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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Biden brings three guests to the debate
Biden's campaign announced his three guests to the debate: Kristin Urquiza, Gurneé Green and James Evanoff Jr.
The public first met Urquiza when she shared her story at the Democratic National Convention. She lost her father to COVID-19, and declared his "only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump -- and for that he paid with his life." Urquiza is an environmental advocate at Mighty Earth and co-founded the awareness campaign "Marked by COVID."
Green is a small business owner from Cleveland Heights who was also highlighted during the Democratic National Convention. He owns the Cleveland Heights fashion boutique Chemistry 11. In addition to being a small business owner, Green is a certified health care information technologies analyst and a mother of two.
Evanoff is a service technician in Cleveland. He has eight years of seniority with United Steel Workers and works at ArcelorMittal, which was recently acquired by Cleveland Cliffs.
ABC News' Molly Nagle and Mary Bruce
Most-watched presidential debates of all time
Trump's first presidential debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016 set the record as the most-watched debate in television history, with 84 million viewers, surpassing the previous record of 80.6 million viewers set between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980, according to Nielsen.
Trump's second debate with Clinton back in 2016 ranks as the ninth most-watched presidential debate with 66.5 million viewers.
How Trump’s tax returns could affect the election
On Sunday, a New York Times expose on President Trump’s tax returns revealed decades of tax avoidance and millions of dollars in business losses over the past two decades.
The picture painted by Trump’s returns is sharply at odds with the shrewd, deal-making image the president has tried to fashion as a real estate mogul and TV star on a show built around his business prowess, “The Apprentice.”
Now, five weeks from Election Day, the question is will these new revelations affect the presidential race?
Read the analysis from FiveThirtyEight's Geoffrey Skelley here.
Trump vs. Biden on the issues: Economy
When President Trump rang in 2020, the economy was one of his biggest selling points for reelection. He had inherited a strong economy from the Obama administration, and it continued to grow stronger during his first term. Unemployment was hovering at a 50-year-low, GDP growth was exceeding expectations and Wall Street was riding the longest bull market in its history.
But by spring, all of that came crashing down. While the economy has begun to shakily recoup some of its losses, a full and speedy recovery is anything but assured, making it a top concern for many Americans. According to a poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation released earlier this month, registered voters ranked the economy as the most important issue in deciding their pick for president, putting it ahead of the ongoing pandemic.
Trump is now trying to convince the country that since he oversaw a robust economy before the outbreak, he’s the best candidate to restore it. His opponent, Joe Biden, argues that Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus compounded its impact on an economy that was inequitable to begin with and that it should be reimagined rather than rebuilt.
Click here to see how the candidates’ economic plans compare.
-ABC News' Shannon K. Crawford
Trump targets Biden's mental health in debate lead-up, despite aides' efforts to raise expectations
President Donald Trump is set to enter the first presidential debate on Tuesday down in the polls, but coming off the high of nominating his third Supreme Court justice. Some top advisers expect a dominant performance by the president, despite the opposing narratives of attacks on Joe Biden's mental state and the Trump campaign's work to raise expectations for the Democrat ahead of the showdown.
With days to go the debate, Trump has carried out conflicting and confounding strategies both repeatedly targeting Biden's mental acuity, claiming at a recent rally he doesn't know he's alive, while also making passing attempts to boost the former vice president as a seasoned debater who could outshine him.
"This guy doesn't have a clue. He doesn't know where the hell he is," Trump told his supporters in Pittsburgh a week to the day before the first debate. "This guy doesn't know he's alive."
At a campaign rally Saturday night in Pennsylvania, the president both attacked Biden as "dumb" before immediately lauding him as an experienced debater. "He’s a dumb guy. Always known as a dumb guy. But we look forward to seeing him in the debate. He's got a lot more experience. He's got 47 years. I’ve got 3 1/2 years. So we'll see. But he's got 47 years of experience."
Biden has brushed off Trump's onslaught of attacks on his mental fitness. "Watch me, Mr. President. Watch me. Look at us both, what we say, what we do, what we control, what we know, what kind of shape we're in," the former vice president said when asked by ABC News about the president's attacks on his cognitive ability.
While some advisers tell ABC News they're nervous as the president enters his first debate since his encounters with Hillary Clinton four years ago -- with Biden having participated in nearly a dozen debates leading up to clinching the Democratic nomination -- others are anticipating a knockout performance by the president and expect the debate to help highlight the former vice president's gaffes, sources familiar said.
-ABC News' Will Steakin, Katherine Faulders and John Santucci