Final 2020 presidential debate

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Abby Phillip
CNN's Abby Phillip breaks down Trump and Biden's debate performances
01:44 - Source: CNN

What we covered here

  • President Trump and Joe Biden faced off in their final 2020 presidential debate.
  • The candidates sparred over the coronavirus pandemic, immigration and foreign policy.
  • Fact check: CNN holds elected officials and candidates accountable by pointing out what’s true and what’s not. Follow our latest fact checks and context of the debate.
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Key moments from the final presidential debate between Trump and Biden

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University on Thursday in Nashville.

President Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden faced off tonight during the last 2020 presidential debate, where they discussed the coronavirus pandemic, foreign interference in US elections, immigration and more.

If you are just tuning in, here are some key lines and moments from the night:

Living under the coronavirus pandemic

  • “It will go away and as I say, we’re rounding the turn, we’re rounding the corner. It’s going away,” Trump said.
  • “[Trump] says,?we’re learning to live with it.?People are learning to die with?it,” Biden said.

Health care

  • “People deserve to have affordable health care, period. Period, period, period,” Biden said. “And the Bidencare proposal will provide for that.” ??
  • Trump has long said he would unveil a plan to replace Obamacare that would continue to protect those with pre-existing conditions. However, he has yet to do so.

Foreign interference in US elections

  • “They will pay a price if I’m elected,” Biden said, specifically referring to interference by China, Russia and Iran. “They’re interfering with American sovereignty. That’s what’s going on.”
  • The President said he was informed of the recent election interference efforts, and underscored Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe’s assessment that the efforts by Iran and Russia and were done to undermine Trump’s candidacy. “I knew all about that,” Trump said.

Children separated from their parents at the border

  • “The children are brought here?by coyotes and lots of bad?people, cartels, and they’re?brought here and they used to?use them to get into our?country.?We now have a strong a border as?we’ve ever had.?We’re over 400 miles of?brand-new wall.?You see the numbers.?We let people in but they have?to come in legally,” Trump said. In terms of reuniting these children with their families, Trump said his administration has a plan and “we’re working on it?very — we’re trying very hard.”
  • “Five hundred plus kids came with?parents.?They separated them at the?border to make it a disincentive?to come to begin with.?We’re tough.?We’re really strong.?And guess what.?They cannot — it’s not coyotes?didn’t bring them over.?Their parents were with them.?They got separated from their?parents.?And it makes us a laughing stock?and violates every notion of who?we are as a nation,” Biden said. “Their kids were?ripped from their arms and?separated.?And now they cannot find over?500 sets of those parents and?those kids are alone.?Nowhere to go.?Nowhere to go.?It’s criminal.?It’s criminal.”

Relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

  • “I have a very good relationship with him. Different kind of a guy, but he probably thinks the same thing about me. We have a different kind of a relationship. We have a very good relationship. And there’s no war,” Trump said.
  • “He’s talked about his good buddy?who’s a thug, a thug, and he?talks about how we’re better?off.?And they have much more capable?missiles, able to reach US territory much more easily than?they ever did before,” Biden said.?He said he would only meet with the North Korean leader “on the condition that he?would agree that he would be?drawing down his nuclear?capacity.”

How New York state responded to the pandemic

  • Trump called New York City “a ghost town,” where restaurants “are dying” due to shutdowns and its Democratic-led government. “If you go and look at what’s?happened to New York, it’s a?ghost town.?It’s a ghost town.?And when you talk about?Plexiglas, these are?restaurants that are dying.?These are businesses with no?money,” the President said.
  • Biden championed New York state for stemming the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths. “Take a look at what New York?has done in terms of turning the?curve down in terms of the?number of people dying.?And I don’t look at this in the?terms that he does, blue states?and red states.?They’re all the United States,” Biden said.

Whether to shut down the US economy again due to Covid-19

  • “We can’t close our nation,” Trump said. “We can’t lock ourselves up in a basement like Joe does.”
  • Biden, meanwhile, used a new line suggesting his goal was not to keep the country locked down. “Shut down the virus, not the country,” he said.

What did you think of tonight's debate?

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden just wrapped up their second and final presidential debate of the 2020 election.

We want to know what you thought about it.

Tell us what impact it had on you, using the form below.

Biden won among debate watchers, CNN's instant poll shows

A CNN instant poll of debate watchers finds that 53% of the watchers thought Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the final presidential debate. Meanwhile, 39% said Donald Trump emerged a winner.

Keep in mind: The poll represents a sample set of debate watchers and is not representative of the?country overall.?In this set of?debate watchers, about 32%?of people were Democratic, 31% were Republicans and the rest were independent.

Arguably, the debate did not do much to change any candidate’s preferences. Before the debate, among this?group, Biden had a 55% favorable?rating.?It inched up to 56% after the debate.?President Trump had a 42% favorable rating before the?debate and it dropped to?41% after the debate.

Watchers were also asked if they thought the candidates’ attacks on each other were fair. About 73% said Biden’s attacks on Trump were fair.?Only 26% said they weren’t?fair.

