--- title: First 2024 Presidential Debate Guests Include Mary Trump description: President Joe Biden’s guest at the 2024 presidential debate is none other than Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s estranged niece. canonical: https://time.com/6993301/first-presidential-debate-guests-mary-trump/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-06-28T00:05:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:51:46.444Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mary Trump is President Biden's Guest at Presidential Debate og:description: President Joe Biden’s guest at the 2024 presidential debate is Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s estranged niece. og:url: https://time.com/6993301/first-presidential-debate-guests-mary-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b562d1574a3ef2/698a5849b3fce351b40cd530/mary-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Jim Owles Winter Pride Gala Award Ceremony og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mary Trump is President Biden's Guest at Presidential Debate twitter:description: President Joe Biden’s guest at the 2024 presidential debate is Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s estranged niece. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b562d1574a3ef2/698a5849b3fce351b40cd530/mary-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump’s Estranged Niece and the Other Guests at the 2024 Presidential Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=13624136-e2f8-40f2-8e0c-568591edde28&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Jun 28, 2024 12:05 AM UTC  Mary L. Trump speaks during Jim Owles Winter Pride Gala Award Ceremony at Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on Jan. 20, 2023. Mary L. Trump speaks during Jim Owles Winter Pride Gala Award Ceremony at Hard Rock Cafe in New York City on Jan. 20, 2023. Johnny Nunez—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Jun 28, 2024 12:05 AM UTC President Joe Biden’s guest at the 2024 presidential debate is none other than Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s estranged niece. “We cannot afford to allow Donald Trump anywhere near the levers of power again,” Mary, a frequent critic of the Republican presidential nominee, said in a statement to the [New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/27/us/politics/biden-mary-trump-debate-surrogates.html) before the debate. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden is also rumored to be in attendance tonight. It is not yet clear who Trump will bring as his guest to the debate, but several politicians, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to show their support for Trump at a nearby watch party hosted by former Sen. Kelly Loeffler. In an interview with CNN just hours before the debate, Mary said that she has always been a “huge supporter of President Biden” and called this year “the most important election of my lifetime.” It's a title that was also heard in the last two presidential elections, which saw a similar showdown between Biden and Trump. Mary also shared a fundraising link to the [Biden campaign on X](https://x.com/MaryLTrump/status/1806455476919353834). The presidential debate is taking place on Thursday at 9 p.m. eastern time and is exclusively hosted by CNN. The 90-minute face-off between the candidates will be a little different this year, as there will be [no live audience](https://time.com/6989804/how-to-watch-presidential-debate-cnn/) and microphones will be muted. Get alerts on the biggest breaking news stories [**here**](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=breaking-news) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6993301/first-presidential-debate-guests-mary-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6993301/first-presidential-debate-guests-mary-trump/"},"headline":"Donald Trump’s Estranged Niece and the Other Guests at the 2024 Presidential Debate","datePublished":"2024-06-28T00:05:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:51:46.444Z","description":"President Joe Biden’s guest at the 2024 presidential debate is none other than Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s estranged niece.","url":"https://time.com/6993301/first-presidential-debate-guests-mary-trump/","keywords":["2024 Elections","Donald Trump","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b562d1574a3ef2/698a5849b3fce351b40cd530/mary-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Solcyré Burga","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt41b562d1574a3ef2/698a5849b3fce351b40cd530/mary-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jim Owles Winter Pride Gala Award Ceremony","caption":"Mary L. 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