Transcripts For KNTV First 20240628 : vimarsana.com

Historic debate and a pivotal rematch with the white house at stake. From nbc news, here are lester holt and savannah guthrie. Good evening and welcome to the first president ial debate between president President Biden and former President Trump, hosted by cnn. These two men have debated in the past, of course. But this time is going to look a lot different. The debate is being held at a tv studio, after the candidates bypassed the commission that hosted the debate since the 1980s. So, there is no audience tonight, and the microphones will be muted after a candidates speaking time is up. The debate expected to run 90 minutes. There will be two commercial breaks this evening. We are going to bring you full analysis once the debate is over. Cnn about to broadcast lets been. Good evening, im dana bash, anchor of inside politics and coanchor of state of the union. Im jake tapper. Danna is i will comoderate this evening. Our job is to facilitate a debate between the two candidates tonight. Before we introduce them, we want to share the rules of the debate with the audience at home. Former President Trump will be on the left side of the screen. President biden will be appearing on the right. A coin toss determined their positions. Each candidate will have two minutes to answer a question and one minute each for responses and rebuttals, an additional minute for followup clarification or response is at the moderators discretion. When its time for a candidate to speak, his microphone will be turned on, and his opponents microphone will be turned off. Should a candidate interrupt, he will be difficult to understand for viewers at home. At the end of the atebate, each candidate will get two minutes for closing statements. There is no studio audience tonight. Prewritten notes, props, or contacts with Campaign Staff are not permitted during the debate. By accepting our invitation to debate, both candidates and their campaigns agreed to accept these rules. Now, please welcome the 46th president of the United States, joe biden. Hello. Great to be here. Thank you. And please welcome the 45th president of the United States, donald trump. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here. Lets begin the debate and lets start with the issue that voters consistently say is their top concern, the economy. President biden, inflation has slowed, high. Since you took office, the price of essentials has increased. For example, a basket of groceries that cost 100 then now costs more than 120. And typical home prices have jumped more than 30 . What do you say to voter who is feel they are worse off under your presidency than they were under President Trump . Take a look again. Thats exactly what we began to do. We created 15,000 new jobs and we brought on a position where we have 800,000 manufacturing jobs. But theres more to be done. Working class people are still in trouble. I come from scranton, pennsylvania. I come from a household where the kitchen table, things werent able to get during the month, price of gas, price of housing, price of a whole range of things. Thats why im working so hard to make sure i deal with those problems. And were going to make sure to reduce the price of housing. Were going to build 2 million new units wefrmt going to make sure we cap rents. The combination what i was left with in corporate greed is the reason were in this problem right now. In addition to that, were in a situation where if you had to look at all that was done in his administration, he didnt do much at all. By the time he left, things were in chaos, literally chaos. So, we put things back together. We created jobs. We made sure we had a situation where we now we brought down the price of prescription drugs, which was a major issue for many people. 15 for a insulin shot as opposed to 400. No senior has to pay more than 200 for any drug, all the drugs youll be getting next year. The situation were a going to mak available to everybody, all americans. So, were working to bring down the price around the kitchen table. Thats what were going to get done. Thank you. President trump . We had the greatest economy in the history of our country, and we had never done so well. Everybody was amazed by it. Other countries were copying us. We got hit with covid. And when we did, we spent the money necessary so we wouldnt end up in a great depression, the likes of which we had in 1929. By the time we finished, we did a great job. We got a lot of credit for the military and no wars. Everything was rocking good. The thing we never got the credit for and we should have is getting us out of that covid mess. He created mandates that was a disaster for our country. Other than that, we had given them back a country where the stock market actually was higher than precovid, and nobody thought that was even possible. The only jobs he created are for Illegal Immigrants and bounceback jobs, the bounceback from the covid. He has not done a good job. Hes done a poor job, and inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us. Thank you. President biden . Look, the greatest economy in the world, hes the only one who thinks that, i think. I dont know anybody else who thinks its the greatest economy in the world. The fact of the matter is we find ourselves in a situation where his economy, he rewarded the wealthy. He had the largest tax cut in american history, 2 trillion. He raised the largest deficit any president has. Hes the only president who lost more jobs since herbert hoover. The idea he did something significant in the military, you know, when he was president , they were still killing people in afghanistan. He didnt do anything about that. When he was president , we were still finding ourselves in a position where you had this notion we were this safe country. Truth is im the only president this century that doesnt have any this decade doesnt have any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did. President trump, i want to follow up, if i can. Am i allowed to respond to him . Im going to ask you a followup. You can do whatever you want give us a lot of power for other things. He made a statement the only thing he was right about is i gave you the largest tax cut in history. I also gave you the largest regulation cut in history. Thats why we had all the jobs. Hes taking credit for bounceback jobs. You cant do that. He said he inherited 9 inflation. No. He inherited almost no inflation, and it stayed that way for 14 months. Then it blew up under his administration because he spent money like a bunch of people that didnt know what they were doing. And they didnt know what they were doing. As far as afghanistan was concerned, i was getting out of afghanistan, but we were getting out with dignity, with strength, with power. He got out. It was the most embarrassing day in the history of our countrys life. President trump, over the last eight years under both of your administrations, the National Debt soared the record highs. And according to a new nonpartisan analysis, President Trump, your administration approved 8. 4 trillion in new debt. So far President Biden, youve approved 4. 3 trillion in new debt. Former President Trump, many of the tax cuts you signed into law are set to expire next year. You want to extend them and go even further, you say. With the u. S. Facing trillion dollar deficits and record debt, why should top earners and corporations pay even less in taxes than they do now . Because the tax cut spurred the greatest economy that weve ever seen just prior to covid. And even after covid, it was so strong we wgr but we spurred. That tax spurred. When we cut the taxes, as an example, the Corporate Tax was cut down under our feet. We were going to have something nobody else had. We got hit with covid. We did a lot to fix it. I gave him an unbelievable situation with all of the therapeutics and all of the things that we came up with. We gave him something great. Remember, more people died under his administration, even thoug ve had largely fixed it. More people died under his administration than our administration, and we were right in the middle of it, something which a lot of people dont like to talk about. But yet far more people dying in his administration. He did the mandate, which is a disaster. Mandating it. The vaccine went out, he did a mandate on the vaccine, which is the thing that people most objected to about the vaccine, and he did a very poor job, just s very poor job. And i will tell you, not only poor there, but throughout the entire world, were no longer respected as a country. They dont respect our leadership. They dont respect the United States anymore. Were like a third world leadership between weaponization of his election, trying to go after his political opponent, all of the things hes done, weve become like a third world nation. And its a shame. The damage hes done to our country and id love to ask him and will, why he allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jail, and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country. President trump, we will get to immigration later in this block. President biden, i want to give you an opportunity to respond to this question about the National Debt. He had the largest National Debt of any president in a fouryear period, number one. Number two, the 2 trillion tax cut benefitted the very wealthy. I fixed the taxes. For example, we have 1,000 billionaires in america. And whats happening . Theyre in a situation where they, in fact, pay 8. 2 in taxes. If they just paid 24 , 25 , either one of those numbers, theyd raise 500 million billion dollars i should say in a 10year period. Wed be able to wipe out his debt. Wed be able to help make sure all those things we need to do, child care, elder care, making sure we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure that were able to make every single solitary personnel jibl for what ive been able to do with covid excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with look, we finally beat medicare. Thank you, President Biden. President trump . Well, hes right. He did beat medicare. He beat it to death, and hes destroying medicare because all of these people are coming in. Theyre putting him on medicare. Theyre putting him on security. Theyre going to destroy security. This man is going to single handedly destroy Social Security. These millions and millions of people coming in, theyre trying to put them on Social Security. He will wipe out Social Security. He will wipe out medicare. So, he was right in the way he finished that sentence, and its a shame. Whats happened to our country in the last four years is not to be believed. Foreign countries im friends with a lot of people. They cannot believe what happened to the United States of america. Were no longer respected. They dont like us. We give them everything they want and they think were stupid. They think were very stupid people. What were doing for other countries and they do nothing for us. What this man has done is absolutely criminal. Thank you, President Trump. Dana . This is the first president ial election since the Supreme Court overturned roe v. Wade. This morning, the court ruled on yet another abortion case, pills. Theyre used in about twothirds of all abortions. As president , would you block abortion medication . First of all, the Supreme Court just approved the abortion pill. And i agree with their decision to have done that. And i will not block it. And if you look at this whole question that youre asking, theyre complex but not really complex. 