Highlights from the first presidential debate held in Cleveland.
President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden faced off from a social distance in the first presidential debate of 2020 in Cleveland, just five weeks out from Election Day.
The first presidential debate at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic came on the heels of bombshell reporting from The New York Times on two decades of Trump's tax records, ahead of a contentious Supreme Court confirmation process in the Senate and as the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Biden maintains a 10-point edge among both registered and likely voters.
The coronavirus pandemic's impact on the race was also on display as the two candidates didn't partake in a handshake, customary at the top of such events. The size of the audience was also limited and everyone attending the debate had to undergo COVID-19 testing and follow other public health protocols.
The debate’s moderator, Chris Wallace of "Fox News Sunday," selected six topics for Tuesday with each segment expected to get approximately 15 minutes: 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 final topic coming as Trump over the weekend wouldn’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Less than 20 minutes into the debate, both candidates have interrupted each other multiple times, making it difficult to understand what either is saying. Wallace has specifically asked Trump multiple times to let Biden finish his thought.
Eventually, the cross-talks continued for long enough that the former vice president said, "Will you shut up, man?" to the president.
Wallace's first question to both candidates was on the Supreme Court. He asked why Trump believes he is right in confirming a justice before the election and why Biden believes he is right in saying the decision should wait until after Election Day.
"I will tell you very simply, we won the election. Elections have consequences," Trump said. "We have the Senate, we have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee respected by all top top academic good in every way, good in every way."
"And by the way, the Democrats, they wouldn't even think about not doing it if they have -- the only difference is to try and do it faster. There's no way they would give it up. They had Merrick Garland, but the problem is they didn't have the election so they were stopped."
When the question was given to Biden, he said that the American people have a right to say who the Supreme Court nominee should be and that that nomination should wait until the November election concludes as Americans have already begun voting.
"It's just not appropriate to do this before this election," Biden said. "Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act could both be struck down by a conservative Supreme Court."
Multiple Senate Democrats are refusing to meet with Trump's nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, citing the impending election, and have expressed mounting concern with her stance on health care as the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on the fate of the Affordable Care Act one week after the election.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are moving ahead with the nomination despite claims they made in 2016 about not confirming Garland during an election year.
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."
