***Live Updates*** Debate Night: Donald Trump Vs. ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden

Joe Biden
Morry Gash-Pool/Getty Images

President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden will square off in the first presidential debate on Tuesday evening at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for live updates.

All times Eastern.


1:05 AM:

12:35 AM:

12:32 AM: Nate Silver’s take:

12:30 AM:

12:25 AM: Biden campaign already up with t-shirts:

12:20 AM: NBC’s Chuck Todd:

12:15 AM:

11:59 PM: Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien:

“President Trump just turned in the greatest debate performance in presidential history, displaying a command of the facts and control of the conversation. Joe Biden was revealed as too weak to be president and spent most of the evening on his heels, unable to explain his 47 years of failure as a Washington politician, and even his friends in the liberal media will be unable to spin this as anything other than a miserable failure. Biden is too weak to stand up to the radical left, too weak to stand up to China, too weak to stand up to anti-police leftists, too weak to lead on the economy, and too weak to defeat Covid. Americans saw a strong president on top of his game against an inadequate challenger, who cannot be allowed to become president.”

11:55 PM:

11:50 PM:

11:40 PM:

11:35 PM: Clinton loyalist Begala: Trump needs rabies test:

11:10 PM: Annoying debate:

11:05 PM: Calls to cut off mics:

11:02 PM:

10:58 PM: Resistance Twitter optimistic:

10:57 PM: AOC: “Fascism at our door.”

Trump galvanizing Bernie supporters:

10:47 PM: MSNBC’s Maddow:

MSNBC’s Hayes:

10:46 PM: CNN’s Anderson Cooper says “there is not a moral fiber” in Trump and Trump is “obesely immoral.” He says you could not have watched the debate and be “proud of our president.”

CNN’s David Axelrod thinks Trump may have ended his presidency tonight.

10:40 PM: CNN’s Jake Tapper says the debate was a “disgrace” primarily because of President Trump, who didn’t abide by the ground rules. Tapper says “the American people lost” because “that was horrific.”

CNN’s Dana Bash says the debate was a “shit show.”

10:39 PM: CNN’s Wolf Blitzer says this was the most chaotic debate he has ever seen and says he wouldn’t be surprised if this was the “last debate” between Trump and Biden.

10:35 PM: Wallace asks both candidates if they will not declare that they won unless the election has been independently certified and ask their supporters not to engage in civil unrest and stay calm.

Trump says he is urging his supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully. Trump says if he sees tens of thousands of ballots being manipulated, he can’t go along with that. He says it means you have a fraudulent election and keeps saying “they cheat” with the ballots.

Biden answers “yes” to Wallace’s questions.

10:31 PM: Wallace says in 2018, 25 percent of voters cast their ballots by mail. He asks if he is counting in the Supreme Court to settle disputes. Trump says he “thinks so” for the ballots. “This is not going to end well,” Trump says.

Biden says Trump is “afraid of counting the votes.” Biden says he is “concerned that any court will settle” potential ballot disputes.

10:29 PM: Trump says there has “been no transition” because Democrats spied on his campaign and tried to do a “coup.” “They were a disaster, and they were a disgrace to this country,” Trump says. Trump says as far as the ballots are concerned, “it’s a disaster.” Trump says solicited ballots are okay but unsolicited ballots are not. He says they have found some in creeks, some in wastepaper baskets. “This is going to be a fraud like you’ve never seen,” Trump says. Trump says we might not know for months because these ballots will be all over. Trump claims they are losing 30-40% with misplaced ballots and says this is a “fraud.” Trump says this is happening in states “all run by Democrats” because it’s a “rigged election.”

10:27 PM: Last segment is about “election integrity.” Wallace asks how confident we should be that this will be a fair election. Wallace asks what they will do to reassure the next president will be legitimate.

Biden says Trump officials have said there is no evidence that people will cheat with mail-in ballots. Biden says there will be enough poll watchers to make sure people can vote in person while socially distancing. Biden says Trump wants to dissuade people from voting. Biden tells people to show up to vote because “you will determine the outcome of the election.” He says “he cannot stop you from being able to determine the outcome of this election.” Biden says if he wins, it will be accepted. If he loses, it will be accepted.”

Biden says if he gets the votes, Trump can’t stay in power and “will go.” Biden asks if voters want “four more years of these lies.”

 

10:23 PM: Biden says he will rejoin the Paris Accord before Trump rips the Green New Deal.

Trump says the Green New Deal wants to take out cows, take down buildings and rebuild them under green standards. Wallace asks Biden if his plan will hurt the economy. Biden says it will create millions of good-paying jobs, speaking about tax incentives for weatherization. Biden says the Green New Deal is not his plan.