51 years ago, you had roe v. Wade, and everybody wanted to get it back to the states, everybody. Without exception. Democrats, republicans, liberals, conservatives. Everybody wanted it back, religious leaders. And what i did is i put three great Supreme Court justices on the court, and they happened to vote in favor of killing roe v. Wade and moving it back to the states. This is something everybody wanted. Ten years ago or so they started talking about how many weeks and how many this, getting into other things. Every legal scholar throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that. Now the states are working it out. If you look at ohio, it was a decision that was it was an end result that was a little bit more liberal than you would have thought. Kansas, i would say the same thing. Texas is different. Florida is different. But theyre all making their own decisions right now. And right now, the states control it. Thats the vote of the people. Like ronald reagan, i believe in the exceptions. I am a person that believes. And frankly, i think its important to believe in the exceptions. Some people you have to follow your heart. Some people dont believe in that. But i believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, and the life of the mother. I think its very important. Some people dont. Follow your heart, but the baby aside and well determine what well do with the baby, meaning, well kill the baby. What happens . We brought it back to the states and the country is coming together on this issue. Its been a great thing. Thank you. President biden . Its been a terrible thing what youve done. The fact is the vast majority of constitutional scholars supported roe when it was decided, supported roe. And thats this idea that they were all against it is just ridiculous. And this is the guy who said the states you should be able to have it. Were in a state where in six weeks, you eru youre pregnant or not, but you cannot see a doctor and have him decide what your circumstances are, whether you need help. The idea that states are able to do this is a little like were going to return civil rights back to the states, let each state have a different rule. There are so many young women, including a young woman who was just murdered and he went to the funeral. The idea tzat she was murdered by an immigrant coming in, talk about that. But heres the deal. Theres a lot of young women who are raped by their inlaws, by their spouses, brothers or sisters, by its just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it. And then try to drive across state lines. Thank you. There have been many young women murdered by the same people he allows to come across our border. We have a border thats the most dangerous place anywhere in the world, considered the most dangerous place anywhere in the world. And he opened it up, and these killers are coming into our country. And they are raping and killing women. And its a terrible thing. As far as the abortion is concerned, it is now back with the states. The states are back. He wasnt able to get it. Everybody wanted it brought back. And many president s had tried to get it back. I was the one to do it. And, again, this gives it the vote of the people, and thats where they want it. Every legal scholar wanted it that way. Staying on the topic of abortion, President Biden, seven states ill let you do that. This is the same topic. Seven states have no legal restrictions on how far into a pregnancy a woman can obtain an abortion. Do you support any legal limits on how late a woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy . I support roe v. Wade, which had three trimesters. The first time is between the woman and a doctor. Second time is between the doctor and an extreme situation. The third time is between the doctor i mean between the woman and the state. The idea that the politicians that the founders wanted the politicians to be the ones making decisions about a Womans Health is ridiculous. Thats the last no politician can make that decision. A doctor should be making those decisions. Thats how it should be run. Thats what youre going to do. And if im elected, im going to restore roe v. Wade. So, that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth because some states, democratrun, take it after birth. Again, the former governor of virginia put the baby down until we decide what to do with it. Hes willing to, as we say, rip the baby out nv the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen, democrat or republican. Nobody wants it to happen. Youre lying. That is simply not true. Roe v. Wade does not provide for that. Thats not thats a good thing. We think thats a radical thing. We think the democrats are the radicals, not the republicans. For 51 years, that was the law. 51 years constitutional scholars said that was the right way to go. 51 years and it was taken away because this guy put very conservative members on the Supreme Court. He takes credit for a taking it away. Whats he going to do if the maga republicans, he gets elected, and the maga republicans control the congress and they pass a universal ban on abortion period across the board at six weeks or seven weeks or eight weeks. Ill veto it. Hell sign it. President biden, a Record Number of migrants have illegally closed the southern border on your watch, overwhelming border states and overwhelming cities such as new york and chicago, and in some cases causing real safety and security concerns. Given that, why should voters trust you to solve this crisis . We worked very hard to get a bipartisan agreement that not only changed all that, it made sure we were in a situation where you had no circumstance where they could come across the border with the number of Border Police now. We significantly increased the number of asylum offices. By the way, the Border Patrol endorsed me, endorsed my position. In addition to that, we found ourselves in a situation where when he was president , he was separating babys from mothers, putting them in cages, making sure the families were separated. Thats not the right way to go. What ive done since i changed the law. What happened . I changed it in a way that now youre in a situation where there are 40 fewer people coming i dont think he know what is he said either. Look. We had the safest border in the history of our country. All he had to do is leave it. All he had to do is leave it. He decided to open up our border, open up our country to people that are from prisons, people that are from mental institutions, insane asylums rngs terrorists. We have the largest none of terrorists coming into our country right now, all the world, not just south america. All over the world. The middle east, everywhere. All over the r world, theyre pouring in. And this guy just left it open. And he didnt need legislation because i didnt have legislation. I said, close the border. L over we had the safest border in history n. That final couple of months of my presidency, we had, according to Border Patrol who is great and by the way who endorsed me for president , but i wont say that. Brandon, just speak to them. We had the safest border in history. Now we have the worst border in history. Theres never been anything like it. And people are dying all over the place, including the people coming here in caravans. President biden . The only terrorists that have done anything crossing the border is the one that came along and killed al qaeda in his administration killed three american soldiers, killed three american soldiers. Thats the only terrorist. Im not saying no terrorist ever got through. But the idea theyre emptying their prisons, were welcoming these people, thats simply not true. Theres no data to support what hes saying. Hes lying. Staying on the topic of immigration, you said youre going to carry out, quote, the h deportation operation in history, unquote. Does that mean you will deport every undocumented person in america, including those who have jobs, including whose spouses are citizens, and including those who have lived here for decades . If so, how would you do it . The people we killed are al baghdadi and soleimani, the two biggest terrorists anywhere in the world. And it had a huge impact on everything, not just border. Hes the one who killed people with the bad border, including hundreds of thousands of people dying. And also killing our citizens when they come in. We are living right now in a rats nest. Theyre killing our people in new york, in california, in every state in the union because we dont have borders anymore. Every state is now a border. And because of his coming in and theyre killing our citizens at a level that weve never seen. We call it migrant crime. I call it biden migrant crime. Theyre killing our citizens at a level that weve never seen before. And youre reading it like these three incredible young girls over the last few days. One of them, i just spoke to the mother. She just had the funeral for this girl, 12 years old. This is horrible whats taken place. Whats taken place in our country, were literally an uncivilized country now. He doesnt want it to be. He doesnt know. He opened the borders nobodys ever seen anything like. And we have to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out fast because theyre going to destroy our country. Just take a look at where theyre living. Theyre living in luxury xo,m our veterans are on the street. Theyre dying because he doesnt care about our veterans. He doesnt like the military at all, and he things that we did, and i think he did it just because i approved it, which is crazy. But he has killed so many people at our border by allowing all of these people to come in. Its a very sad day in america. President biden, you have the mic. Every single thing he said is a lie. Every single one. For example, veterans are a hell of a lot better off since i passed the pact act. 1 million of them now their families have it because of what happened when there was agent orange or burn pits . Theyre all being covered now. His Group Opposed that. Were also in a situation where we have a Great Respect for veterans. My son spent a year in iraq, came back with stage four glee i dont blass stoma. I was recently in france on dday and i spoke. I went to the world war ii ceremony he refused to go to. He was standing with his four star general and he told me, i dont want to go in there because there are a lot of losers and suckers. My son was not a sucker or a loser. That was a made up quote. They made it up. It was in a third rate magazine thats failing like many of these magazines. He made that up. He put it in commercials. Weve notified him. We had 19 people that said i didnt say it. And think of this, who would say im at a cemetery or im talking about our veterans because nobody has taken better care im so glad this came up and he brought it up. Theres nobody thats taken better care of our soldiers than i have. To think that i would, in front of generals and others say suckers and losers we had 19 people that said it was never said by me. It was made up by him, just like russia, russia, russia was made up, just like the 51 intelligence agents are made up, just like the new thing with the 16 economists are talking. Its the same thing. 