1st presidential debate between Trump and Biden spirals into chaotic clash
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.
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Wallace asks Trump to stop interrupting
Moderator Chris Wallace has repeatedly tried to keep Trump from interrupting Biden.
"It's hard to get any word in with this clown," Biden said, "excuse me, this person."
Amid bombshell reporting in the New York Times on the past two decades of Trump's taxes, Wallace put the first question to the president.
"Is it true that you paid $750 in federal income taxes?" Wallace asked.
"I paid millions of dollars in taxes," Trump responded. "Millions of dollars of income tax."
But the president never fully answered if that was federal income tax.
Trump paid just $750 in income taxes in 2016, the year he ran for president, and in 2017, his first year in the White House, according to the Times report.
Biden, meanwhile, paid nearly $288,000 in federal income taxes last year, according to returns he released just hours before his Tuesday night debate, an effort to draw a sharp contrast with the revelations about Trump's tax returns.
Democrats said if the president is upwards of $400 million in debt as the New York Times has reported, he poses a national security threat to the country.
Wallace pressed on, asking "Mr. President, I'm asking you a question. Will you tell us how much you paid in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017?
"Millions of dollars," Trump replied.
The president then blamed Biden for the tax codes since Biden has worked for so long in Washington.
"I'm going to eliminate the Trump tax cuts," Biden said.
"You are the worst president America has ever had," Biden continued.
"Let me just say, I've done more in 47 months than you've done in 47 years, Joe," Trump replied.
Trump brings up Biden’s son Hunter without mentioning him by name
In a heated discussion on tax policy, Biden criticized Trump's trade policies with China which led to the first thinly veiled mention of Hunter Biden on stage.
"He talks about the art of the deal. China's perfected the art of the steal. We have a higher deficit with China now than we did before, we have the highest deficit -- trade deficit with Mexico," Biden said, before Trump interrupted.
"China ate your lunch, Joe. And no wonder your son goes in and he takes out what he takes out, billion of dollars," Trump said, before launching personal attacks on Biden's son, Hunter Biden, and his business dealings while his father was vice president. Hunter Biden has denied any wrongdoing.
"We want to talk about families and ethics? I don't want to do that. I mean his family, we can talk about all night," Biden responded, then said the American people don't want to hear about their families.
Biden asks voters: 'How well are you doing?'
Asked about how they would deal with economic recovery, Trump said he would avoid further shutdowns, touted the current economic recovery and credited himself with bringing back college football.
"Our country is coming back incredibly well, setting records as it does it. We don't need somebody to come in and say let's shut it down," Trump said, though Biden said he would not impose a full shutdown as the president suggested.
Biden then took the opportunity to speak directly to American families on Trump's taxes and repeated his mantra that the U.S. "can't fix the economy without fixing COVID."
"The difference is millionaires and billionaires like him in the middle of the COVID crisis have done very well," Biden said. "You folks living in Scranton and Clayton and all the small towns and working-class towns in America: How well are you doing?"
Stephanopoulos: 'That was the worst presidential debate I have ever seen in my life'
ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos called Tuesday's debate the worst he has ever seen in his life.
"I have to speak personally here, as somebody who's watched presidential debates for 40 years, as somebody who's moderated presidential debates, as someone who's prepared candidates for presidential debates, and someone who's covered presidential debates, that was the worst presidential debate I have ever seen in my life -- a lot more heat than light over some 90 minutes," he said.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl said, "It looked as if both men lost this debate" but added that it was Trump who had more to lose.
"In that sense the real loser is Donald Trump," Karl added. "Donald Trump was the one that needed to change the dynamic of this race."
ABC News' Senior Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce reported that the Biden's campaign is "feeling very good right now," following the debate, saying they believe every time Biden "went around the president" and spoke directly to the viewers "they were winning."