In contrast, 50% said Trump’s attacks?on Biden were fair?but 49% of debate watchers said?they were not fair.

“To me, that suggests the race?leaves this debate as it?entered it, which right now, as?you know, is advantage Biden,” CNN’s David Chalian reports.

More on the poll: The CNN post-debate poll was conducted by SSRS by telephone and includes interviews with 585 registered voters who watched the Oct. 22 presidential debate. Results among debate-watchers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.7 percentage points.?

Respondents were originally interviewed earlier this month either by telephone or online, and indicated they planned to watch the debate and would be willing to be re-interviewed when it was over. Respondents initially reached online are members of the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative probability-based panel.

Watch CNN’s David Chalian break down the results:

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305c7141-d85c-4386-9dd2-b4fbe216f23b.mp4
02:35 - Source: cnn

Here's who spoke the most during tonight's debate

At the end of tonight’s final presidential debate, President Trump kept a similar lead in speaking time he maintained throughout the debate, speaking for approximately three more minutes than former Vice President Joe Biden.

How the Biden and Trump campaigns are reacting to tonight's debate

The Biden campaign said it feels Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden successfully “flipped the script” on President Trump during tonight’s debate as he tried to make issue of Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings. Biden instead turned the focus to the President’s taxes – a moment the campaign feels where he delivered well.?

“Biden put him on the defensive with his answers about Trump’s taxes,”?a Biden campaign?adviser said.?“Completely flipped the script on him.”

Biden also capped off this section of the debate arguing the election isn’t about the two candidates’ families but instead about the American family – a key message the campaign had hoped he would drive home in this debate.?

This was also one of those moments where Biden looked directly to camera, a strategy he leaned into more heavily after his first debate as his advisers have felt it is a way to connect with voters.

As Joe Biden was boarding his flight from Nashville to Wilmington, he briefly took a few questions from the press. Asked how he believes the debate went, Biden said, “Well, that’s for the public to judge. I felt good about it and I thought the moderator did a great job of making it run smoothly and so it was much…much more rational debate than the first one,” he said. “Got a chance to speak to the American public more, so thank you all very much.”

On a call with reporters following tonight’s debate, the Trump campaign unsurprisingly claimed victory.

“Joe Biden has been a Washington politician for almost 50 years and now he says he’ll get it right. The President nailed it tonight. Joe Biden is all talk and no action. President Trump won this debate in a blowout, and it’s little wonder why Joe Biden doesn’t want to do anymore,” Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh told those on the call.

Jake Tapper: Trump "didn't set himself on fire" but lied "like Pinocchio"

CNN’s Jake Tapper responded to tonight’s presidential debate, saying President Trump had delivered a relatively normal performance, especially compared to the first debate which Tapper described at the time as a “a hot mess, inside a dumpster fire, inside a train wreck.”

“It’s fair to say that Trump supporters and Republican office holders can relax for the night. They can exhale,” continued Tapper.?“He didn’t set himself on fire tonight like he did at the first debate.”

“[But] I mean, he did lie like Pinocchio,” added Tapper, referring to the fictional literary character whose nose grew each time he told another falsehood.?

Tapper also said the President had even managed to land few clean hits on former vice president Joe Biden on topics including the 1994 crime bill, and Biden’s record as a career politician.?

Watch the moment:

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98245bda-bb18-45f7-a1c1-13f0ca468ed3.mp4
02:21 - Source: cnn

Biden tried to exploit Trump's red and blue states rhetoric, CNN political correspondent says

In a calmer presidential debate, President Trump repeatedly talked about red states and blue states, CNN political correspondent Abby Phillip said.

“I think the President really?walked back into that trap,?because if you listen to him day-to-day, like we all do, you hear?the same content…?It happened on the debate stage?in a calmer tone, but it still?isn’t bridging the gap with the voters in the middle,” Phillip said.

The?President “kept doing something that I?think Joe Biden actually tried?to exploit, which is dividing?the country into red states and?blue states,” she added.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gave a message of unity.

“If you watch the?ads that are on television for?the Biden campaign right now,?the message right now is not?about, you know, coronavirus.?It’s not about fracking.?It’s not about any of those?things.?It’s about unity.?It’s about bringing the country?together,” Phillips said.

Fact check: Biden claims?an additional 200,000?Americans will die?from Covid-19 by end of the year?

Former vice president Joe?Biden said in tonight’s debate: “The expectation is we’ll have another 200,000 Americans dead the time between now and the end of the year.”??

Facts First:?This needs context. One study published in October in the medical journal JAMA showed that there were more than 225,000 excess deaths in a five-month period at the start of the year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, compared to past years.?(Excess deaths?are the number of deaths beyond what historic numbers of deaths have been in a similar time period.)?The study then predicted that the total number of excess deaths would likely be greater than 400,000.?But as?of Thursday evening,?223,000?Americans have lost their lives to Covid-19, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.??

These are merely projections. The latest forecast from?an influential coronavirus model?projects about 315,000 deaths by December 31. That’s about 92,000 additional American lives lost beyond the current death toll. There is a range of predicted deaths in this model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington School of Medicine. The worst-case scenario is if US social distancing mandates are eased. The model projects fewer deaths if everyone wears masks.???