51 intelligence agents said that the laptop was russia disinformation. It wasnt. That came from his son, hunter. It wasnt russia disinformation. He made up the suckers and losers story. He should apologize to me right now. Four star general standing on your staff who said you said it, period. Thats number one. And number two, the idea that i have to apologize to you for anything along the line, weve done more for veterans than any president has in american history, american history. The only sacred obligation we have as a country is to care for our veteran when is they come home and their families and equip them when they go to war. Thats what were doing. Thats what the va is doing now. Theyre doing more for veterans than ever before in our history. Thank you so much. Lets move to the topic of foreign policy. I want to begin with russias war against 4 dndndnu apre, which is n in its third year. Former President Trump, russian president Vladimir Putin says hell only end this war if russia keeps the ukrainian territory it has already claimed and ukraine abandons its bid to join nato. Are putins terms acceptable to you . First of all, our veterans and our soldiers cant stand this guy. They cant stand him. They think hes the worst commandert weve ever had. They cant stand him. So, lets get that straight. And they like me more than just about any of them. And thats based on every single bit of information. As far as russia and ukraine, if we had a real president , a president that knew that was respected by putin, he would have never he would have never invaded ukraine. A lot of people are dead right now, much about numbers. You can double those numbers, maybe triple those numbers. He did nothing to stop it. In fact, i think he encouraged russia from going in. I tell you what happened. He was so bad with afghanistan, it was such history of our country, afghanistan, where we left billions of dollars of equipment behind. We lost 13 beautiful soldiers, and 38 soldiers were obliterated. And by the way, we left people behind, too. We left american citizens behind. When putin said that, he said, you know go in and maybe take my this was his dream. I talked to him about it, his dream. The difference is he never would have invaded ukraine never just like israel would have never been invaded in a million years by hamas. You know why . Because iran was broke with me. I wouldnt let anybody do business with them. They ran out of money. They were broke. They had no money for hamas. They had no money for anything, no money for terror. Thats why you had no terror at all during my administration. This place, the whole world is blowing up under him. President biden . I never heard so much malarkey in my whole life. The fact of the matter is that were in a situation where lets take july 21st. Iran attacked american troops, caused brain damage for a number of these troops, and he did nothing about it when he was president. He said theyre just having headaches. Thats all it is. But he didnt do a thing when the attack took place, number one. Number two, we got over 100,000 americans and others out of afghanistan during that air lift. Number three, we found ourselves in a situation where if you take a look at what trump did in ukraine, this guy told ukraine told trump, do whatever you want. Do whatever you want. And thats exactly what i never said that. For one minute, i just want to go back to my original question, which is, are putins terms acceptable to you . No, theyre not acceptable. No, theyre not tdndndn ut, look, this is a war that never should have start. If we had a leader in this war. He led everyone along. Hes given 200 billion now or more to ukraine. Hes given 200 billion. Thats a lot of money. I dont think theres ever been anything like it. Every time that zelenskyy comes to this country, he walks away with 60 billion. Hes the greatest salesman ever. Im just saying, the money that were spending on this war and we shouldnt be spending. It should have never happened. I will have that war settled between putin and zelenskyy as president elect before i take office on january 20th. Ill have that war settled. People being killed so needlessly, so stupidly, and i will get it settled and ill get it settled mr. Biden, you have a minute. The fact is that putin is a war criminal. Hes killed thousands and thousands of people. And he has made one thing clear. He wants to reestablish what was part of the soviet empire, not just a piece. He wants all of ukraine. Thats what he wants. And then you think hell stop there . Do you think hell stop when he if he takes ukraine . What do you think happens to poles . What do you think happens to belarus . What do you think happens to those nato countries. If you want a war, find out what he will do. By the way, all that money we give ukraine from weapons we make here in the United States, were giving them the weapons, not the money at noint. And our nato allies produced as much funding for ukraine as we have. Thats why were strong. Thank you. Moving on to the middle east. In october, hamas attacked israel, killing more than 1,000 people and taking hundreds of hostages. Among those held and thought to still be alive are five americans. Israels response has killed thousands of palestinians and created a humanitarian crisis in gaza. President biden, youve put forward a proposal to resolve this conflict, but so far hamas has not released the remaining hostages, and israel is continuing its military offensive in gaza. So, what additional leverage will you use to get hamas and israel to end the war . You have two minutes. Number one, everyone from United Nations Security Council security to the g7 to the israelis and netanyahu himself have endorsed the plan i put forward, endorsed the plan i put forward, which has three stages to it. The first stage is trade the hostages for a ceasefire. Second phase is a ceasefire with additional conditions. And third phase is the end of the war. The only one who wants the war to continue is hamas, number one. Theyre the only one standing up. Were still pushing hard to get them to accept. In the meantime, whats happened . In israel were finding the only thing i denied israel was 2,000pound bombs. They dont work very well in populated areas. They kill a lot of innocent people. Were providing israel all the weapons they need and when they need them. Qn when they had a fullblown Ballistic Missile attack on israel. No one was hurt. No one israeli was accidentally killed and it stopped. We saved israel. We are the biggest producer of support for israel of anyone in the world. So, thats there are two different things. Hamas cannot be allowed to continue. We continue to send our experts and intelligence people how they can get hamas like we did bin laden. You dont have to do it. Theyve greatly weakened hamas, greatly weakened, and they should be. They should be eliminated. But youve got to be careful using certain weapons among population centers. Just going back to ukraine for one second. We have an ocean separating us. The european nations together have spent 100 billion or maybe more than that less than us. Why doesnt he call them and say, youve got to put up your money like i did with nato. I got them to put up hundreds of billions of dollars. The secretary general of nato said, trump did the most incredible job ive ever seen. They were going out of business. We were spending almost 100 of the money was paid by us. He didnt do that. Hes getting all youve got to ask these people to put up the money. Were over 100 billion more spent, and it has a bigger impact on them because of location because we have an ocean in between. Youve got to ask them. As far as israel and hamas, israels the one that wants to go. He said the only one that wants to keep going is hamas. Actually is israel the one. And you should let them go and let them finish the job. He doesnt want to do it. Hes become like a palestinian. Hes a very bad palestinian. Hes a weak one. President biden, you have a minute. Ive never heard so much foolishness. Youre going to stay in nato, youre going to pull out of nato. The idea that our strength lies in our alliances as well. It may be a big ocean, but if were able to avoid a war in europe, a major war in europe, what happens if in fact you have putin continue to go into nato. We have an article 5 agreement, attack on one is attack on all. You want to start the nuclear war hes talking about, go ahead. Let putin control ukraine and move on to poland and other places. Well see what happens then. He has no idea what the they willl hes talking about. Ive got 50 other nations around the world to support ukraine, including japan and south korea, because they understand that this kind of dislocation adds a serious threat to the whole world peace. No major war in europe has ever been able to be contained just to europe. President trump, just to follow up, would you support the creation of an independent palestinian state in order to achieve peace in the region . Id have to see. But before we do that, the problem we have is that we spend all the money. So, they kill us on trade. I made great trade deals with the european nations. Because if you add them up, theyre about the same size economically. Their economy is about the same size as the United States. There were no cars , no they dont want anything we have. Were supposed to take their cars, their food, their everything, their agriculture. I changed that. The big thing i changed is they dont want to pay. And the only reason they can play games with nato is because i got them to put up hundreds of billions of dollars. I said and hes right about this. I said, no, im not going to support nato if you dont pay. They asked me that question. Would you guard us against russia at a very secret meeting of the 28 states at that time, nations at that time. And i said, no, if you dont pay, i wont do that. And do you know what happened . Billions and billions of dollars came flowing in the next day and the next months. Now were in the same position. Were paying everybodys bills. Thank you. Lets turn to the issue of democracy. Former President Trump, i want to ask you about january 6th, 2021. After you rallied your support es that day, some of them stormed the capitol. As president you swore an oath to, quote, preserve, protect, and defend, unquote, the a what do you say to voter who is think you violated that oath through your action and inaction on january 6th . I dont think many people believe that. And let me tell you about january 6th. On january 6th, we had a great border, nobody coming through, very view. We were energy independent. We had the lowest taxes ever. On january 6th we had the lowest regulations ever. au avth, we were respected all over the world. All over the world, we were respected. R and then he comes in and were now laughed at. Were like a bunch of stupid people. What happened to the United States reputation under this mans leadership is horrible, including weaponization, which im sure at some point youll be talking about, where he goes after his political opponent because he cant beat them fair and square. You have 80 seconds left. My question was, what do you say to those voters who believe you violated your constitutional oath through your action and inaction on january 6, 2021, and worry that youll do it again . Well, i didnt say that to anybody. I said, peacefully and patriotically. And nancy pelosi, if you just watched the news from two days ago, on tape to her daughter, who is a documentary filmmaker, as they say, shes saying, oh, no, its my responsibility. I was responsible for this. I offered her 10,000 soldiers or National Guard, and she turned them down. And the mayor, in writing, by the way, the mayor, in writing, turned it down, the mayor of d. C. They