CNN sets up massive fence outside studio ahead of Trump-Biden debate as police brace for protests
Workers on Thursday erected a massive fence around the presidential debate site at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
Protesters are expected to descend on Georgia’s capital to demonstrate outside the first confrontation between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
A shirtless man braved the muggy heat to protest Biden early Thursday morning ahead of his arrival in Atlanta.
His signs read, “Lock Biden Up” and “Biden Has Betrayed America and Israel.”
The event marks the first time Biden (81) and Trump (78) have been in the same room since they debated twice in 2020.
A high fence surrounds the entire venue for Thursday night’s presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, amid concerns about mass protests and demonstrations outside CNN headquarters
A shirtless anti-Biden protester showed up outside the debate venue early with signs condemning the president for his Israel policies
But law enforcement expects Thursday night’s debate won’t be the only area where two opposing sides will clash.
One protest group expected to gather outside the debate are pro-Palestinian demonstrators, who have descended on public spaces across the country to voice their discontent with the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
It’s also likely that other protest groups could include pro-abortion protesters, environmentalists, and just general pro-Trump groups who are eager to follow the former president and express their support for his re-election and reiterate their belief that the 2020 election was stolen.
Georgia is extremely important to the 2024 presidential election and is one of seven states where the candidate will ultimately earn a second term in the White House.
Trump is facing one of his few criminal trials in Fulton County, which encompasses Atlanta, where District Attorney Fani Willis has brought a case alleging the former president and more than a dozen allies engaged in election meddling.
Georgia voted red for Trump in 2016 and for Biden in 2020. However, the former president and his allies claim that widespread fraud was the reason the Peach State turned blue.
A recording of an infamous phone call with then-Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shows Trump demanding he collect the more than 11,000 votes needed to overturn Biden’s victory.
Workers set up a large security fence around CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday morning ahead of the showdown
The fence is at least six feet high and surrounds the entire site of the first presidential debate
Law enforcement expects several groups of protesters outside the debate. These could be pro-Palestine, pro-abortion, environmentalists and pro-MAGA protesters.
CNN is holding one of the first general election showdowns in modern history after Trump and Biden publicly challenged and accepted the network’s offer to host the debate.
It comes before any of the candidates were officially nominated for their respective parties.
The Republican Convention is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in July and the Democrats hold their Convention in Chicago, Illinois in August.
The two presumptive 2024 presidential candidates also said they would debate after their nominations after ABC suggested a September 10 event.
Workers carry parts of the security fencing surrounding the debate site at CNN headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27