“Oh, that’s a big statement,” Trump says, again saying Biden is going to lose the “radical left.” Biden says he supports the “Biden plan.”

Biden mocks Trump for saying he wanted to drop a nuclear bomb on a hurricane. Trump claims he never said that.

Biden says the derechos in the Midwest happened because of global warming. Trump keeps asking why Biden didn’t do anything on climate change for 47 years. He says Biden allowed China to send up dirt into the atmosphere.

10:17 PM: Trump says he cares about the environment but he is not putting businesses out of commission like the Paris Accord would have. Trump talks about “forest management” when it comes to the wildfires out west.

10:13 PM: Biden says under Trump we have become weaker, sicker, poorer, more divided, and more divided. Biden says when he was vice president, he helped fixed the recession and left Trump a booming economy and blames Trump for the recession.

Biden calls Trump Putin’s “puppy” and says Trump hasn’t said anything about Russian bounties. Wallace keeps chiding Trump for interrupting. Biden says Trump “never keeps his word.”

Biden says his son who served in the military was a patriot and not a loser. Trump says Hunter was thrown out of the military dishonorably for cocaine use and didn’t have a job until Biden became vice president. Biden says his son had a drug problem and is proud that he fixed it like a lot of people.

Wallace says he thinks the American people want to hear about more substantive issues after Trump keeps hammering Biden over the wife of the mayor of Moscow paying Hunter 3.5 million. Wallace again gets in the middle as Trump was putting Biden on the ropes.

10:11 PM: Trump says despite the impeachment hoax, there has never been an administration that has done what he has done. He talks about the lowest unemployment numbers and the greatest economy before COVID hit. Trump says we are building the economy back up again after talking about fixing the VA, which was a mess under Obama-Biden, while building up the military. Trump says by the end of the first term, he will have appointed 300 federal judges and hopefully three Supreme Court justices. Trump says if he were a Democrat, he would think Biden could not be a good president for leaving Trump 128 judges to appoint.

10:08 PM: Biden says Kellyanne Conway said riots help Trump’s cause and that is why Trump doesn’t want to “calm things down.” Biden says all Trump does is “pour gasoline on the fire.”

Wallace asks Trump he could switch seats if he wants to. Wallace says Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden for not calling out Antifa. He asks if Trump is willing to condemn white supremacists and militia groups.

Trump says he is willing to do that and says almost everything he sees is from the left-wing.

Trump tells them to “stand back” and then says we need to do something about Antifa.

Biden says Antifa is an “idea” and “not an organization,” according to Trump’s FBI director.

Trump says Antifa is “dangerous” and will “even overthrow you.”

10:06 PM: Wallace asks Biden what “reimagining police” means and if he supports the Black Lives Matter call for community policing.

Biden claims he is not for defunding police but talks about community policing–says officers should know the community and have counselors with them in some instances

Trump asks Biden to name one law enforcement group that supports him and Biden can’t answer before Wallace lets him off the hook and asks the next question about Portland.

10:05 PM: Trump says Biden would destroy the suburbs if he had it his way.

Biden says Trump wouldn’t know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. Biden says this is not 1950 and all the dog-whistles aren’t going to work in diverse suburbs. Biden says Trump’s failure to deal with COVID is threatening suburbs. Biden says the suburbs are in trouble because of Trump’s failure to deal with the climate.

10:00 PM: Trump says he ended racial sensitive training because it was “insane” and “racist.” Trump says “if you were a certain person, you had no status in life… it was sort of a reversal.” Trump says they were “teaching people to hate our country” and teaching people that “our country is a horrible place, a racist place. And I’m not going to allow that to happen.”

Biden says there is racial insensitivity and people have to be made aware what makes other people feel insulted, demeaned.

Biden says Trump is the racist and accuses Trump of looking down on “Irish-Catholics” like him and people of color and people without money.

Trump says during the Obama-Biden administration, there was “tremendous division” and “hatred.” Trump says it was “more violent than what I am seeing now.” Biden says it is “ridiculous.” Trump asks if Biden is in favor of law and order. Biden says he is in favor of “law and order” where “people are treated with justice.”

Trump says cities run by Democrats are a mess.

9:58 PM: Wallace asks Biden if there is a “separate but unequal system of justice for blacks.” Biden says there is systemic injustice in education and law enforcement. He says the vast majority of police officers are good but there are “bad apples” who “need to be held accountable.” He says he will put together a group–civil rights groups and police officers–and “work this out.” He says the cops aren’t happy to see what happened to Floyd/Taylor.

Biden says “violence in response in never appropriate.”

Trump wonders what is peaceful protest–he wonders if that is when people run through the streets and burn stores down and kill people.