Fact check: Trump falsely claims Biden called Black community "super predators"

While attacking the 1994 crime bill that Joe Biden supported, President Trump claimed that Biden called the Black community “super predators.”?

In 1994, Trump said, the Black community was “called, and he called them ‘super predators’ and he said that. He said it.”?

Facts First:?This is false. Biden never called Blacks “super predators.”

Then-first?lady?Hillary Clinton?used the term?“super predators” in a 1996 speech in New Hampshire in support of the 1994 crime bill.?Biden did warn in a 1993?speech of “predators on our streets” who were “beyond the pale” in support of the crime bill.?The bill itself has come under heavy criticism in recent years for being among the?policies?that?led?to mass incarceration,?disproportionately?affecting?Black?men.

But Biden himself rejected the theory of super predators.?

In a 1997 hearing?arguing that most youths in the justice system weren’t violent, Biden said most youth weren’t “super predators.”?

“In 1994, there were about 1.5 million juvenile delinquency cases,” Biden said?then. “Less than 10%?of those cases involved violent crimes.?So?when we talk about the juvenile justice system, we have to remember that most of the youth involved in the system are not the so-called ‘super?predators.’?”

Fact check: Trump's claim on Biden’s handling of swine flu

In attacking Joe Biden over his handling of the H1N1 epidemic, President Trump said Biden?had?handled the epidemic poorly for the Obama administration and it was “a total disaster.”??

“And frankly, he ran the H1N1?swine?flu?and it was a total disaster. Far less lethal, but it was a total disaster,” Trump said. “Had that had this kind of numbers, 700,000 people would be dead right now, but it was a far less lethal disease.”??

Facts First:?This claim?is misleading and?needs context. The?swine?flu?killed an estimated 12,500 Americans and Trump praised the Obama administration’s?early?handling of it.?

Trump said the Obama?administration’s?handling of the?swine?flu?was “a total disaster,” claiming 700,000 would have died if the?swine?flu?had been?more deadly. Trump’s?claim appears to be citing?an article from the Wall Street Journal opinion page and not an academic study.?

In 2009, Trump?actually praised?the Obama administration’s?early?handling of the?swine?flu?outbreak.?

“It’s going to be handled,” Trump said on Fox News. “It’s going to come. It’s going to be bad. And maybe it will be worse than the normal flu seasons. And it’s going to go away. I think it is being handled fine. I think the words are right.”?

Later in the interview,?Trump downplayed the?swine?flu?and?referenced the false assertion that?vaccines might cause autism (there is no evidence that vaccines cause autism).?

“It’s called the flu,” Trump said. “Have you had the flu many times, Neil (Cavuto)? Probably. You know, we all have.”

Fact check: Biden's claim that Trump's coronavirus mismanagement left millions without health insurance

Joe Biden claimed President Trump’s failure to contain the coronavirus or prevent the resulting economic downturn has left millions of people without jobs and health insurance.?

“The fact is that he’s already cost the American people because of his terrible handling of the?Covid?virus and economic spillover. Ten million people have lost their private insurance,” Biden said.?

Facts first:?Biden’s claim needs context.??

The source of the statistic,?Biden’s?campaign said, is a July?Urban Institute study?that estimated 10.1 million people would lose coverage as a result of a Covid-related job loss in the last three quarters of 2020. However, Biden failed to mention that most would regain insurance elsewhere.???

The study predicted that about 32% of the 10.1 million would switch to the employer-sponsored insurance of another family member. Another 28% would enroll in Medicaid, and 6% would sign up for other coverage, primarily on the Affordable Care Act exchanges, where many would receive federal premium subsidies.?

Only about a third, or 3.5 million people, would be left uninsured, the study estimates.???

However, the actual number of people who have lost their job-based coverage isn’t known. There are various estimates out there, and some early data indicate that some employers that furloughed workers continued to provide them with health insurance — at least in the first few months of the?pandemic.

Fact check: Trump's claim that he’s done more for Black people except for, possibly, Abraham Lincoln

Echoing?comments?he made during last week’s town hall, President Trump claimed nobody has done more for the Black community than him, with the “possible exception” of Abraham Lincoln.??

Facts First:?This is false. It’s?absurd?to say Lincoln is a “possible” exception; emancipating?enslaved?people?was obviously more important for Black Americans than anything Trump has done.?

President Lyndon B. Johnson also signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, monumental bills whose impact dwarfed the impact of any legislation Trump has signed.?

Fact check: Biden says Trump wants to end payroll tax that funds Social Security

Joe Biden repeated his claim that President Trump wants to end the payroll tax that funds Social Security.?

?“If in fact he continues to withhold — his plan to withhold the tax on Social Security, Social Security will be bankrupt by 2023. With no way to make up for it,” Biden said.?

Facts First:?This is not quite true. Trump signed an executive measure in August giving employers the ability to defer Social Security’s payroll taxes until the end of the year.??

