President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, faced off in the final presidential debate of the 2020 election cycle from Belmont University in Nashville on Thursday night, marking the candidates’ last chance to pitch themselves to tens of millions of voters in primetime before Nov. 3.
The stakes were high: Trump needed to make his case as polls show him trailing nationally and in several battleground states key to his reelection hopes. At the same time, Biden had a platform to solidify his lead and avoid any major mistakes with Election Day just 12 days away.
Biden spent the week hunkered down in Wilmington, Delaware, to prepare -- what he's done before other debates -- while Trump had seemingly done less to prepare, telling reporters on Wednesday, "I do prep, I do prep," without elaborating. Earlier this week Trump said that answering journalists' questions is the best kind of preparation.
Thursday's debate was supposed to be the candidates' third matchup but is instead the second of only two presidential debates this election. Trump refused to participate in the second debate when it was moved to a virtual format following his COVID-19 diagnosis. The candidates ultimately participated in dueling town halls instead.
Here's how the evening unfolded. All times Eastern.
Oct 22, 2020, 9:18 PM EDT
In his first answer, Biden attacks Trump for his handling of COVID-19
In response to a question on how he would lead the country out of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Biden cited the more than 220,000 Americans who had died from the virus.
"Anyone who's responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America," he said.
Biden went on to say that Trump doesn't have a plan for dealing with the virus. He called for mask wearing, and a national policy on mask wearing, more testing and a national policy on reopening schools and businesses.
"I will take care of this. I will end this," Biden said to close out his first answer. "I will make sure we have a plan."
Oct 22, 2020, 9:15 PM EDT
Trump takes first question on COVID-19, repeats virus is 'going away'
Trump tackled the first question on the coronavirus pandemic but stuck to his stance the pandemic is "rounding the corner" and "going away."
"Since the two of you last shared a stage, 16,000 Americans have died from COVID," Welker said. "So please be specific, how would you lead the country during this next stage of the coronavirus crisis?"
"As you know, 2.2 million people modelled out were expected to die," Trump began. "We closed up the greatest economy in the world in order to fight this horrible disease that came from China."
He went on to draw from his personal experience contracting COVID-19, downplaying its side effects and touting the country's therapeutics.
"I can tell you from personal experience that I was in the hospital. I had it. And I got better," Trump said. "And I will tell you that I had something that they gave me, a therapeutic, I guess they would call it, some people could say it was a cure. But I was in for a short period of time and I got better very fast or I wouldn't be here tonight. And now they say I'm immune. Whether it's four months or a lifetime, nobody has been able to say that, but I'm immune."
"It will go away and as I say, we're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away," he added.
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University on Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Oct 22, 2020, 9:08 PM EDT
Debate is underway
The final presidential debate has kicked off from Belmont University in Nashville marking Trump and Biden's final chance to pitch themselves to voters in primetime ahead of Nov. 3. The audience of roughly 200 people in stadium-style seating applauded as the candidates took the stage.
There was a last-minute change to remove the plexiglass partitions placed between the two candidates after Dr. Anthony Fauci weighed in and each tested negative for COVID-19. They remain socially distanced with at least 12 feet of space between them.
The first question from moderator Kristen Welker, NBC News White House correspondent, was on COVID-19 and went to the president.
Biden's mic will be muted while the president answers, and Trump's mic will follow suit when it's the former vice president's turn to weigh in.
A program and a package of disinfecting wipes for reducing the risk of the coronavirus are set in audience seats ahead of the second presidential debate in the Curb Event Center on the campus of Belmont University, Oct. 22, 2020, in Nashville, Tenn.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
"On behalf of the voters, I'm going to ask you to please speak one at a time. The goal is for you to hear each other and for the American people to hear every word of what you both have to say," Welker said.
Oct 22, 2020, 8:51 PM EDT
Fauci weighed in on plexiglass partitions, pandemic landscape still on display in hall
Debate organizers removed the plexiglass barriers initially placed between the candidates’ lecterns after speaking with the government’s top expert on infectious diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Fauci told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl that he got a call from Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows asking if in his opinion there was a need to have plexiglass between the two candidates.
Meadows then had Fauci talk to a doctor working with the Commission on Presidential Debates, and Fauci explained to the doctor that because the candidates were 12-feet apart, there was no need for plexiglass as droplets wouldn’t reach that far and aerosol isn’t stopped by plexiglass anyway.
Even with the removal of the plexiglass partitions, the coronavirus pandemic is still on display inside the debate hall at Belmont University in Nashville.
All audience members are required to wear masks and will be removed from the event if they refuse, organizers said. The mask requirement comes after several members of the Trump family removed their masks once seated at the first presidential debate in Cleveland.
Golfer John Daly and musician Lee Greenwood look on ahead of the final presidential campaign debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 22, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Singer Kid Rock and professional golfer John Daly, both Trump supporters, were spotted in the audience ahead of the debate’s start without their masks. They put them back on after they were approached by debates staffers.
PGA pro golfer John Daly and performer Kid Rock take their seats before the start of the second and final presidential debate Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.