The current US president, Democrat Joe Biden, and the Republican candidate and former head of state, Donald Trump, faced each other during the first debate in the campaign for the November elections, organized by CNN in Atlanta.
This is the first time in the history of the United States that the current and former president of the state have faced each other.
Biden and Trump did not shake hands before the start of the debate.
The candidates accused each other of making untrue claims on topics ranging from veterans’ issues and border security to the state of the American economy and inflation, reports the Voice of America (VOA).
Trump has repeatedly attacked Biden for his management of the economy and his foreign policy. The current president highlighted Trump’s recent criminal convictions and that he considers the Republican nominee a “threat to democracy.”
It seemed that Biden lost his train of thought in a few moments, and he also had problems with a hoarse voice, which, as his election headquarters later stated, was the result of a cold.
Almost all public opinion surveys of the previous weeks and months indicate that the elections on November 5 will be very uncertain.
President Joe Biden has said he doubts Donald Trump will accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses, calling the former president a “whiner.”
“He can’t take defeat,” Biden said. “Something snapped inside you the last time you lost”.
Asked if he would recognize the results of the election, regardless of who wins, Trump did not directly answer. He noted several times that he would accept the results “if they were fair, legal and good elections”, but condemned political violence as “completely unacceptable”.
Biden said Trump left him with a collapsed economy, with rising unemployment. “We had to put things back together,” he said, adding that things were “terrible” under Trump and that he “didn’t do much at all,” using the word “chaos” several times.
Trump responded that the United States had the “greatest economy” when he was in office. “We were hit by COVID-19, and when it did, we spent the necessary money to avoid ending up in the Great Depression.”
“Everything was good,” Trump said, before attacking Biden over his COVID policies and economic agenda.
Biden said that during his mandate, American soldiers were not killed anywhere in the world, while Trump stated that the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan was “the most shameful day in the history of the life of our country.”
Speaking on abortion, Biden said overturning Roe v. Wade was a “terrible thing.” “The overwhelming majority of constitutional scholars upheld Roe v. Wade when it was decided,” Biden said.
He said that abortion is a woman’s decision in conversation with her doctor and promised to restore Roe v. Wade if he is re-elected. “No politician should make that decision.”
Trump said he would not block abortion drugs, noting that the Supreme Court has only upheld the right to drugs.
He reiterated that everyone wants states to decide whether abortion should be legal. “Every scientist … wanted it back in the states. Now the states are doing it.”
Speaking about migrants, Biden criticized the Trump administration for family separations that occurred during his administration. “Now you have a situation where 40 percent of people cross the border illegally. That’s better than when he left office,” he added.
Trump said that Biden’s immigration and “open borders” policies have contributed to the rise in crime. “We have to expel many of these people and we have to do it quickly, because they will destroy our country,” he said.
Trump was the first to talk about foreign policy, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to invade because he saw how incompetent Biden’s team was during the exit from the war in Afghanistan. When Putin saw that, he said, ‘You know what, I think we’re going in,'” Trump said.
When asked about Gaza, he replied that Israel should “finish the job” and that there would be no conflict if he were the president of the USA.
Biden accused Trump of telling Putin to do “whatever he wants,” which Putin denied. The current head of state said that Vladimir Putin is a “war criminal” who wants to re-establish part of the “old Soviet empire”.
“Do you think he wants to stop there [Ukraine]?… what do you think is happening with Poland, Belarus, those NATO countries?”.
Biden pulled out his signature catchphrase when Trump blamed him for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I’ve never heard so much nonsense in my life,” Biden said.
He also stated that Hamas is the only one that does not want the war in Gaza to end, repeating its strong support for Israel while stating that they must take care of civilian casualties.
Biden said Trump “encouraged” rioters to storm the Washington Capitol on January 6, 2021. He says the former president did nothing for “three hours” while then-Vice President Mike Pence “begged” him to do something, to call for a cease and desist. “Instead, he said that these people are great patriots of America,” Biden said, adding that the rioters should be in jail and held accountable.
Trump defended his actions during the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol building, when his supporters stormed the building in an attempt to prevent a peaceful handover of power after his election defeat.
In response, Trump said that the US’s reputation had suffered under Biden – but initially did not directly respond to a question about the day of the raid itself. “I said ‘peaceful’ and ‘patriotic,'” Trump added.
Biden also mentioned the recent court decision in which Trump was criminally convicted in New York on 34 counts of falsifying business records. “There is only one person who has been convicted of a criminal offense and I am looking at him now,” he said.
Biden added that Trump has “street cat morals” regarding his alleged relationship with Stormy Daniels, a former porn actress, which Trump denies.
Trump sought to clarify his promise to “go after his political opponents” if he became president, saying his retaliation would make the US a successful nation again.
Trump also referred to the recent criminal conviction against Biden’s son Hunter and suggested that President Biden should also be convicted of a crime “as soon as he leaves office” for his “horrific” behavior as president.
“This man is a criminal,” Trump said of Biden. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” Biden replied.
Asked to comment on voters’ concerns about his age, Biden said: “This man is three years younger and much less competent.”
This was followed by Trump’s answer, which said that he had successfully completed two tests of cognitive abilities.
Trump accused Biden of not doing enough to free Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter on trial in Russia on espionage charges.
Trump said he would release him before he even takes office if he wins the presidential election. “As soon as I win the election, I will release that journalist,” Trump says.
Speaking about climate change, Trump said he “wants clean air and clean water.” “And we had them,” he pointed out, claiming that his administration had “the best environmental numbers ever.”
Biden countered Trump’s claims, noting that the United States withdrew from the Paris climate accord under the former president.
The White House Correspondents’ Association said CNN denied multiple requests to include reporters in the studio during the first presidential debate between incumbent President Biden and Republican rival Trump.
The press corps, made up of representatives from major news organizations, including Reuters, follows the president on foreign and domestic trips and usually has access to all events where he speaks or makes public appearances to keep the US public informed.
It is extremely rare for them to be banned from an event in the United States.
“The WHCA is deeply concerned that CNN has refused our repeated requests to have members of the White House press pool in the studio,” said White House Correspondents’ Association President Kelly O’Donnell.
“These journalists are there to see what is being said and done when the microphones and cameras are off, and to provide independent observation,” she wrote, with duties “separate from producing the debate as news.”
O’Donnell said that representatives of both election headquarters agreed to the Association’s request, reports Radio Free Europe.