turned it down. I offered 10,000 because i could see. I had virtually nothing to do. They asked me to go make a speech. Ic see what was happening. Everybody was saying theyre going to be there on january 6th, theyre going to be there. I said, theres a lot of people coming. You could feel it. You could feel it too, and you could feel it. I said, they ought to have some National Guard or whatever. I offered it to her, and she now admits that she turned it down. And it was the same day she was i dont know. She cant be very happy with her daughter because it made her into a liar. She said, i take full responsibility for january 6th. President biden . Look, he encouraged those folks to go up on capitol hill, number one. I sat in a diner while at the oval office he sat for three hours watching, being begged by his Vice President and a number of his colleagues on the republican side as well to do something, to call for a stop, to end it. Instead, he talked they talked about patriots and great patrons of america. In fact, he says hell now forgive them for what theyve done. Theyve been convicted. He says he wants to commute their sentences. He went to every single court ihthe nation. I dont know how many cases. Scores of cases, including the Supreme Court. And they said they said, no, no, this guy this guy is responsible for doing what was done. He didnt do a damn thing, and these people should be in jail and they should be the ones being held accountable. And he wants to let them all out. And now he says if q loses again, the winer he is, its going to be a blood bath. Thank you, President Biden. President trump . What theyve done so some people that are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself, what you have done how youve destroyed the lives of so many people. When they ripped down portland. When they ripped down many other cities you go to minnesota, minneapolis, what theyve done there with the fires all over the qity. If i didnt bring in the National Guard that city would have been destroyed. When you look at all of the they took over big chunks of seattle. I was all set to bring in the National Guard. They heard that. They saw them coming and they left immediately. What he said about this whole subject is so off. Peacefully patriotic. One other thing. The unselect committee, which is basically two horrible republicans that are all gone now, out of office, and democrats, all democrats, they destroyed and deleted all of the information they found because they found out we were right. We were right. And they deleted and destroyed all of the information. They should go to jail for that. If a republican did that, theyd go to jail. Thank you, President Biden, i want to give you a minute. The only person on this stage thats a convicted felon is the man im looking at right now. The fact is, what hes telling you is simply not true. The fact is there was no effort on his part to stop what was going on up on capitol hill. And all those people, every one of those convicted, deserves to be convicted. The idea that they offices, turned over desks, turned over statues, the idea that those people are patriots, come on. When i asked him in the first of two debates we had the first time around, i said, will you denounce the proud boys . He said, no, ill tell them to stand by. The idea hes refusing to denounce these guys, denounce the people were talking about now, denounce the people who attacked that capitol . What are you going to do . Im going to give you a minute, President Trump, for a followup question i have. After a jury convicted you of 34 felonies last month, you said, if reelected, you would, quote, have every rm t to go after, unquote, your political opponents. You just talked about members of the select committee on january 6th going to jail. Your main political opponent is standing on stage with you tonight. Can you clarify exactly what it means about you feeling you have every right to go after your political opponents . I said my retribution is going to be success. Were going to make this country successful again because right now its a failing nation. My retribution is going to be success. When we talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon at a very high level. His son is convicted, going to be convicted probably numerous other times, should have been convicted before. But his Justice Department let the statute of limitations lapse on the most important things. But he could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things hes done. Hes done horrible things. All of the death caused at the border, telling the ukrainian people that were going to want a billion dollars if you change the prosecutor. Otherwise youre not getting a prosecutor. If i said that, thats quid pro quo. Were not going to do anything. Were not going to give you a billion dollars unless you change your prosecutor, having to do with his son. I did nothing wrong. We had a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong. Thank you, President Trump. President biden, you have said im coming right to you, sir. You want to respond . Ill give you a minute to respond. The idea i did anything is wrong is outrageous. Number one. Number two, the idea you have the right to seek retribution against any american just because youre president is wrong, simply wrong. No president has ever spoken like that before, no president in our history has spoken like that before. Number three, the crimes you are still charged with think of all the Civil Penalties you have. How many billions of dollars do you owe in Civil Penalties, for molesting a woman in public, for a whole range of things, having sex with a porn star on a night your wife was pregnant. What are you talking about . You have the morals of an alley cat. I didnt have sex with a porn star, number one. Number two, that was a case that was started and moved. They moved a highranking official at doj into the manhattan d. A. s office to start that case. That case is going to be appealed and won. We had a very terrible judge, a horrible judge, democrat. The prosecutor were all high ranking democrats, appointed people. And both the civil and the criminal. He basically went after his political opponent because he thought it was going to damage me. But when the public found out about these cases because they understand it better than he does. He has no idea what these cases are. When they found out about these cases, you know what they did . My poll numbers went up. You know that because youre reporting it. We took in more money in the last two weeks than weve ever taken in in the history of any campaign. I dont think any campaign has ever taken hundred of millions of dollars came pouring in because the public knows its a scam, and its a guy thats after his political opponent because he cant win fair and square. Thank you, President Trump. President biden, you have said, quote, donald trump and his maga republicans are determined to destroy american democracy. Do you believe that the tens of millions of americans who are likely to vote for President Trump will be voting against american democracy . The more they know about what hes done, yes. The more they know about hes done. And theres a lot more coming. Hes got a lot more cases down the road coming on. Hes got a whole range of issues he has to face. I dont know what the juries will do, but i do know he has a real problem. So, the fact that did you ever think youd hear a president say that im going to seek retribution . Did you ever hear any president say that i thought hitler had good ideas . What got me involved to run in the first place after my son died because of iraq, i said i wasnt going to run again until i saw what happened in charlottesville, virginia. People coming out of the woods carrying swastikas, torches, and spewing the same antisemitic bile they sang back in germany. And a young woman got killed. I spoke to the mother. They asked him, they said, what do you think of those people, the people, the ones who got killed, the ones who tried to stop it . He said, i think theyre fine people on both sides. What american president would ever say, not just coming out of fields, carrying torches, singing the same antisemitic bile, carrying swastikas, were fine people . And this is a guy who says hitlers done some good things. Id like to know what they are, the good things hitlers done. Thats what he said. This guy has no sense of american democracy. President trump . Jake, both of you know that story has been totally wiped out because when you see the sentence, it said, 100 exoneration. He just keeps it going. He says he ran because of charlottesville. He didnt run because of charlottesville. He ran because it was his last chance. Hes not equipped to be president. You know it and i know it. Were having a debate. Were trying to justify his presidency. His presidency, without question, the worst president the worst presidency in the history of our country. We shouldnt be having a debate about it. Theres nothing to debate. He made up the charlottesville story. Its debunked all over the place. Every reasonable anchor has debunked it. And just the other day, it came out where it was fully debunked. Its a nonsense story. Qejbur jjuahahat, and he didnt run because of charlottesville. He used that as an excuse to run. President biden . Debunked . It happened. All you have to do is listen to what was said at the time. And the idea that somehow thats the only reason i ran, i ran because i was worried a guy like this could get elected. If he thought they were good people coming out of that forest carrying those woods, carrying those torches, didnt he didnt deserve to be president , didnt deserve to be president at all. And the idea that hes talking about all this being fabricated, we saw with our own eyes. We saw what happened on january 6th. We saw the people breaking through the windows. We saw people occupying his own Vice President. Look, theres a reason why 40 of h[s 44 top cabinet officers are refusing to endorse him this time. His Vice President hasnt endorsed him this time. Why . Why . They know him well. Why are they not endorsing him . Thank you, preside biden. Thank you, preside biden. Nt i wanna hold you forever hey little bear bear. Im gonna love you forever cmon, bear. You dont. You dont have to worry. Be by your side. Ill be there. With my arms wrapped around. University of maryland global campus is a school for real life, one that values the successes youve already achieved. Earn up to 90 undergraduate credits for relevant experience and get the support you need from your first day to Graduation Day and beyond. What will your next success be . Feeling ughh from a backed up gut . Ughh. Miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go. Free your gut and your mood will follow. For 8 grams of fiber, try mirafiber gummies. Im lester holt with savannah guthrie. Youre watching the first president ial debate between President Joe Biden and former president donald trump. Its being hosted by cnn. At the conclusion of this debate, in about 40 minutes, hope youll join us for analysis. Our team of political experts will break down how the night could shake out the president ial race over the next five months. Thats all ahead right here on nbc. Live from georgia. Lets talk about persistent challenges you both faced in your first terms and youd certainly face again in the second term. President biden, while black unemployment dropped to a record low under your presidency, black families still earn far less than white families. Black