Biden's ABC town hall: Former VP lays out vision in stark contrast to Trump's

Highlights from Biden's town hall with voters in Philadelphia.

With less than three weeks to Election Day, Democratic nominee for president Joe Biden faced voters directly in an ABC News Town Hall from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Thursday night.

The live special edition of "20/20" -- titled "The Vice President and the People" -- was moderated by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.

The primetime event followed a fiery back-and-forth on the fate of the second presidential debate, which was originally scheduled for Thursday in Miami but ultimately canceled last Friday.

The nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates changed its format to be virtual following President Donald Trump's positive COVID-19 diagnosis, to which Trump took issue, saying he wouldn't "waste" time in a virtual debate. With Trump's rejection of the event, Biden then agreed to participate in the town hall with ABC News.

Voters had the opportunity to ask the former vice president the questions most important to them

The event was held in accordance with state and local government health and safety regulations, as well as guidelines set forward by health officials.

Trump, at the same time Thursday, participated in a town hall from Miami with NBC News. The president participated in an ABC News town hall in September.


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Biden shares how he would’ve responded to COVID-19 looking back

The first question of the night came from Nicholas Freden, an attorney from Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, who asked how Biden would have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic when it began and what following the science looked like to Biden going forward.

The former vice president responded by what he called for beginning in February, including keeping pandemic investigators on the ground in China and utilizing the Defense Production Act earlier.

Trump "missed enormous opportunities and kept saying things that weren't true," Biden said.  "It's going to go away by Easter. Don't worry about it. It's going to all -- when the heat -- when the summer comes, it's all going to go away like a miracle. He's still saying those things."

Stephanopoulos pressed Biden, asking why he didn't call for masks in January and February, early in the pandemic. The former vice president responded by saying he started wearing masks and social distancing in March when scientists, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, began to recommend it.

" What we should be doing now, there should be a national standard," Biden said. "Remember what the president said to the governors. Well, they're on their own, it's not my responsibility, the governors can do what they need to do, not my responsibility. It is a presidential responsibility to lead. And he didn't do that."


Voter asks Biden about what his admin would handle COVID-19

A voter asked Biden what his administration would do to deal with COVID-19 that hasn't been done by the current administration.

"There should be a national standard ... it is the presidential responsibility to lead," Biden said.


Trump touts C-SPAN suspension of would-be debate moderator Steve Scully 

Trump seized on the announcement from C-SPAN earlier that it has indefinitely suspended its political editor Steve Scully after Scully admitted to lying about his Twitter feed being hacked when confronted about a tweet to former Trump communications director Anthony Scaramucci.

Scully was the surprise pick to moderate the town-hall debate that was supposed to happen Thursday evening, until Trump rejected a virtual format and Biden signed on to the ABC News Town Hall instead.

Moments after the Associated Press published an apology from Scully, Trump tweeted he was "right again!" and claimed Scully's lie showed the debate was "rigged" and that his campaign was "not treated fairly by the 'Commission.'"

A week ago, after Trump called Scully a "never-Trumper," Scully tagged Scaramucci's Twitter account in a tweet -- in what looked like a direct message gone wrong -- and asked, "should I respond to Trump."

Scaramucci, a fierce critic of the president, tweeted back his advice: "Ignore. He is having a hard enough time. Some more bad stuff about to go down."

Scully said once he saw the controversy the exchange had created, he falsely claimed his Twitter account had been hacked.

"These were both errors in judgement for which I am totally responsible for," Scully said. "I apologize."


Early voting by the numbers

Early voting has already begun in 48 states plus Washington, D.C., with data continuing to hit record numbers across the country.

In the states reporting data, at least 17.8 million votes have been cast in the 2020 general election and at least 80.7 million ballots have been requested in early voting states.

The large early voting numbers are due to the coronavirus pandemic as well as an increase in voter interest.

However, though millions of ballots have been requested, it's unclear how many might sit at home unmarked.

Seven states -- California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington -- have an all-mail ballot election, meaning every registered voter is automatically sent a ballot.

By Friday, all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., will have some form of early voting underway.

-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh


What happened to the second presidential debate?

The second presidential debate, taking a town-hall format, was originally scheduled for Thursday. Now Biden and Trump are participating in separate town halls.

So what happened?

Trump disclosed on Twitter on Oct. 2 that he tested positive for COVID-19.

Six days later, the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates announced the second debate in Miami would be virtual. It would maintain its town hall format, but unlike the first debate, the candidates would participate remotely from separate locations.

Biden agreed. Trump did not, telling Fox News moments after the announcement, “I’m not going to waste my time” on a virtual format.

With the president out, the Biden campaign signed on to an ABC News Town Hall.

The Trump campaign, hours after saying Trump would host a rally on Oct. 15 instead of debating, then said it would participate in the second debate if it was pushed back a week and the final scheduled debate also was pushed back a week.

But the Biden campaign quickly shot down the idea of rearranging the dates, saying they were agreed to back in June.

So Trump made plans to appear in a NBC town hall in Miami, taking place at the same time as Biden's ABC News town hall.

Amid the back-and-forth between the campaigns, the Commission on Presidential Debates officially canceled the second debate in a statement last Thursday saying, “It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15.”

Both candidates have agreed to participate in the third and final debate, which is scheduled for Oct. 22.