US Elections 2024: Joe Biden, Donald Trump complete presidential debate — inflation, Jan 6, crime in focus | Top Updates

US Elections 2024: Current United States President Joe Biden and Republican presidential hopeful and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first debate on July 27 in Atlanta, hosted by CNN.

Their unpopular rematch in a live televised, no-audience debate saw a raspy-voiced Biden begin by confronting Trump even as his rival attacked the economy and "leaned into falsehoods" on illegal immigration and his role in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, according to an AP report.

There are widespread concerns that 81-year-old Biden is "too old" to be president, as he seemed to lose his train of thought during the debate; while 78-year-old Trump attempted to dodge acknowledgement of his felony conviction in New York amid fears about his "bombast" style of office, it added.

No Handshake, Debate Begins

The two candidates strode on stage and walked directly to their lecterns, avoiding a handshake.

The first question went to Biden, pressed to defend rising inflation since he took office, which he pinned on the situation he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Biden needed to clear his throat twice during his first answer, sounding hoarse, and Trump smirked as Biden started speaking.

The current president and his predecessor hadn't spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort to overturn his loss that culminated in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection by his supporters.

Here are the Top 11 Updates from the Debate

• Trump was asked about his actions on January 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 loss to Biden. “On January 6, we were respected all over the world, all over the world we were respected. And then he comes in, and we’re now laughed at,” Trump said.
• Trump proceeded to blame then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi when asked about "not doing enough" to call off his supporters as they stormed the Capitol. Biden also took this as a chance to attack: "He encouraged the supporters to go to the Capitol and sat in the White House without taking action as they fought with police officers. He didn’t do a damn thing and these people should be in jail. They should be the ones that are being held accountable. And he wants to let them all out. And now he says that if he loses again, such a whiner that he is, that this could be a ‘bloodbath’?”
• Biden also appeared to lose his train of thought while answering, drifting from an answer on tax policy to health policy, at one point using the word “COVID,” and then saying, “excuse me, with, dealing with,” and he trailed off again. “Look, we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said as his time ran out on his answer.
• Trump took this chance to allege that Biden was weakening Medicaid because of migrants coming into the country illegally. AP reported that this is false.
• Biden also took emotional charge at Trump by invoking his son Beau, who served in Iraq. “My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser,” he said. Trump reportedly called Americans killed in battle “suckers and losers”.
• Trump, in turn, said "never said that" and criticised Biden for the US's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• Biden also invoked Trump's hush money trial, stating, "You have the morals of an alley cat," to which Trump said Biden could face criminal charges “when he leaves office” and that “this man is a criminal.”
• On inflation, Biden blamed the economy he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic and said that “things were in chaos,” to which Trump disagreed: “Everything was rocking good.”
• Trump also sought credit for the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs Wade through his appointment of three conservative justices to the court and said a restriction on abortions was what “everybody wanted.”
• Biden countered that abortion access was settled for 50 years and that Trump was making it harder for women across the country to get access to basic health care.
• Trump also blamed Biden for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, saying these conflicts occurred because the aggressors perceived Biden as weak.

No Audience For Debate

Thursday’s broadcast on CNN, moderated by anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, marked the earliest general election debate in history. It’s the first-ever televised general election presidential debate hosted by a single news outlet after both campaigns ditched the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates, which had organized every matchup since 1988.

Aiming to avoid a repeat of their chaotic 2020 matchups, Biden insisted — and Trump agreed — to hold the debate without an audience and to allow the network to mute the candidates’ microphones when it is not their turn to speak. The debate's two commercial breaks offered another departure from modern practice, while the candidates have agreed not to consult staff or others while the cameras are off.

Trump and his aides have spent months chronicling what they argue are signs of Biden’s diminished stamina. In recent days, they’ve started to predict Biden will be stronger on Thursday, aiming to raise expectations for the incumbent.

Biden’s team too predicted that he would rise to the occasion, and expressed hope that Trump would be forced to address his positions they believe are anathema to voters.

“Joe’s ready to go. He’s prepared. He’s confident,” his wife, Jill Biden, told donors ahead of the debate. “You know what a great debater he is.”

(With inputs from AP)