Joe Biden gave a stumbling performance in a 90-minute showdown with Donald Trump – the first televised debate of the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Democrats expressed concern at the president’s performance – with party insiders saying his early answers triggered panic
But Vice-President Kamala Harris defended Biden, saying it “was a slow start, but there was a strong finish”
Trump repeatedly attacked Biden on the economy and his foreign policy record, while Biden took aim at his rival’s criminal conviction and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election
Biden called Trump a “sucker”, a “loser,” and said he had the “morals of an alley cat”
Trump hit back, and said at one point: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, and I don’t think he did either”
Trump also repeated falsehoods – from abortion, to taxes and the deficit – and at first avoided answering if he would accept the 2024 election result
One of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s attack lines after the debate was that Trump “would not give a clear answer on whether he would stand by the election results”.
Asked repeatedly by reporters if he would accept this November’s result, Trump avoided an unequivocal answer.
On the third attempt, Trump said he would accept the results “if it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely”.
The former president then repeated his unfounded claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.