When he signed the action, the President said that if he wins?reelection, he’ll push to terminate the levy in 2021. Asked by Democrats to assess the impact of eliminating the tax, the Social Security Administration’s chief actuary said it would deplete the Social Security trust fund within three years if there were no alternative source of revenue.??

The White House has said that Trump was referring to forgiving the deferred amount, not canceling the levy. The Treasury Department has said that the executive measure will not harm the Social Security trust funds because the deferral is temporary,?and the funds must be repaid.?

Only Congress has the power to eliminate the payroll tax, either temporarily or permanently.?

Fact check: Trump is hyperbolic on Obama administration sales to Ukraine

President?Trump claimed that while he “sold tank busters to Ukraine,”?the Obama administration sold “pillows and sheets.”??

Facts First:?Trump is?being hyperbolic?about?the?Obama?administration.?Obama did refuse to provide lethal aid to Ukraine, but he didn’t send mere pillows; he sent counter-mortar radars, armored Humvees and night vision devices, among other things.

You can read a full fact check?here.?

Fact check: Trump falsely claimed Russia is meddling to defeat him

President Trump falsely claimed in tonight’s debate that Russia is meddling in the election to defeat him.?

Facts First:?It’s false to suggest that Russia wants Trump to lose. In fact, senior US intelligence officials announced months ago that Russia is actively meddling in the election to hurt Biden.?

The top US intelligence official for election security, William Evanina,?announced in August?that the Russian government is interfering in the 2020 election to hurt Biden’s candidacy, primarily by spreading disinformation about alleged “corruption” by Biden and his family regarding Ukraine.?

Russia is also trying to “denigrate” Biden on social media, according to Evanina’s statement, and Facebook has?already taken down?Russian-backed fake accounts targeting liberal voters.?

The Russian government also interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win, according to the US intelligence community. Trump has?repeatedly rejected and questioned?this finding, too.

CNN?previously analyzed?Trump’s claims that “there has been nobody tougher” as president on Russia than him. This is a false narrative. Trump’s administration has taken some tough steps against Russia, but Trump himself has rejected widely held US foreign policy views and aligned himself with the Kremlin on issues including Syria, NATO, election-meddling, and more.

Biden and Trump spar over deadly pollution

President Donald Trump and democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gesture during the final presidential debate at Belmont University in Nashville on Thursday.

They got the same question. But you couldn’t tell from their answers.

Asked what they would do to fight the disproportionate effects of chemical and fossil fuel pollution on communities of color, Joe Biden said he would ramp up regulations. President Trump suggested that the illnesses connected to living in the shadows of those refineries and plants was an economic boon to the afflicted families.

“The families we’re talking?about are employed heavily and?they’re making more money than?they’ve ever made,” Trump said, pivoting hard to a favorite talking point.?‘“If you look at the kind of?numbers that we produced for?Hispanic or Black or Asian, it’s?nine times greater, the?percentage gained than it was?under — in three years — than?it was under 8 years of the two?of them, to put it nicely,” he added – presumably referencing the unemployment numbers among minorities before the pandemic struck.

Biden spoke more fluently about the issue, which was familiar from the Democratic primary debates – and mocked Trump’s apparent ignorance.

“My response is those people?live on what they call fence-lines.?(Trump) doesn’t understand this,” Biden said.?“They live near chemical plants, that in fact pollute, chemical plants?and oil plants and refineries?that pollute.”?

Biden described growing up near Claymont, Delaware, in an area near the Delaware River with a glut of oil refineries.?

“When my mom got in the car with?the first frost, there would be?an oil slick on the window,” Biden said. “That’s why so many people in my?state were dying and getting?cancer.?The fact is the frontline?communities, it doesn’t matter?what you’re paying them.?It matters how you’re keeping?them safe.”

Fact check: Trump misleadingly uses figures in claim on NATO members' contributions

As an example of how he’s been tough on?Russia, President Trump said?he had gotten NATO member nations to?increase?their contributions to?fund the alliance?“to guard against Russia.”?

“I’ve got the?NATO?countries to put up an extra?$130 billion, going to $420 billion a year,” Trump said. “That’s?to guard against Russia.”?

Facts First:?This is?misleading.?Trump was using actual figures but describing them inaccurately.??

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg?said?in November 2019?that non-US NATO?members were expected to add a total of $130 billion to their defense budgets between 2016 and the end of 2020 — not $130 billion more per year. By the end of 2024, Stoltenberg has said, the total was expected to be $400 billion over 2016 levels.?

However,?the coronavirus pandemic might impact members’ spending plans.?In an email in August, NATO spokesperson Peggy?Beauplet?referred CNN to the?transcript?of a Stoltenberg news conference in July?where?he encouraged members to continue to invest in defense but acknowledged, “Covid-19 has created serious economic problems. And it will impact the budget situation for all allies. And I understand that allies will be faced with some very difficult and demanding decisions.”

Fact check: Trump's false claim about Nancy Pelosi dancing on streets of Chinatown

President Trump claimed?House Speaker?Nancy Pelosi was?“dancing?on?the streets in Chinatown in San Francisco,”?after his administration enacted restrictions on travel from China.??