mothers are still three times more likely to die for pregnancy related causes, and black americans are imprisoned at five times the rate of white americans. What do you say to black voters who are disappointed that you havent made more progress . They acknowledge they made a lot of progress, number one. The fact of the matter is more small black businesses have been started than any time in history. Number two, the wages of black unemployment is the lowest level its been in a long, long time. Number three, were providing housing for black americans and dealing with segregation that exists among these corporate these corporations that collude to keep people out of their houses. In addition to that, we find that the impact on the choice that black family versus to make relative to child care is incredibly difficult. When we did the first major piece of legislation in the past, i was able to reduce black child care costs. I cut them in half, in half. Weve got to make sure we provide for child care costs. When you provide child care protections, you increase Economic Growth because more people can be in the job mabkq9 so, theres more to be done, considerably more to be done. But weve done a great deal so far, and im not letting up, and they know it. You have 49 seconds left. What do you say to black voters who are disappointed with the progress so far . I say i dont blame you for being disappointed. Inflation is still hurting them badly. For example, i provide for the idea that any black family, first time homeowner, should get a 10,000 tax credit to buy their first home so they can get started. I made sure were in a situation where all those black families and black individuals had to take out Student Loans that were balloons, nursing and doctors anything having to do with volunteerism. If they paid their bills for ten years, student debt, all the rest was given after ten years. Millions have benefitted from that. And were going o do a whole lot more for black families. Thank you. President trump . He caused inflation. Hes blaming inflation, and hes right, its been very bad. He caused the inflation, and its killing black families and hispanic families and just about everybody. Its killing people. They cant buy groceries anymore. They cant you look at the cost of food, where its doubled and tripled and quadrupled. They cant live. Theyre not living anymore. He caused this inflation. I gave him a country with no essentially no inflation. It was perfect. It was so good. All he had to do was leave it alone. He destroyed it with his green new scam and all the of the other all this money thats being thrown out the window. He caused inflation. As sure as youre sitting there, the fact is that his big kill on the black people is the million of people that hes allowed to come in through the border. Theyre taking black jobs now, and it could be 18. It could be 19 and even 20 Million People. Theyre taking black jobs, and theyre taking hispanic jobs, and you havent seen it yet, but youre going to see something thats going to be the worst in our history. Thank you. President biden . There was no inflation when i became president. You know why . The economy was flat on its back. 50 unemployment. He decimated the economy. Thats why there was no inflation at the time. There were no jobs. I provided thousands of millions of jobs for individuals who are in iority communities. We made sure they have health insurance. We have covered the aca has increased i made there are 8,000 per person in a family to get written off in health care. But this guy wants to eliminate that. They tried 50 times. Try again if they win. We find ourselves in a position that the idea were not doing any i put more we put more police on the street than any administration has. He wants to cut the cops. We provided for equity, equity and making sure people have a shot to make it. Theres a lot going on. But in inflation, he caused it by his tremendous malfeasance and the way he handled the pandemic. Thank you. Another persistent challenge is the Climate Crisis. 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history in communities across the country are confronting the devastating affects of extreme heat, intensifying wildfires, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels. Former President Trump, youve vowed to end your opponents climate initiative, but will you take any action, as president , to slow the Climate Crisis . Well, let me just said about the police, how close the police are to him. Almost every police group in the nation from every state is supporting donald j. Trump. Almost every police group. And what hes done to the black population is horrible, including the fact that for ten years he called them superpredators in the 1990s. We cant forget that. Superpredators was his name. And theyve taken great offense at it. And now they it happening. When they see what i did for criminal Justice Reform and for the historically black colleges and funded them and got them all funded, and the opportunity zones with tim, as you know tim scott was incredible. He did a great job, great senator from south carolina. He came to me with the idea and it was a great idea. Its one of the most Successful Economic Development acts ever in the countries. Opportunity zones. And the biggest beneficiaries are blacks. And thats why we have the best numbers with them in maybe ever. Theyre saying ever. I read this morning where ever, the best numbers. Hes lost much of the black population because hes done a horrible job for black people. Hes also done a but wait until you see these millions of people pouring into our country, and theyre going to take the jobs. And its already started. And you havent seen anything yet. Its a disaster. 38 seconds left, President Trump. Will you take any action, as president , to slow the Climate Crisis . So, i want absolutely immaculate clean water, and i want absolutely clean air. And we had it. We had h2o. We had the best numbers ever, and we did we were using all forms of energy, all forms, everything. And yet during my four years, i had the best environmental numbers ever. And my top environmental people gave me that statistic just before i walked on the stage actually. I dont know where the hell hes been. The idea that anything he said is true. I passed the most extensive Climate Change legislation in history in history. We found ourselves and by the way, black colleges, i came up with 50 billion for hbcus, historic black universities and colleges, because they dont have the kind of contributors that they have to build these laboratories and the like. Any black student is capable in college of doing what any white student can do if he has the money, able to get the jobs in hightech. Were in a situation where the idea that he is claiming to have done something that had the cleanest water. The cleanest water . He hadnt done a damn this with the environment. He pulled out of the paris climate accord. I immediately joined it. Were at a point theres no way back. The only existential threat to humanity is Climate Change, and he didnt do a damn thing about it. He wants to undo all that ive done. The paris accord was going to cost us a trillion dollars, and china nothing, and russia nothing, and india nothing. It was a ripoff of the United States. And i ended it because i didnt want to waste that money because they treat us horribly. We were the only ones it was costing us money. Nobody else was paying into it. And it was a disaster. But everything that he said just now ill give you an example. I heard him say before, insulin. Im the one that got the insulin down for the seniors. I took care of the seniors. What hes doing is destroying all of our medical programs because the migrants coming in, they want everybody and look, i have the biggest heart on the stage, i guarantee you that. And i want to take care of people. But were destroying our country. Theyre taking over our schools, our hospitals, and theyre going to be taking over Social Security. He is destroying Social Security, medicare, and medicaid. The idea is that we, in fact we were the only ones with consequence who are not members of the paris accord. How can we do anything and the United States cant get under control, one of the largest polluters in the world, number one. Were making significant progress. By 2035 we will have cut pollution in half. We have made significant progress. And were continuing to make progress. We set up a climate accord for thousands of young people to learn how to deal, just like peace corp. And were moving in directions that are going to significantly change the elements and cause of pollution. But the idea that he claims that he has the biggest heart up here and hes really concerned about pollution and about climate, ive not seen any iotication of that. And by the way, with regard to prescription drugs, one company agreed that they would reduce the price to 35, which i was calling for, one voluntarily. I made sure every company in the world, every Pharmaceutical Company thank you. And by the way so, every day, million of americans struggled just to make ends meet. For many older americans, Social Security provides a critical lifeline. President biden, if nothing is done to Social Security, seniors will see their benefits cut in just over ten years. Will you name tonight one specific step that youre willing to take to keep Social Security solvent . Yes, make the very wealthy begin to pay their fair share. Right now everybody making under 170,000 pays 6 of their income, of their paycheck, every time they get a paycheck from the first time they get one at 18 years old. The idea theyre going to im proposing everybody, they pay millionaires pay 1 . 1 . So, i have not raised the cost of Social Security for anybody under 400,000. After that, i begin to make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share by increasing from 1 beyond to be able to guarantee the program for life. So, you still have 82 seconds left. Are there any other measures that you think that would be able to help keep Social Security solvent . Or is that one enough . That one enough will keep it solvent. The biggest thing will do if we defeat this man because he wants to get rid of Social Security. He thinks theres plenty to cut in Social Security. He wants to cut Social Security and medicare. And if you look at the program put forward by the House Republican caucus that he, i believe, supports wants to cut it as well. The idea that we dont need to protect our seniors is ridiculous. We put and by the way, American Public has Greater Health Care Coverage today than ever before. And as i said, youre in a circumstance where 400,000 people excuse me, 40 Million People would not have insurance because they have a preexisting condition. The only thing that allows them to have that insurance the fact that they are, in fact, part of the aca. And by the way, the other thing is were ® in a situation where i talk about education for black communities. I raised the number the amount of money for pell grants another 8,000 for anybody making under 70,000 a year is going to be able to get 15,000 towards their tuition. He just dont know what hes talking about. Dq 9 ive been on this side of the equation for the last eight years. Ive never seen anybody lie like this guy. He lies. Ive never seen it. He can look you in the face about so many other things too. And we mentioned the laptop. We mentioned russia, russia, russia, ukraine, ukraine, ukraine. Everything he does is a lie. Its misinformation and disinformation. The losers and suckers story that he made up is a total lie on the military. Its a disgrace. But Social Security, ping it because millions of people are pouring into our country, and theyre putting them onto Social Security. Theyre putting them on the medicare medicaid. Theyre putting them in our hospitals. Theyre taking the place of our citizens. What theyre doing to the va, to our veterans, is unbelievable. Our veterans are living in the street and these people are living in luxury hotels. He doesnt know what hes doing. Its really coming back. Ive never seen such anger in our country before. President biden . The idea veterans are not being taken care of, i told you before by the way, when i said suckers and losers, he said, he acknowledged he fired that general. That general got fired because hes the one that acknowledged that thats what he said. He was the one standing with trump when he said it, number one. Number two, the idea that were going to be in a situation where all these millions and millions, the way he talks about it, illegal aliens are coming into the country and taking away our jobs, theres a reason we have the fastestgrowing economy in the world, the reason why we have the most successful economy in the world. Were doing better than any other nation in the world. And by the way, those 15 he talked about being phony, those 15 noble laureates, they said if trump is reelected, were likely to have a recession and inflation is going to increasingly go up. Worst president in history. 