Trump-Clinton presidential debate moderators are announced

NBC News chief anchor Lester Holt will moderate the first scheduled presidential debate on Sept. 26. ABC's Martha Raddatz and CNN's Anderson Cooper are doing the second and Fox News Channel's Chris Wallace the third.

The first debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is planned for Hofstra University on Long Island, New York.

The second debate will be held in St. Louis on Oct. 9, with the final debate Oct. 19 in Las Vegas.

The first and third debates between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump will be question-and-answer sessions on six separate topics chosen by the moderators and revealed a week in advance. Wallace will moderate the third debate. Raddatz and Cooper will team up for the second session, a town hall-style meeting with half of the questions to be posed by audience members.

Each of the debates is scheduled for 90 minutes, with a 9 p.m. ET start time.

The commission avoided potential political problems by not selecting Fox's Megyn Kelly, whose tough questioning angered Trump in the first GOP candidates' debate last summer, and ABC's George Stephanopoulos, who was a White House aide of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.

It will be the first time that the general election campaign's much-anticipated first debate won't be moderated by the now-retired Jim Lehrer of PBS since 1984.

The Commission on Presidential Debates on Friday also announced that CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano will moderate the vice presidential debate on Oct. 4 in Farmville, Va., between Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Tim Kaine.

The presidential election is Nov. 8.