9:55 PM: Wallace mentions Trump claims he has done more for blacks than anyone except for Lincoln. Biden accused Trump of calling people on both sides “very fine people” in Charlottesville and says African-Americans have been hit hard by COVID. Biden rips Trump for attacking peaceful protesters outside of the White House who were protesting George Floyd’s death.

Trump mentions Biden’s 1994 Crime Bill and claims Biden called them “superpredators.” Trump says Biden has treated the African-American community terribly. He says Biden will not say “law enforcement” because he is afraid of losing the radical left.

Trump says the people of this country want “law and order” and Biden is afraid to say it.

9:50 PM: Wallace says Trump has interrupted more than Biden and doesn’t allow Trump to keep hammering Biden on Hunter.

9:47 PM: Trump claims the Obama-Biden administration just had to “turn on the lights” to get jobs and says they had the slowest recovery since the 1920s. Trump says half of the companies will leave if Biden raises taxes and “you will have a depression the likes of which you have never seen.” Wallace mentioned that Obama-Biden created more jobs than Trump-Pence.

Trump says Obama-Biden destroyed manufacturing. Biden says he brought back the auto industry and Trump “blew it.” Trump says many foreign companies under his administration came to Ohio, Michigan.

“China ate your lunch, Joe,” Trump says. He says Biden’s son took out millions from China and asks what did Biden’s son do to deserve millions from the wife of the mayor of Moscow. Biden claims “totally discredited.”

Biden claims his “son did nothing wrong at Burisma” and claims Trump’s position has been discredited. Trump keeps hammering Biden on Hunter’s shady dealings and won’t let him off the ropes.

Biden says we could talk about Trump’s families ethics all night. He says this is not about his family or Trump’s family… it’s about your family.

9:42 PM: Wallace asks Trump about his taxes. Trump claims he is under-leveraged and Biden asks Trump to show us his taxes. Wallace says he is going to ask him a specific question about how much he paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. Trump claims he paid “millions of dollars.” Trump says before he came to Washington, he was a private developer and didn’t want to pay taxes he didn’t need to pay. Trump says some of the tax credits he used were given to him by the Obama administration.

Biden says the tax code that allowed Trump to pay less taxes than a school teacher is because of the “Trump tax code” that Biden wants to eliminate. Trump asks why didn’t he do it over the last 25 years. Biden says because he wasn’t president screwing things up and is the worst president America has ever had.

Trump says he has done more in four years than Biden has in 47, including fixing the broken military Biden gave him.

9:39 PM: Trump says the shutdowns are like being in prison and says Biden will “destroy the country” with the shutdowns. Biden says millionaires and billionaires have done well during the Coronavirus crisis have done well. He asks how well people in places like Scranton are doing. He mentions Trump has only paid $750 in taxes and says Trump will be the first person to leave office having created fewer jobs than when he came to office.

Biden says the people who have lost their jobs are those who have been on the front lines risking their lives. “You can’t fix the economy until you fix the COVID crisis,” Biden says. Biden says schools aren’t open because it costs a lot of money to open them safely. He says they have done nothing to help schools and small businesses.

Trump says he should be able to respond to Biden’s criticisms. He says people want their schools opened up and says New York is like a ghost town. Biden says people want to be “safe.” Trump now talks about bringing back Big Ten football. He says the people of Ohio are very proud of him.

9:36 PM: Wallace says Trump is holding rallies outside. Trump says Biden is holding smaller rallies because nobody shows up and Wallace chuckles. Trump says he is holding large outdoor rallies because people want to hear what he says and says he has had “no problem whatsoever” with the “tremendous crowds” at the “hangar rallies.” Trump says Joe does the “circles and has three people some place.”

Biden mocks Trump for telling a reporter to stay away from him and put on a mask… “He’s not worried about you,” Biden says. “He’s been totally irresponsible,” Biden adds of “fool” Trump on the way he has handled the Coronavirus.

Trump says Biden would have the same outdoor rallies if people would show up but nobody cares about Biden’s rallies.

9:35 PM: Trump says Biden wants to shut down the country and says Democrats in swing states want to shut down their states until November for political reasons.

Trump mocks Biden for wearing big masks and Biden says “masks make a big difference” and 100,000 lives could be saved if we wore masks and social distanced until January.

Trump says he is ok with masks and he is “not fighting masks.”

9:30 PM: Trump tells Biden never to use the word “smart” with him, saying Biden graduated nearly last in his class and didn’t even go to Delaware State.

9:27 PM: Wallace tells Trump that it will be summer before a vaccine would be generally available. Wallace says the head of his Operation Warp Speed has said the same thing. Trump says it is a “very political thing” because “people like this” (Biden) want to make it political. Trump claims the companies can “go faster by a lot.” Trump says the “left” and says he doesn’t know what he can call Biden, strangely framing Biden as moderate/centrist.