159 president ial scholars voted him the worst president in the history of the United States of america. President biden, you and President Biden have tried to address this issue. But the average cost of child care in this country has risen to more than 11,000 a year per child. For many families, the two children is more r than their rent. In your second term, what would you do to make child care for affordable . Just to go back, the general got fired because he was no good. And if he said that, thats why he made it up. But we have 19 people that said i didnt say it, and theyre very highly respected, much more so than him. The other thing is, he doesnt fire people. He never fired people. Ive never seen him fire anybody. I fired a lot. I fired comey because he was no good. I fired a lot of top people at the fbi, drained the swamp. They were no good. Not easy to fire people. You pay a price for it. I inherited these people. I didnt put comey there. He was no good. I fired him. This guy hasnt fired anybody. He never fires he should have fired every military man that was involved with that afghanistan horror show, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. He didnt fire did you fire anybody . Did you fire anybody thats on the border, thats allowed us to have the worst border in the history of the world . Did anybody get fired for allowing 18 Million People, many from prisons, many from mental institutions. Did you fire anybody that allowed our country to be destroyed . Joe, our country is being destroyed, as you and i sit up here and waste a lot of time on this debate. This shouldnt be a debate. He is the worst president. He just said about me because i said it. But, look, hes the worst president in the history of our country. Hes destroyed our country. Now all of a sudden hes trying to get a little tough on the border. He came out with a nothing deal and reduced it a little bit a little bit, like this much. Its insignificant. He wants open borders. He wants our country to either be destroyed, or he wants to pick up those people as voters. And i dont think we just cant let it happen. If he wins this election, our country doesnt have a chance, not even a chance, of coming out of this rut. We probably wont have a country left anymore. Thats how bad it is. He is the worst in history by far. Thank you, President Trump. President biden . We are the most admired country in tl h 1 world. Were the United States of america. Theres nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest military in the history of the world, the finest in the history of the world. No one thinks were weak. No one wants to screw around with us, nobody. Number one. Number two, the idea that were talking about worst president s, i wasnt joking. Look it up. Go online. 159 or 158 dont hold me to the exact number president ial historians, they had meetings and they voted whos the worst president in american history. Best to worst. They said he was the worst in all of american history. Thats a fact. Thats not a thats not conjecture. He can argue theyre wrong, but thats what they voted. The idea that he is doing anything to deal with child care, he did virtually nothing for child care. We should significantly increase the child care tax credit. We should significant increase the availability of women and men Single Parents to be able to go back to work. And we should encourage businesses to hold, to have thank you, president be the best. Nobodys ever created economy like us. Hes the only one i know. He wants to raise your taxes by four times. He wants to raise everybodys taxes by four times. He wants the trump tax cuts to expire so everybody, including the two of you, are going to pay four to five times. Nobody ever heard of this before. All my h e i grow up and i see politicians talking about cutting taxes. When we cut taxes, as i said, we did more business. Apple and all these companies, they were bringing money back into our country. The worst president in history by far, and Everybody Knows it. President biden . Look, fact of the matter i said id never raise a tax on anybody making less than 400,000. I didnt. But these tariffs, these 10 tariffs, everything coming into the country, you know what economists say . Thats going to cost the average american 2,500 a year more because theyre going to have to pay the difference in food and all the things that are imported. Number two, hes in a situation where he talks about how he has not raised he somehow helped the dedndnsrdle class. The middle class has been devastated by you. Now you want a new tax cut of 5 trillion over the next ten years, which has been a fundamentally bankrupted country. You have the largest deficit of any president in american history, number one. Number two, you have not, in fact, made any contact, any progress with china. We are the lowest trade deficit with china since 2010. Thank you, President Biden. You lost thank you, President Biden. Lets discuss an epidemic impacting millions of americans that both of you have made a top priority in your first term, the opioid crisis. For both of you, the number of Overdose Deaths in this country has gone up. Under your term, it went up. Under your term, it has gone up. Former President Trump, despite the efforts both of you have made, more than 100,000 americans are dying from overdoses every year, primarily from fentanyl and other opioids. What will you do to help americans right now in the throes of addiction who are struggling to get the treatment they need . To finish up, we now have the largest deficit in the history of our country under this guy. He gets paid by china. Hes a manchurian candidate. He gets money from china. You notice he never took out my tariffs because we bring in so much money from the tariffs i imposed on china. We saved our Steel Industry and there was more to come. He hasnt cut the tariffs because he cant because its too much money. But hes got the largest deficit in the history of our country, and hes got the worst the worst situation with china. Chinas going to own us if you keep allowing them to do what theyre doing to us as a country. Re killing us asry. A country, joe. And you cant let that happen. Youre destroying our country. So, President Trump, you have 67 seconds left. The question was, what are you going to do to help americans in the throes of addiction right now who are struggling to get the treatment they need . Jake, we were doing very well with addiction until the covid came along. We had two and a half, almost three years like nobody has ever had before nirks country, in every way. And we had to get tough. The drugs pouring across the border were it started to increase. We got great equipment. We bought the certain dog thats the most incredible thing youve ever seen, the way they can spot it. We did a lot. And we were getting very low numbers, very, very low numbers. Then he came along, the numbers have you seen the numbers now . Its not only the 18 Million People that i believe is even low because the got aways they dont even talk about got aways. But the numbers of the amount of drugs and Human Trafficking in women coming across our border. The worst thing ive ever seen, numbers that nobodys ever seen under him because the border is so bad. But the number of drugs coming across our border now is the largest weve ever had by far. President trump, thank you. President biden. Fentanyl and the byproducts of fentanyl went down for a while. And i wanted to make sure we used machinery that can detect fentanyl, these big machines that roll over everything that comes across the border. And it costs a lot of money. That was part of this deal we put together, this bipartisan deal, more fentanyl machines, more able to detect drugs, more numbers of agents, more numbers of all people at the border. When we had that deal done, he went and he called his republican colleagues and said, dont do it, its going to hurt me politically. He never argued its not a good bill. Its a really good bill. We need those machines. We need those machines. And were coming down very hard on every country in asia in terms of precursors for fentanyl. And mexico is working with us to make sure they have the technology to be able to put it together. Thats what we have to do. We need those machines. Thank you, President Biden. President trump, again, the question is about americans in the throes of addiction right now struggling to get the treatment they need. This does pertain to it. He ended remain in mexico. He ended catch and release. I made catch and release in mexico, not catch and release here. We had so many things that we had done, hard negotiations done with mexico, and i got it all for nothing. Its like when you have a hostage, we pay 6 billion. Every time theres a hostage. I will have him out very quickly as soon as i take office, before i take office. I said by literally as soon as i win the election, i will have that reporter out. He should have had him out a long time ago. But putins probably asking for billions and billions of dollars because this guy pays it every time. We had two cases we pay 6 billion for five people. I got 58 people out, and i paid essentially nothing. Thank you, President Trump. Dana . Lets turn to concerns that voters have about each of you. President biden, you would be 86 at the end of your second term. How do you address concerns about your capability to handle the toughest job in the world well into your 80s . Well, first of all, i spent half my career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics. I was the second youngest person ever elected to the United States senate. And now im the oldest. This guys three years younger and a lot less competent. I think that this look at the record. Look at what ive done. Look how ive turned around the horrible situation he left me. As i said, 50 million new jobs, 800,000 manufacturing jobs, more investment in america, over billions of dollars in private investment in enterprises we are growing. By the way, we brought an awful lot of people the whole