1st presidential debate between Trump and Biden spirals into chaotic clash

The first presidential debate of 2020 between Trump and Biden kicked off from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio with moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News.

Trump and Biden skipped a handshake, customary at the top of such events, due to the coronavirus precautions. Each walked out to his respective lectern without masks.

The candidates will not deliver opening statements. Instead, the debate has been divided into six roughly 15-minute segments on the following topics selected by Wallace: Trump's and Biden's records, the Supreme Court, COVID-19, the economy, race and violence in U.S. cities, and the integrity of the election.

The entire audience -- already limited in its size -- has been tested for COVID-19. 

ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos said the main question is whether the candidates will do anything in this debate to change the course of this race.

Editor-in-Chief of FiveThirtyEight Nate Silver said that this presidential race is a "much less close race than it was four years ago." 

Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield fired back at Donald Trump Jr. -- who did an interview with ABC News ahead of her -- saying the president's son continues to deliver personal attacks on the vice president instead of making the case for why Trump should be reelected.

"I was listening to Don Jr. and I didn't hear a whole lot of reasons to vote for Donald Trump," Bedingfield said. "I heard a lot of attacks. I heard a lot of personal criticisms of Joe Biden's son. I didn't hear a whole lot of reason -- if I'm a voter sitting tonight, listening to this debate -- I didn't hear a lot of reasons to vote for Donald Trump."

Bedingfield said Biden will offer a different choice for voters of a leader focused on the issues, not on attacks, and she said success for the evening will be defined by Biden's ability to connect with "families at their kitchen table."

"He's going to be laying out a concrete vision to make life better for people across this country and I think that the clear contrast between somebody who views the world through the lens of having grown up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, versus somebody who views the world through the lens of Park Avenue is going to be very apparent on the stage tonight," she added.

Donald Trump Jr., who is a part of his father's re-election campaign, pointed to some of his father's accomplishments -- a great economy before COVID-19 and getting closer to achieving peace in the Middle East -- before moving onto his father's opponent.

When pressed by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos about his father's tax record and debt, which was first reported by the New York Times, Trump Jr. went on the attack.

"If people have a problem with the tax code, talk to Joe Biden," Trump Jr. said. "He's the guy that's been legislating these things or 47 years."