Joe Biden and Donald Trump have held the first presidential debate, where the president struggled to speak and the Republican was dogged by his criminal trials.
Held in Atlanta, Georgia, the CNN-hosted debate marked a rematch four years in the making.
With one candidate’s microphone turned off while the other was speaking, Trump and Biden slugged at each other’s record in office for 90 minutes.
Read the Trump v Biden debate as it happened live here
The mediators divided the debate in to subjects, but both candidates evaded questions and stuck to their favoured topics.
Here’s the key topics Biden and Trump clashed on….
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Biden and Trump squabble about golf handicaps
Economy
With a hoarse voice – which his aides later briefed was because of a cold – Biden started the debate by blaming Trump for the state he left the economy in when he left office.
Trump however praised his own record, saying: “We have the greatest economy in the history of our country, and we have never done so well.”
He claimed he ran a higher deficit to stop another Great Depression during the COVID pandemic, before accusing Biden of doing a “poor job,” saying inflation is “killing” the country, and adding: “It’s probably the worst administration in history.”
Moderators noted Trump’s administration approved $8.4 trillion in new debt, while so far Biden has approved $4.3 trillion in new debt.
When asked about tax cuts he passed that are set to expire in 2025, Trump said they “spurred the greatest economy we’ve ever seen just prior to COVID,” and added: “The country was going like never before, and we were ready to start paying down debt”.
Read more: In command Trump and stumbling Biden face off in first presidential debate
Biden then attacked Trump over having the largest national debt of any president and insisted he will fix the tax system. But while saying his administration was “making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I was able to do with the COVID,” Biden stumbled.
He continued to say “excuse me – with dealing with everything we have to do with – look – if we finally beat Medicare,” before pausing until the end of his allotted time.
Trump picked right up on it and fired back: “That’s right, he did beat Medicaid, he beat it to death. And he’s destroying Medicare.”
Joe Biden appeared to freeze during the debate, and aides said he had a cold Pic: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Abortion & Roe v Wade
Trump has taken credit for appointing Supreme Court judges who revoked the Roe v Wade ruling in 2022. It underpinned federal protections for the rights of abortions, and has been a fixture of Biden’s re-election campaign.
When asked about a recent Supreme Court ruling decision to approve abortion medication despite state bans, Trump supported it and insisted returning power on abortion to state governments was what “everyone wanted”.
After discussing how “the states are working it out”, Trump added: “I believe in the exceptions. I am a person that believes, and frankly, I think it’s important to believe in the exceptions.”
Biden then told Trump “it’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done” in overturning Roe v Wade, and said he was making it harder for women in large swathes of the country to get access to basic health care.
The president also said he supported abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy and that “no politician should be making that decision” on when one should take place.
“A doctor should be making those decisions,” he added. “That’s how it should be run. That’s what you’re going to do. And if I’m elected, I’m going to restore Roe v Wade.”
Trump claimed that removing Roe v Wade and leaving abortion rights to states was what ‘everyone wanted’ Pic: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Immigration
While time was allotted for immigration as a topic on its own, Trump hammered Biden on the issue throughout the debate, including after the Democrat’s first answer on abortion.
Read more: Trump and Biden vow tough action in rival Texas visits
“There have been many young women murdered by the same people,” the former president said. “He allows to come across our border.”
Later on, Biden was asked why he should be trusted on immigration after a record number of illegal migrants have crossed the border from Mexico under his current administration.
He pointed to how he brought in “significant increased number of asylum officers”, and attacked Trump’s record in office
After another rambling answer, Trump said: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
He then claimed that under his administration, the US “had the safest border in the history of our country.” In a terse moment, Biden spoke about Trump’s previous comments on veterans, where he was alleged to have called those who died in war “suckers and losers”.
The president got personal in evoking his son, Beau Biden, who served in Iraq before dying of brain cancer, and told Trump: “My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”
‘My son was not a loser… You’re the sucker. You’re the loser’ Pic: Reuters
Foreign policy
Another topic Trump returned to often was the US’ withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
After 20 years in the Middle Eastern country, the Taliban seized control almost immediately after American troops withdrew.
Near the start of the debate, he said: “It was the most embarrassing day in the history of this country’s life.”
Later, Trump attempted to link Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the fall of Kabul, claiming that Vladimir Putin “watched” the US withdrawal.
In a sprawling answer, he claimed: “When Putin saw that, he said ‘you know what? I think we’re going to go in and maybe take my’ – this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream.
“The difference is he never would have invaded Ukraine. Never. Just like Israel would have never been invaded in a million years by Hamas.”
Biden said, “I never heard so much malarkey in my whole life” before defending his record on foreign policy, pointing to how “we got over 100,000 Americans and others out” of Afghanistan and to Trump’s comments on NATO.
On Israel, both candidates vowed support. Biden touted his May ceasefire offer, while Trump said of the president: “He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian.”
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People attend a debate watch party at Union Pub on Capitol Hill in Washington Pic: REUTERS/Nathan Howard
Democracy and January 6
When asked about what he would say to voters who were concerned about a possible second term for Trump after the January 6th riots, the former president again touted his economic and immigration records.
When asked the question again by the moderators, Trump then made false claims about former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and about an offer of sending the National Guard.
Biden said Trump “didn’t do a damn thing” to stop his supporters marching on Capitol Hill while the 2020 election results were being certified, saying the rioters “should be in jail… and he wants to let them all out”.
He then called Trump a “convicted felon” over being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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Biden added: “Think of all the civil penalties you have. How many billions of dollars do you own civil penalties for? For molesting a woman in public?
“For doing a whole range of things, of having sex with a porn star on the night and while your wife is pregnant? I mean, what what are you talking about? You have the morals of an alley cat.”
Trump repeated false claims the 2020 election was “rigged and disgusting” and added: “I did not have sex with a porn star.”
Moderators directly asked the former president towards the end of the debate whether he will condemn any form of political violence and whether he will accept the result of the upcoming election.
“The answer is, if the election is fair, free… and I want that more than anybody,” he said, before changing the subject mid-sentence – stopping just short of saying outright that he would accept the result.