idea of computer chips. We used to have 40 of the market. We invented those chips and we lost it because he was sending people to find the cheapest jobs overseas and bring home a product. So, i went to south korea. I convinced samsung to invest billions of dollars here in the United States. And guess what . Those pay over 100,000. You dont need a College Degree for them. And theres billions, about 40 billion, already being invested and being built right o now in the United States, creating significant jobs for americans from all over the world. President biden, you have 40 seconds left. Would you like to add anything . Yeah, i would. The idea that somehow we are this failing country i never heard a president talk like this before. Were the envy of the world. Name me a single major country president who wouldnt trade places with the United States of america, all our problems and all our opportunities . Were the most progressive country in the world in getting things done. Were the strongest country in the world. Were a country in the world who keeps our word, and everybody trusts us, all of our allies. And those he pals up to, kim jongun, he sends love letters to, and putin, et cetera, they dont want to screw around with us. Former President Trump, to follow up, you would be 82 at the end of your second term. What do you say to voters who have concerns about your capability to serve . I took two cognitive tests, i aced both of them, as you know. We made it public. He took none. Id like to see him take one, just one, a real easy one. Go through the first five questions, heiejj qr u i took two cognitive tests. I took physical m exams every year. And we knock on wood wherever we have wood that im in good health. I won two regular club championships. To do that you have to be quite smart and you the ball a long way. He doesnt do it. He cant hit a ball 50 yards. He challenged me to a golf match. He cant hit the ball 50 yards. I feel im in as good of shape as i was 25, 30 years ago. Ly im probably a little bit lighter. But im in as good of shape as i was years ago. I feel the same. But i was willing to take a cognitive test. If i didnt do well i aced them. Dr. Ronny jackson, whos a great guy, white house doctor. And i took another one, a similar one, and both one of them said theyd never seen anybody ace them. Thank you. President biden . Youre going to see he is 65 and only 235 pounds. Well, you said 64, 200 well, anyway. Just take a look at what he says he is and take a look at what he is. Look, id be happy to have a driving contest i was Vice President down to a 6. By the way, i told you before, im happy to play golf if you carry your own bag. You think you can do it . Thats your biggest lie is the 6 handicap. I was 8 handicap. 8. Ive seen you sweat. I know youre sweating. Lets not act like children. President trump lets not act like children. A specific concern voters have about you. Will you pledge tonight that once all legal challenges have been exhausted that you will accept the results of this election regardless of who wins, and you will say right now that Political Violence in any form is unacceptable . Well, i shouldnt have to say that, but of course i believe that. Its totally unacceptable. And if you would see my statementc , q the speech i made in front of, i believe, the largest crowd ive ever spoken to. And i will tell you, nobody ever talks about that. They talk about a relatively small none number of people that went to the capitol and in many cases were ushered in by police. And nancy pelosi said it was her fault, not mine. She said that, loud and clear. The election is fair, free, i want that more than anybody. Ill tell you something. I wish he was a good president because i wouldnt be here right now. I would be at one of my many places enjoying myself. I wouldnt be under indictment because i wouldnt be his political opponent because he indicted me because i was his opponent. I wish he was a great president. I would rather have that. I wouldnt be here i dont mind being here, but the only reason im here is hes so bad as a president that im going to make America Great again. Were going to make America Great again. Were a failing nation right now. Were a seriously failing nation, and were a failing nation because of him. His policies are so bad. His military policies are insane. Theyre insane. These are wars that will never end with him. He will drive us into world war iii, and were closer to world war iii than anybody can imagine. We are very, very close to world war iii. And hes driving us there. Nd president xi of china, kim jongun of north korea, all of these putin, they dont respect him. They dont fear him. They have nothing going with this gentleman, and hes going to drive us into world war iii. You want a world war iii, let him follow and win and let putin say do what you want, nato, just do what you want. Theres article 5, attack on one is attack on all, a required response. The idea the idea i cant think of a single major leader in the world who wouldnt trade places with the job ive done and what theyve done. Because were a powerful nation. We have wonderful because of the people. Because of the american people. Theyre capable of anything, and they step up when theyre needed. And right now were needed. Were needed to protect the world because our own safety is at stake. And again, you want to have a war . Just let putin go ahead and take kyiv. Make sure they move on. See what happens in poland, hungary, and other places along that border. Then you have a war. President trump, as i come back to you for a followup, the question was, will you accept the results of this election regardless of who wins . Just to finish what he said, if i might. Russia, they took a lot of land from bush. They took a lot of land from obama and biden. They took no land, nothing, from trump. Nothing. He knew not to do it. Not going to play games with me. He knew that. I got along with him very well, but he knew not to play games. He took nothing from me. But now hes going to take the whole thing from this man right here. Thats a war that should have never started. It would have never started ever with me. And hes going to take ukraine. And you know, you asked me a question before, would you do this with hes got us in such a bad position right now with ukraine and russia because ukraines not winning that war. He said, i will never settle until such time. Theyre running out of people. Theyre running out of soldiers. Theyve lost so many people. Its so sad. Theyve lost so many people, and theyve lost those gorgeous cities with the golden domes that are 1,000 years old all because of him and stupid decisions. Russia would have never attacked. President trump, the question was, will you accept the results of the election regardless of who wins, yes or no, please . If its a fair and legal and good election, absolutely. I would have much rather accepted these, but the fraud and Everything Else was ridiculous. If you want, well have a News Conference on it in a week or well have another one of these in a week. But i will absolutely theres nothing id rather do. It would be much easier for me to do that than im running again. I wasnt really going to run until i saw the horrible job he did. Hes destroying our country. I would be very happy to be someplace else in a nice location someplace. And again, no indictments no, political opponent stuff because its the only way he thinks he can win. But unfortunately, its driven up by numbers and driven up to a very high level because the people understand it. Lets see what your numbers are when this election is over. Lets see. Lets see. Youre a whiner. When you lost the first time, you continued, you appealed and appealed to courts all across the country. Not one single court in america said any of your claims had any merit, state or local. None. But you continue to promote this lie about somehow theres all this misrepresentation, all this stealing. There is no evidence of that at all. And i tell you what, i doubt youll accept it because youre such a whiner. The idea if you choose again, you accepting anything . You cant stand the loss. [ doorbell rings ] you must be isaac. Come on in. [ sighs ] heres my pride and joy. [ romantic music plays ] beautiful stair renovation, sir. And theyre covered with your home and auto bundle with progressive, so you get roundtheclock protection. So, is gabby coming down . Oh, she said shell meet you at the prom. Okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Yay woo hoo ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. And ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. feeling ughh from a backed up gut . Ughh. Miralax works naturally with the water in your body to help you go. Free your gut and your mood will follow. For 8 grams of fiber, try mirafiber gummies. Im lester holt with savannah guthrie. T youre watching the first president ial debate between President Joe Biden and former president donald trump. Its being hosted by cnn. And at the conclusion of this debate, in less than ten minutes or so, were hoping youll join us for analysis of tonights key moments. Our team of political experts will break down how this night could shake up the president ial race over the next five months. Lack to atlanta now. Candidates to deliver their closing statements, as predetermined by a coin toss. Were going to begin with you, President Biden. You have two minutes. We have made significant progress from the debacle that was left by President Trump in his last term. We find ourselves in a situation where, number one, we have to make sure that we have i ask anyone out there in the audience, anyone watching this debate, do you think the tax system is fair . The fact is that i said, nobody making under 400,000 had a single penny increase in their taxes and will not if im reelected, that will be the case again. But, this guy has increased your taxes because of the deficit, number one. Hes increased inflation because of the debacle he left after the way he handled the pandemic. And he finds himself in a position where he now wants to tax you more by putting a 10 tariff on everything that comes into the United States of america. What i did for example, he wants to get rid of the ability of medicare for the ability for us to be able to negotiate prices with big pharma companies. Guess what . We got it down to 15 excuse me, 35 for insulin instead of 400, no more than 2,000 for the average senior, no matter how much prescriptions they need. Do you know what that did . That redq federal debt by 160 billion because the government doesnt have to pay exorbitant prices. Im going to make that available to every senior. He wants to get rid of that. Im going to make sure we have child care. Were going to increase the credits people have for child care. Im going to make sure we do something about what were doing on lead pipes and all the things that are causing Health Problems for people across the country. Were going to continue to fight to bring down inflation and give people a break. Thank you, President Biden. President trump, you now have two minutes for your closing statement. Like so many politicians, this man is just a complainer. He said, we want to do this. We want to do that. We want to get rid of this tax, that tax. But he doesnt do anything. All he does is make our country unsafe by allowing millions and our military doesnt respect him. We looked like fools in afghanistan. We didnt stop israel. It was such a horrible thing that would have never happened it should