9:25 PM: Biden says he doesn’t Trump on the vaccine while Trump keeps saying more people would have died had Biden been in charge.

9:21 PM: Next round is on Coronavirus. Wallace asks Biden why voters should trust him more than Trump. Biden says “good luck” after Wallace gives him two minutes “uninterrupted.” Biden says when Trump was presented with the numbers he says “it is what it is.”

“It is what it is because you are who you are,” Biden says, saying Trump has no plan and knew back in February how serious Coronavirus was.

Biden accused Trump of panicking during the Coronavirus crisis.

Biden tells Trump get out of his bunker/sand trap and unite Democrats and Republicans.

Trump says if Biden had his way, the country would have been “wide open.” Trump says he “closed it” while Biden called him “xenophobic.” Trump says we are weeks away from a vaccine and Biden would have made ventilators.

Trump says he hasn’t done a good job on press because of the “fake news.” He says Biden could have never done the job Trump did because it is not in his blood. Trump says Biden was a “disaster” on Swine Flu.

9:20 PM: Wallace, already losing control of the debate, says the topic was about the Supreme Court. Wallace asks Biden about packing the court and the filibuster. Biden says the American people should speak and let their senators know about how strongly they feel. Biden says he is not going to answer the question before Trump keeps talking about radical left.

“Will you shut up man?” Biden says. “This is so un-presidential.”

9:19 PM: Biden says Trump has no plan on health care and just sends out “wishful thinking.” Biden says Trump “doesn’t know what he is talking about” and, like with everything, he “doesn’t have a plan.”

9:17 PM: Biden says he’s not here to call out Trump’s lies because everything he says is a lie. Trump keeps talking about Bernie Sanders’ “manifesto” and says he just “lost the left.” Biden wonders if anyone has any idea what “this clown” Trump is doing/saying.

9:13 PM: Trump is pressed on not having a plan to replace Obamacare. Trump claims getting rid of the “individual mandate,” the “worst part of Obamacare,” is his plan. Wallace says he is the moderator of the debate and would like to ask his question. Trump says it seems like he is debating Wallace after Wallace asks what Trump’s healthcare plan is.

Trump talks about drug prices coming down. Trump talks about “insulin” that was “destroying families” and he is “getting it for so cheap” that “it is like water.”

9:10 PM: Trump claims there are not 100 million with pre-existing conditions. Trump accuses Biden of “going socialist.” Biden talks about expanding Obamacare and not wiping anyone off of their private insurance plans.

“My party is me,” Biden says after Trump says the left-wing radicals are “dominating” him.

Biden talks about the 200,000 people who have died under Trump’s watch. Biden wonders what will happen to the people who survived COVID if the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare.

Biden says Trump is also opposed to Roe v. Wade, and “that is on the ballot as well.” Trump asks why that is on the ballot. “There’s nothing happening there,” Biden says. Biden, exasperated, says, “Donald…”

9:08 PM: Biden says the American people have a right to have a say and that occurs with the Senate and presidential elections. Biden says we should wait to see what the outcome of the election is. Biden says what’s at stake is the Affordable Care Act. He says Trump ran on that, governed on that, and is in the Supreme Court trying to get rid of it. Biden says it will strip insurance away from 20 million people. Biden says Barrett seems like “a very fine person” but she has written that the Affordable Care Act is “not constitutional.”

Biden says women’s rights will be at stake and 100 million people with pre-existing conditions won’t have health care and “insurance companies are going to love this.”

USTV Pool

9:07 PM: First question to Trump is about the Supreme Court.

Trump says he won the election and elections have consequences. He says “we have a phenomenal nominee” who is “respected by all” and “good in every way.” He claims some of her biggest endorsers are very liberal people. Trump says he also has “a lot of time after the election.”

Biden is seen coughing.

Trump says Democrats wouldn’t even think about not doing it if they were in power. Trump says they had Merrick Garland but they didn’t win the election so “they were stopped.”

9:06 PM: Trump and Biden get on the stage, but they don’t shake hands due to COVID-19 restrictions. Biden asks Trump: “How are you, man?”

9:05 PM: Chris Wallace welcomes the audience to the debate. He says there will be roughly six 15-minute segments. He says he picked all of the questions and none of the questions have been shared with the commission or the two candidates. No cheering or boos allowed, says Wallace.

Families are in the audience.

8:45 PM: Hillary’s thoughts on tonight’s debate:

8:35 PM:

8:30 PM: Trump will get the first question at the top of the hour after winning the coin toss.

 

 

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