Trump, Biden clash in final debate on COVID-19 response, health care, race
Highlights from the final presidential debate before Election Day.
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.
Top headlines:
Biden plans to focus on reaching at-home viewers
As he boarded his plane to Nashville earlier, Biden spoke briefly with reporters, telling them he's looking forward to the debate and said he hopes Trump plays by the rules.
"There's plenty of time to talk when this is over, OK? So hopefully he's going to play by the rules. Hopefully everyone's been tested. Hopefully it's all worked out, the way the rules are. I'm looking forward to this," Biden said before getting on the plane.
Biden's team has remained tight-lipped about their debate preparation for the final debate, but allies and advisers to Biden said they aren't expecting much of a change from either candidate ahead of the crucial matchup.
"I think Joe Biden is prepared for a completely unconventional debate in which the President of the United States does not act presidential (for) one minute. And the challenge is to not be distracted by the Trump show, and to make sure that Joe effectively puts out his positive vision," Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., told ABC News.
An aide to Biden said the former vice president plans to again focus on his message to viewers at home, but would not be shy about standing up to Trump's interjections when necessary, especially given reports of the president's planned personal attacks on Biden and his family.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Previewing the debate topics
The debate between Trump and Biden will run from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. with no breaks for commercials.
The program will be divided into six segments of 15 minutes each with topics decided by the moderator, NBC News White House Correspondent Kristen Welker.
Topics for Thursday’s debate are:
Plexiglass removed from debate stage
The debate commission has removed the two plexiglass barriers that were positioned between the candidates' lecterns.
Peter Eyre, senior advisor with the Commission on Presidential Debates, said that circumstances on the ground have changed and it's unlikely that the plexiglass partitions will be put back up, according to a pool report.
The news follows both candidates reporting testing negative for COVID-19. It's unclear if those who accompanied them to travel to Nashville were also tested.
-ABC News' Drew Millhorn
Trump to early vote in Florida on Saturday
The White House announced Trump will vote early in Florida on Saturday.
"President Trump plans to early vote on Saturday in West Palm Beach, Florida," spokesman Judd Deere said.
It had been expected that the president would vote absentee, because even as he has railed against mail-in voting, he has also justified his own practice of voting absentee in the past.
-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps
'We're trying very hard' to find parents of 545 children: Trump
Trump said his administration is "trying very hard" to locate the 545 children whose parents can't be located after being separated from their parents. However, the president also said that some of the children were brought to the U.S. by "coyotes" and "cartels."
He then pivoted to say that the Obama administration built the detention centers where many migrants are held.
"They had a picture in a certain newspaper, there was a picture of these horrible cages. They said look at these cages. President Trump built them," Trump said. "Then it was determined they were built in 2014. That was him. They built cages."
In a fiery response, Biden emphasized that the children came to the U.S. with their parents.
"Coyotes didn't bring them over, Biden said. "Their parents were with them. They got separated from their parents, and it makes us a laughingstock and violates every notion of who we are as a nation.
Welker asked about the Obama administration's failure to deliver on immigration reform. Biden said that it took too long to get the policy correct.
"It took too long to get it right. Took too long to get it right," he said. "I will be president of the United States, not vice president of the United States. And the fact is, I've made it very clear, within 100 days, I going to send to the United States Congress a pathway to citizenship for over 11 million undocumented people and all of those so-called dreamers, those DACA kids, they are going to be immediately certified again to be able to stay in this country and put on a path to citizenship."
Trump responded that Biden "had eight years to do what he said he was going to do."
Biden and Trump then went back and forth over the catch-and-release policy.