Facts First:?This is false.?Amid fears of anti-Asian bigotry related to the pandemic, Pelosi did go to San Francisco’s Chinatown in late February and did urge people to visit,?saying?it was safe.?But contrary to Trump’s repeated claims, she did not call for a Chinatown parade, parties, a street fair or a march; she was not holding a street fair or a rally, and she was not dancing; she simply?walked around, visited businesses and a temple, ate dim sum, and spoke to the media.?

After her?visit?to Chinatown, Pelosi?said, “we think it’s very safe to be in Chinatown and hope that others will come. It’s lovely here. The food is delicious, the shops are prospering, the parade was great. Walking tours continue. Please come and visit and enjoy Chinatown.”??

So,?while Pelosi?did?speak positively about Chinatown, she was not dancing?on?the streets.??

Fact check: Trump falsely claims "over 400 miles of brand new wall" has been built

President Trump claimed Thursday: “We’re over 400 miles of brand new wall.”?

Facts first:?This is false.?

The Trump administration is nearing 400 miles of new border wall system, but has not surpassed that benchmark yet. The majority of construction is swapping out old, dilapidated design for new, enhanced wall system. Only a small share that’s been constructed has gone up where no wall previously existed.

Earlier Thursday, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said the administration has “completed almost 400 miles of the new border wall system in high priority locations like San Diego, El Centro, Yuma, Tucson, El Paso, and the Rio Grande Valley Sectors.”

According to US Customs and Border Protection,?371 miles have been completed, as of Monday (Oct. 19).?The administration has set a?goal of 450 miles?by the end of the year.??

Fact check: Trump falsely says Biden has "houses all over the place"

President Trump,?who has long touted his own prosperity as a selling point,?attacked Biden’s lifestyle, saying, “You have houses all over the place.”?

Facts first:?This is false.??

While?Biden?has?reported earning millions since leaving office, the former?vice president?doesn’t have houses “all over the place.”?He?owns two properties in Delaware.?

Biden’s main home in?Greenville, a suburb of?Wilmington,?was constructed on land he bought in 1996 for $350,000.??

Biden bought a vacation home, also in Delaware, for $2.7 million in 2017 — after he finished his tenure as vice president and signed a lucrative book deal.?

Fact check: Trump falsely says a Covid-19 vaccine is ready

President Trump claimed a vaccine for Covid-19 is ready.?

“We have a vaccine that’s coming, it’s ready,” said Trump.

Facts First:?It’s false to say that a vaccine is currently ready. The FDA has not approved a vaccine for emergency use authorization.

There are currently four US clinical vaccine trials in Phase 3 with Moderna, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.?

Two clinical trials are?paused?with no indication when they will resume. AstraZeneca paused more than a month ago on Sept. 8 when a participant developed an unexplained illness. Johnson & Johnson paused on Oct. 12 for the same reason.?

Pfizer and Moderna have both said they could?apply?for Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in the coming weeks, but only if they have positive results from their Phase 3 clinical trials. Neither company says they know whether the results will be positive. Pfizer has said they could apply for emergency use authorization after the third week in November. Moderna has said they could apply in early December.

Trump says he's "the least racist person" in the debate hall

President Donald Trump participates in the final presidential debate against Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at Belmont University on October 22 in Nashville.

President Trump said during Thursday’s debate that he understands why parents of color fear that their children may be unfairly targeted by the police — but he didn’t expand on what he plans to do to solve that problem.

Both Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden were asked about “the talk” many parents of color have with their children about how to respond if they encounter police. The candidates were asked whether they understand why these parents fear that their children will be targeted for the color of their skin.

Trump continued to criticize Biden’s involvement in the 1994 crime bill before moving on to listing what he perceived as his accomplishments for the Black community.

“Nobody has done more for the Black community than Donald Trump. And if you look, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln … nobody has done what I’ve done,” Trump said, specifically citing criminal justice reform efforts, funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the establishment of Opportunity Zones.

The President later said he thinks he has “great relationships with all people.”

“I am the least racist person in this room,” Trump continued. ?

The President said he didn’t know what to say to Americans who are concerned with his rhetoric being racist.

“I don’t know what to say … It makes me sad,” Trump said.?

Watch the moment:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/46b4b08f-d571-4eb9-92b4-2d7d3931dc53.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/46b4b08f-d571-4eb9-92b4-2d7d3931dc53.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:49:26.201Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="trump least racist" data-first-publish-slug="trump least racist" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
147ee4f8-846b-4dbb-9a9a-2e3e4e1ebfc8.mp4
01:23 - Source: cnn

A question about "the talk" turns into Trump and Biden sparring over who is racist

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University on Thursday in Nashville.

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden were both asked a provocative and important question about race: Could they understand why Black parents give their children the “talk” about how to handle encounters with law enforcement?

Trump’s instinct was to insist —again — that he’s done more for African-Americans than any previous president since Abraham Lincoln — and to attack Biden for his record, including on a crime bill from the 1990s.

He didn’t specifically address the question.

