Muted mics among rules for June 27 CNN presidential debate

June 15 (UPI) -- The rules for a presidential debate hosted by CNN and scheduled for June 27 in Atlanta seek to maintain civility and minimize interruptions by participants.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump so far are the only debaters scheduled despite neither officially being nominated by their respective political parties.

The 90-minute debate is scheduled before the respective Republican and Democratic party conventions officially nominate their candidates. The GOP convention is July 15-18 in Milwaukee and the Democrats gather Aug. 19-22 in Chicago.

Biden and Trump are the presumptive nominees whose campaigns have agreed to the event's debate rules.

The debate won't include opening statements by the participants, each of whom will have two minutes to answer questions.

Mics also will be muted until a candidate responds to questions or otherwise is required to speak.

The candidates will have uniform podiums and will flip a coin to determine which will be placed at which podiums.

While at their respective podiums, each will have a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water.

They won't have access to pre-written notes or props while on the debate stage.

There will be no studio audience, and the debate moderators are CNN's Dana Bash and Jake Tapper.

Independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr. also seeks inclusion in the CNN debate as an independent candidate.

His campaign on May 28 filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission seeking to halt the upcoming debate until his concerns are addressed.

Kennedy says the CNN debate criteria for his campaign differ from those for Trump and Biden and unfairly exclude him from participating.

The debate violates federal election laws due to the differing criteria, he says.