to election officials. He withdrew from the race in August, but his name was still on the ballot.

An appeals court last week granted Kennedy's request to halt ballots going out, but the state board of elections took their request to the state Supreme Court, which ruled in Kennedy's favor 4-3.

The first ballots were set to go out on Friday as state law requires they start going out no later than 60 days before the election.

The Democratic National Committee is making a massive push for the youth vote in Philadelphia ahead of the presidential debate.

The DNC is launching its effort across Philadelphia college campuses to go after Doanld Trump and tie him to the Project 2025 agenda.

It push targets more than 100,000 Philadelphia area students with new campus kiosks at Drexel University, Lafayette College, Temple University, University of Pennsylvania and Widener University

Their message is to urge students to google Project 2025, a conservative agenda Trump has attempted to distance himself from.

They are distributing flyers across campuses about what Project 2025 means for abortion access, education funding, housing and other issues.

'Young people in Philadelphia have the power to make a difference in this election. As students in Philadelphia return to campus, Democrats are making sure they know that their future hangs in the balance this November,' said DNC spokesperson Addy Toevs.

On the day of the presidential debate, Kamala Harris is out with a new ad featuring Barack Obama mocking Donald Harris about crowd size.

The ad features footage from Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention where he made fun of Trump's obsession with the size of his crowds.

'This weird obsession with crowd sizes... it just goes on, and on, and on,' Obama says in the ad.

Harris has been trying to get under Trump's skin ahead of tonight's showdown. She released an ad on Monday featuring former members of his administration questioning his ability to be president.

ABC News is tapping some of its biggest stars to moderate the presidential debate in Philadelphia Tuesday night, and they're not ones that have been in Donald Trump's line of fire.

David Muir, 50, is the host and managing editor of 'ABC World News Tonight' and co-anchor of 20/20. He has been at ABC News since 2003.

Linsey Davis, 46, is the host of ABC’s nightly streaming news broadcast 'ABC News Live Prime' and the anchor of the Sunday edition of 'World News Tonight.' She moderated two 2020 Democratic primary debates.

By Jon Michael Raasch, U.S. Political Reporter for DailyMail.com

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo will be grilled before Congress Tuesday over his handling of the COVID pandemic as he's accused of perpetrating the number of nursing home deaths.

The ex-Empire State executive has largely flown under the radar since resigning in 2021 after being accused of sexual harassment while on the job, including but not limited to giving unwanted kisses, breast groping, sexual remarks and more.

But after sitting for a seven-hour closed-door interview with Congress' COVID Select Committee earlier this year, the group's Chairman Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, decided Cuomo needed to return to D.C. for a public session.

And the Ohio Republican can't wait to ask the 'Love Gov' about his role in crafting state mandates that forced nursing homes not to accept sick patients, despite his self-congratulatory book on leadership during the pandemic.

Melania Trump released a new video on Tuesday, questioning law enforcement's role in the assassination attempt on her husband Donald Trump.

She indicated the full story wasn't being told and hinted at a conspiracy, saying there' s 'more to the story' and 'we need to uncover the truth.'

'The attempt to end my husband's life was a horrible, distressing experience,' she said in the 10 second video posted to her social media accounts.

'Now the silence around it feels heavy. I can't help but wonder why didn't law enforcement officials arrest shooter before the speech. There is definitely more to this story. And we need to uncover the truth,' she added.

The video ends with a shot of her forthcoming memoir 'Melania.'

In the video, the former first lady, 54, is dressed in black, speaking with a black screen behind her. Ominous music plays in the background.

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The time has come for Donald Trump and Kamala Harris to meet on stage for what could be one of the most consequential presidential debates in decades.

The race is on a knife's edge with polls showing the candidates - who have never met - neck and neck with just eight weeks to go until Election Day in November.

Their performances in the primetime showdown on ABC at 9pm in Philadelphia could make or break their chances of taking the White House in what has been an already historic campaign.

Just seven weeks into her campaign, the stakes couldn't be higher for Harris in the biggest moment of her career.

The millions expected to tune in already know Trump, but the vice president has yet to fully introduce herself as the Democratic candidate. She has only engaged in one sit-down interview and has not held a press conference as the nominee.

Trump is expected to go after Harris' record and make her answer for it publicly on stage for the first time.

Meanwhile, some speculate that Harris will try to goad Trump into making a mistake.

Pennsylvania, where the debate takes place, is one of the seven battleground states that will determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election.

And the stakes for Harris couldn't be higher when it comes to winning Pennsylvania. No Democratic presidential nominee has won the White House without clinching the Keystone State since 1948.

The battle for the White House now comes down to a choice between freedom or power, according to a survey of likely voters.

It shows how the idea of Kamala Harris and the idea of Donald Trump has crystallised into a single word in the minds of Americans.

When 300 voters in seven swing states were asked for one word to describe what they thought Harris most wanted to achieve in office, the most popular answers were: 'Freedom,' 'equality' and the words 'middle' and 'class.'

For Trump the answer was 'power,' alongside 'dictator and 'revenge. ('Revenge' was the most popular response when DailyMail.com and J.L. Partners asked the question at the end of last year.)

It suggests that the two campaigns have had some success in getting their messages through to voters.

Tonight marks the first time Vice President Kamala Harris will meet former President Donald Trump.

The Democrat and the Republican will participate in the second 2024 general election debate, but with some major changes since the Atlanta showdown in late June between Trump and President Joe Biden.

The biggest change - obviously - is that Biden has bowed out of the race, with Harris now topping the Democratic ticket, picking Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate.

It was his disastrous June debate performance - and pleas from a number of top Democrats - that compelled the 81-year-old president to do so, in late July.

Also since the last debate, Trump survived a July 13 assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The rules are officially set for the much anticipated presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris after the campaigns went head-to-head over whether microphones would be muted raising questions over the showdown would even happen.

The high-stakes event hosted by ABC News is set to take place on Tuesday, September 10 in Philadelphia. It will be the first and potentially only time the ex-president and vice president ever come face-to-face.

Both candidates are facing pressure to deliver a knockout performance on the debate stage which will take less than 60 days before Election Day as some voters will already be able to cast ballots.

The 90 minute must-see event will be moderated by ABC News anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis who will be the only ones asking questions.

Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in the most important political debate of her career on Tuesday evening, but she has a very mixed record on the stage.

Harris participated in multiple presidential debates with a gaggle of aspirational Democrats during her failed 2020 presidential campaign, as she struggled to break free of the pack and go viral.

Tuesday's debate with Harris marks Trump's seventh general election debate since 2016, while this is Harris' first with a Republican presidential candidate.

Political strategists who have prepared Republican candidates spoke to the DailyMail about her strengths and weaknesses in debates.

Harris is very good about preparing, rehearsing, and deploying prepared lines, even though her attempts to go viral do not always come off with a hit.