But when pressed about his previous reluctance to condemn white supremacy by moderator Kristen Welker, who is herself Black, Trump made a bold claim.

“I’m the least racist person in this room,” Trump said.

Biden, meanwhile, sought to cast Trump as stoking racial divisions, one of the driving arguments of his entire campaign.

“Abraham Lincoln here is one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history,” he said, making reference to Trump’s previous claim. “This guy has a dog whistle as big as a fog horn.”

The candidates’ responses were designed less to convince Black voters that either man would be better for them than to convince White voters that Trump is or is not racist. It’s one of the factors that has driven down Trump’s poll numbers among suburban women, who have been turned off by Trump’s constant stoking of divisions.

How Trump simply stating that he is not racist reverses that impression — given the ample evidence of him stoking racist conspiracies or fomenting racial divisions — isn’t clear.

Trump: "Joe, I ran because of you"

President Donald Trump answers a question as Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden listens during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville.

President Trump slammed former Vice President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama for doing a “poor job” during their two terms in the White House.

As Biden talked about his policy plan on race and criminal justice reform, Trump accused the former vice president of doing “nothing” during his tenure in the White House.

“Why didn’t you do that four?years ago, even less than that??You were the vice president.?You keep talking about all these?things you’re going to do.?But you were there just a short?time ago and you guys did?nothing,” Trump added.

Watch the moment:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/fff79e42-1483-4fa4-8523-24e7f59b70d9.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/fff79e42-1483-4fa4-8523-24e7f59b70d9.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:32:28.836Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="i ran because of you" data-first-publish-slug="i ran because of you" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
43ca5d89-b342-4563-842e-eab7dccfd09f.mp4
00:23 - Source: cnn

Biden says he understands why people of color fear their children could be targeted by police?

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday during the presidential debate that he understands why people of color fear that their children could be targeted by police because of the color of their skin.

The moderator, NBC’s Kristen Welker, described “the talk” that many Black and brown parents in America have with their children.

“It happens regardless of class?and income — parents who feel they have no?choice but to prepare their?children for the chance that?they could be targeted,?including by the police, for no?reason other than the color of?their skin,” Welker said. ?

“Mr. Vice President, in the next?two minutes, I want you to speak?directly to these families,” Welker continued. “Do you understand why these?parents fear for their children?

“I do,” Biden responded, adding that his daughter is a social worker who has written about this topic.?

He continued, “But a Black parent, no matter how?wealthy or poor they are, has to?teach their child when you’re?walking down the street don’t?have a hoodie on when you go?across the street, making sure?you in fact if you get pulled?over, yes, sir, no, sir, hands?on top of the wheel, because you?are in fact the victim whether?you’re a … person making $300,000?a year person or someone who’s?on food stamps.”

“The fact of the matter is there?is institutional racism in?America,” Biden said.?

Here’s the moment:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/7b75ef43-f4b0-4083-b6e9-ec136d3aa3a6.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/7b75ef43-f4b0-4083-b6e9-ec136d3aa3a6.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:40:12.658Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="biden race talk" data-first-publish-slug="biden race talk" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
f8c81c75-6a4d-457a-91a4-3d566fb03482.mp4
04:08 - Source: cnn

How Trump and Biden compare on the climate crisis

People watch from their vehicles as President Donald Trump, on left of video screen, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speak during a Presidential Debate Watch Party at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, on Thursday.

The candidates are being asked about the climate crisis and their campaign proposals on the topic.

Here’s a look at how they compare on this policy issue:

  • Joe Biden?in July 2020 proposed spending $2 trillion over four years on clean energy projects and ending carbon emissions from power plants by 2035. In a speech detailing the plan, Biden called the threat posed by climate change a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to jolt new life into our economy.” The plan marks a clear shift by Biden toward progressives’ goals of urgently reducing fossil fuel consumption to combat climate change. Biden’s new proposal is more ambitious than the 10-year, $1.7 trillion plan he’d offered during the Democratic primary, which included the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. His proposed 100% clean electricity standard by 2035 is modeled after a proposal initially offered by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and later embraced by Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The same aim was included in a series of recommendations recently negotiated by a task force made up of members appointed by Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and co-chaired by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a chief proponent of the Green New Deal.
  • President Trump’s?decision?to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord — a landmark 2015 deal on global warming targets — was a major blow to the global response to the climate crisis. The decision sent a message to the rest of the world that the US — which can legally leave the agreement as early as 2020 — would not be leading the global fight against climate change. Trump’s EPA chief has said that while he believes in climate change, it is not a top priority. The administration shrunk two of Utah’s national monuments. It has also pushed to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration, as well as waters along the East and Pacific coasts. Under the Trump administration, the EPA announced it would no longer require oil and gas companies to install monitors to detect methane leaks from new wells, tanks and pipelines.

In rare distancing, Biden describes how he would handle immigration differently to Obama

Joe Biden distanced himself from immigration policy during Barack Obama’s presidency on Thursday night, responding to a question about record deportation and a failure to pass immigration reform by saying he would do things differently.

Asked directly why voters should trust him with immigration after eight years under Obama, Biden answered bluntly: “Because we made a mistake.?It took too long to get it?right. I’ll be President of the United?States, not Vice President of?the United States.”

Obama’s immigration policies were criticized during his two terms in office, leading some immigration advocates to express concerns about how a Biden administration would handle the issue. And Biden’s poll numbers with Latino voters have been lower than past Democratic nominees.

Biden has tried to defend his former administration’s handling of immigration — even though the policy earned Obama the mocking moniker “deporter in chief” — making Thursday comments at the debate notable.

This is how the question played out:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/196b270d-ad67-45af-bf44-85780361b72e.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/196b270d-ad67-45af-bf44-85780361b72e.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:30:06.032Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="biden-obama-immigration" data-first-publish-slug="biden-obama-immigration" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
5960e19b-edb6-4617-bed0-52f6afa105ca.mp4
01:17 - Source: cnn

How Trump and Biden compare on police reform

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University on Thursday in Nashville.

President Trump was just asked about the Black Lives Matter movement, which has rallied for police reform across the US.

Here’s a look at how the two candidates compare on the issue of police reform:

  • Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has said he?does not support?calls to “defund the police,” which picked up steam after the police killings of George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, as well as others. But he does support some of the principles the phrase’s advocates champion. Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates has said that Biden supports “the urgent need for reform – including funding for public schools, summer programs, and mental health and substance abuse treatment separate from funding for policing — so that officers can focus on the job of policing.” Biden’s campaign has said he backs proposals to increase spending on social programs separate from local police budgets, but he also wants more funding for police reforms such as body cameras and training on community policing approaches. Biden has called for an additional $300 million in funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services program, which would allow more officers to be hired and would pay for training on community policing approaches.
  • President Trump?has declared himself?“your president of law and order” amid nationwide protests over systemic racism and police brutality in America. He has lambasted efforts to defund police departments and has said police were owed respect for their work. In June, he?signed an order?to enact modest reforms in a move to confront the outcry over police brutality, including a tracking program that will encourage localities to submit information on officers who have been fired or found in court to have used excessive force. The Justice Department will also direct federal grants toward police departments that are credentialed for having use of force and de-escalation policies and banning the use of chokeholds, except when lethal force is authorized. Working with federal health officials, the department will increase training on programs that pair social workers with police to answer mental health and homelessness calls. The Justice Department’s political leadership under the Trump administration has endorsed a policing policy that prioritized stamping out a national uptick in violent crime and boosting the morale of street cops, who the Trump administration claimed had been antagonized under the Obama era.

Fact check: Trump falsely claims Joe Biden received $3.5 million from Russia

President Trump claimed that Joe Biden received $3.5 million from Russia and that it “came through Putin because he was very friendly with the former mayor of Moscow, and it was the mayor of Moscow’s wife. You got $3.5 million. Your family got $3.5 million.”?

Facts First:?This is false. Trump was?seemingly?trying to raise an allegation?previously made?against Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, but there’s no connection to Joe Biden. Hunter Biden also denies?the?allegation he received $3.5 million. Hunter Biden’s lawyer, George?Mesires, told CNN that Hunter Biden was not an owner of the firm Senate Republicans allege received the $3.5 million payment in 2014.??

A?partisan investigation conducted by Senate Republicans, whose report was released this month, alleged that Elena?Baturina, a Russian businesswoman and the?wife of late Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov, sent $3.5 million in 2014 to a firm called Rosemont Seneca Thornton, and that the payment was identified as a “consultancy agreement.” The report did not provide any further details about the transaction.?

Hunter Biden was a co-founder and CEO of the investment firm Rosemont Seneca Advisors. But?Mesires?said Hunter Biden did not co-found Rosemont Seneca Thornton. It’s not clear what connection exists between Rosemont Seneca Advisors and Rosemont Seneca Thornton.?

Neither the Senate report nor Trump have provided any evidence that the payment was corrupt or that Hunter Biden committed any wrongdoing.?

"Bidencare": Biden lays out his health care plan as Obamacare is under attack

Asked what he would do if the Supreme Court strikes down the Affordable Care Act in November, Joe Biden touted his plan to build on the law, commonly known as Obamacare, by adding a public health insurance option.

It will “become Bidencare,” the former vice president said, suggesting he would seek to pass a beefed up version of the current law.

The nuts and bolts would be the same, but Biden said he wants to put more money into the system and add an option for people to buy-in to a Medicare-like program. A similar idea was originally part of the landmark health care bill passed in 2010, but it was cut out before Obama could sign it into law.

Biden also pushed back against the claim that he wanted to bring socialized medicine to the United States. Biden ran hard against “Medicare for All,” a progressive plan to insure every American as part of a government-run system, during the primary and called Trump’s claim “ridiculous.”

He also framed the public option as just that — an option for people who can’t get covered through work or choose not to purchase plans through private insurers.

The Medicare for All legislation was written by Biden’s primary rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders. Trump, when he jumped in, suggested that Biden wasn’t being honest about his plans and pointed, confusingly, to his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, saying she was more liberal than Sanders. Harris dropped her support of Medicare for All during the primary.

After some more back and forth, Biden tried to put a stamp on the conversation.

“People deserve to have affordable health care, period. Period, period, period,” he said. “And the Bidencare proposal will provide for that.” ??

Watch the moment:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/e74c080a-1296-4acf-8d70-c5d6e378588f.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/e74c080a-1296-4acf-8d70-c5d6e378588f.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:24:05.088Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="biden-trump-healthcare" data-first-publish-slug="biden-trump-healthcare" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
78bdc0ce-0451-40f3-8fb0-5e0563e6c813.mp4
04:51 - Source: cnn

Trump vs. Biden on immigration: Here's how their stances compare

President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden participate in the final presidential debate at Belmont University on Thursday in Nashville.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden supports a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He has also called on Congress to immediately grant citizenship to some undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.

At the first Democratic presidential debate in June 2019, Biden said that undocumented immigrants with no criminal records “should not be the focus of deportation.” In an interview with CNN in July 2019, Biden said he opposes?decriminalizing crossing the border without documentation, something other candidates in the field have supported. “I think people should have to get in line, but if people are coming because they’re actually seeking asylum, they should have a chance to make their case,” Biden said.

During his 2016 campaign, Trump proposed the construction of a wall along the US-Mexico border, and has made it a tenet of his immigration policy as President. After taking office, he issued an?executive order?suspending the entry of people from a number of Muslim-majority countries for 90 days; the order went through several iterations in court before it was upheld. The administration’s “zero tolerance” policy in 2018 — criminal prosecutions of adults who illegally crossed the border — resulted in thousands of family separations at the border as parents were detained.

Under a court order, the government must identify and reunify certain separated children. The President has proposed a?merit-based immigration system, establishing a points-based system for green card holders and restricting sponsorship to spouses and minor children. Trump also officially ended Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants who were brought into the country as children, a decision that has now been taken to the Supreme Court.?In June, the Supreme Court blocked the?administration’s attempt to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Trump and Biden respond to recent news of election interference by Iran and Russia

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden speaks during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville.

Both presidential candidates were asked during Thursday’s debate to respond to the recent news that Iran and Russia obtained US voter registration information in an effort to interfere with the election.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said, “I made it clear, that any country, no matter who it is, that interferes in American elections will pay a price.”

“They will pay a price if I’m elected,” Biden continued, specifically referring to interference by China, Russia and Iran. “They’re interfering with American sovereignty. That’s what’s going on.”

Biden also accused Trump of not confronting Russian President Vladimir Putin over election interference efforts and brought up a recent report indicating that the President was warned by his national security adviser that Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, was the target of Russian disinformation.

“And then you find out that everything that’s going on here about Russia is wanting to make sure that I do not get elected to the next president of the United States because they know I know them. And they know me. I don’t understand why this President isn’t willing to take on Putin when he’s actually paying bounties to killed American soldiers in Afghanistan,” Biden said.

Asked how he would deal with election interference in a second term, Trump deflected to discussing purported details about Biden’s son’s dealings with Ukraine.

The President also said he was informed of the recent election interference efforts, and underscored Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe’s assessment that the efforts by Iran and Russia and were done to undermine Trump’s candidacy.

“I knew all about that,” Trump said.

Trump claimed Ratcliffe told him, “They both want you to lose, ‘cause there’s been nobody tougher to Russia.”

Here’s how the question played out:

- Source: cnn " data-fave-thumbnails="{"big": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/25a4c13c-2c34-48e2-b86f-1a478a53636f.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" }, "small": { "uri": "https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/25a4c13c-2c34-48e2-b86f-1a478a53636f.png?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill" } }" data-vr-video="false" data-show-html="" data-byline-html="" data-timestamp-html="" data-check-event-based-preview="" data-is-vertical-video-embed="false" data-network-id="" data-publish-date="2020-10-23T02:14:22.135Z" data-video-section="" data-canonical-url="" data-branding-key="" data-video-slug="trump-biden-iran-russia" data-first-publish-slug="trump-biden-iran-russia" data-video-tags="" data-details="">
c4bb5410-4865-4f24-a113-8ddf2ae1a161.mp4
03:39 - Source: cnn

Fact check: Trump falsely claims he was "kidding" when he suggested injecting bleach

Joe Biden attacked President Trump on comments he made over disinfectants and the coronavirus.

“What did the President say? He said don’t worry, it’s going to go away. Be gone by Easter. Don’t worry…Maybe inject bleach,” Biden said.?“He said he was kidding when he said that but a lot of people thought it was serious.”

Trump replied that he “was kidding on that.”?

Facts First:?This is false. There?was simply no indication?that Trump was being anything less than serious when he made comments in April in which he wondered if it would be possible for people to inject disinfectants to fight Covid-19.?The next day he claimed he was being sarcastic.?

During an April 23 press briefing, Trump expressed interest in exploring the possibility of “injection inside or almost a cleaning” with disinfectants. Here’s what he said:

“[T]hen I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me.”

The next day Trump claimed he was?“asking a question sarcastically to reporters like you just to see what would happen.”

Read a longer fact check?here.?