have never happened. Iran was broke. Anyone who did business with iran, including china, they couldnt do business the United States. They all passed. They had no money whatsoever for terror. Again, ukraine should have never happened. He talks about all this stuff, but he didnt do it. For three and a half years, were living in hell. We have the palestinians and everybody else rioting all over the place. You talk about charlottesville. This is 100 times charlottesville. The whole country is exploding because of you because they dont respect you, and they have to respect their president. And they dont respect you throughout the world. What we did was incredible. We rebuilt the military. We got largest tax cut in history, the largest regulation cut in history. The reason hes got jobs is because i cut the regulations and gave jobs. But hes putting a lot of those regulations back on. All of the things that weve done, nobodys ever never seen anything like even from a medical standpoint, right to try, where we can try space age materials instead of going to asia or going to europe and trying to get, when youre terminally ill. Now you can go and you can get something. They signed a document, theyve been trying to get it for 42 years. But you know what we did for the military was incredible. Choice for our soldiers. Our soldiers, instead of waiting three months to see a doctor, can go out and get themselves fixed up and readied up and take care of themselves. And theyre living. And thats why i had the highest Approval Rating in the history of the va. Were in a failing nation, but its not going to be failing anymore. Were going to make it great again. Of this debate. Anderson cooper and erin burnett starts now on cnn. So, weve been watching the wrap up there of the debate. Former President Trump making his closing statement, wrapping up the first president ial debate hosted by cnn, with mr. Trump facing off against President Biden. The two men debated for about an hour and 40 minutes or so and clashed repeatedly on the major topics of the day including child care, Social Security, and of course the key issue, the competence of both men. Both one of the oldwst president s in history if elected. The kand t das also traded several personal attacks. We heard about golf scores, among other things. It was a contentious debate. Lets bring in Kristen Welker in the debate spin room, and hallie jackson. Kristen, let me begin with you. What are the headlines being written right now about this debate . Lester and savannah, theres no way to sugar coat this. This night got off to a tough start for President Biden. He delivered a performance that was at times halting. At times he seemed to lose his train of thought. At times he started to talk about one topic, for example, the economy, and shifted to afghanistan, which gave former President Trump an opening. And abortion, he raised the issue of immigration, which gave former President Trump an opening. As the night progressed, he did begin to pick up steam. He had some really strong moments on the issues of what this administration, for example, has done for veterans. But zooming out, this was a debate about performance. This was a debate about allaying americans concerns about his ability to serve another four years. And i had a number of reporters at nbc news have heard from a range of democrats who have said that they are concerned by tonights debate. One telling me of this race, quote, this is effectively over. This person predicting, look, democrats are still going to stand by biden, despite the fact that you do have some democrats tonight wondering if that will be the case moving forward. But there has been some tough language that people have been reaching out to offer in terms of the performance that they saw tonight from President Biden. It is also important to note, former President Trump unleashed a torrent, at times, of misinformation, some of which President Biden fact checked. Some of which went unanswered. You have to wonder if the format of this debate, the fact that the mics were muted, may have played a role in this. But again, a slow start to this debate for President Biden. He did pick up steam. Well have to see how people play it. Lets go to hallie jackson, whos in the spin room down in atlanta. I mean, heres the race that in some ways was essentially tied, perhaps, donald trump in most of the National Polls and swing state polls going into it had a lead, in most of them. The Biden Campaign wanted and needed a compelling performance from their candidate. Did they get it . If a voter, savannah, was tuning in, looking to see about concerns being alleviated about President Bidens age or strength or capability for office, it is not at all clear that that is what they got from thiS Performance by President Biden tonight, which was shaky. It was a shaky start. Meandering at times. I will tell you that in about the back half of the debate, maybe the latter third of the debate, i heard from a democratic lawmaker, member of congress who has been a strong support of President Biden who are suggested the possibility, perhaps, of an open convention, or replacing President Biden on the ticket. I will tell you it is all but potentially impossible for that to actually happen. But the fact that that is even being raised, the fact that is even is even being raised, the fact that is even 1rej pow hanging over the debate performance for President Biden is at minimum a headache for the Biden Campaign moving into the next stretch of his campaign ahead of the Republican Convention in the next couple of weeks. And at worst, potentially, something that will dog them for months, given what we have seen from voters dndnr polling consistently, which is concern for President Bidens age. All of that said, im in the spin room. And they call eight i spin room for a reason. You have surrogates here for both campaigns. And of course the Biden Campaign out here trying to make the case that their candidate did well. Ill tell you some of the early spin from team biden. Suggesting that former President Trumpn] answer on january 6th was not a good one, that people are turned off by his insults, by his attacks on President Biden here. But remember the social autonomy that were in right now, this idea that these shareable moments are what people tend to there are moments here that the Biden Campaign is going to find tough to swallow based on the president S Performance tonight. Speaking of the spin room and surrogates, we want to do that right now and go to Biden Campaign national cochair, mitch landrieu. Mr. Mayor, lets put a fine point on it. Was this the commanding performance from your candidate you hoped to see . I thought it was a bare knuckles brawl. The president started off slow, but he came back. The most compelling thing that youre right about more than youre right about anything else is that when donald trump was speaking, he was lying. The fact theres no Fact Checking is incredible. It is hard to debate somebody who is untethered from the truth. He doubled down on the fact that january 6th was no big deal. He doubled down on the fact he was an election denier. He doubled down on the fact he thouu reversing roe versus wade was a great idea. He doubled down on the fact that the economy was the best in the world when in fact it was not. These debate versus a way of coursing overtime. Before tomorrow morning, when you fact check what was said, you are going to find out almost everything donald trump said tonight was a fabricated lie. Mr. Mayor, will that be the conversation, or will the conversation be about the physical performance . I think because of the way people analyze debates its going to be at first about the physical performance. But when you get into the substance of what was said, i think joe biden was right on the substanke he told the truth. He has a better record. America is stronger. People respect us more. The economy is better. And donald trump, literally to every question that was asked of him, he did not tell the truth. It was like he was living in another universe. Somebody who isnt ashamed and not telling the truth, it is a very difficult situation. I thought you saw that in real time tonight. What you also did see was President Biden actually fighting for the people that really he believes in, and donald trump becoming obsessed, again, with himself and almost being unhinged in some moments. Mr. Mayor, you talk about fact checks. The polls show it over and over again, a core issue for voters is whether or not President Biden has the competence and ability to complete a second term. So, the fact check is before their eyes. Theyre able to assess it. Was the President Biden that you saw tonight the individual you know, so people assess based on what they saw tonight, that this is the president who will serve another four years, are you comfortable with that assessment based on what you saw tonight . I am. I shared with President Biden for two years. I was with him on a regular basis. And ive seen him recently. I think that hes fine. I think he had a cold tonight. I think he looked a little sluggish when he came out. But as the night went on, i think he rose to the occasion. It was a bare knuckles brawl, but im proud of the fact that he stood up to donald trump and the mistruths that he told and he tried to lay his plan ua for the american people. Mitch landrieu, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Of course. We want to turn to our Senior National correspondent. Tom llamas is on the floor of the spin room. Tom, what are you hearing . Good to be with you tonight. Campaigns, elections, they are all about strategies. The Biden Campaign strategy in the spin room is a little odd right now. All these people are waiting for any democratic strategist to come out, anyone from the Biden Campaign, anyone who supports joe biden to come out here and defend hiS Performance right now. You can see there are not a lot of people right now. To be fair theyve chosen a different space. If i turn the camera around the spin room, all these people here, these people are talking to trump supporters. These are trump surrogates that are out here, people like Vivek Ramaswamy, we saw senator rubio enter the room as well. The trump team is out here on the offense. Theyre out here saying basically that the president , ti dndndn ra very bad debate, that President Trump, obviously the candidate theyre supporting had a very much better debate. The american viewers saw the performance from President Biden. The choice is clear. Im sure in the moments to come, President Biden will be out somebody from his team will come out here and defend the president S Performance. All these reporters, and theres dozens of them, waiting for anyone to come out right now from the Biden Campaign. This is the spin room. Even though they have a different room they wanted to put their people in, as far as strategies are, as far as where the reporters are, this is where people are. These reporters, these cameras, theyre surrounding trump surrogates. You can see the signs. Tim scott, Vivek Ramaswamy is over here. Senator marco rubio is over here. Were going to send it back to you to you in the studio, as we give you a live shot of senator rubio. And well stay on the spin room floor. Joining us now from the debate spin room is doug burgum. Doug, good evening. Thank you for being with us. Lester, great to be with you. We heard from the surrogate for the Biden Campaign that President Trump, in their view, flooded the zone with untruths, half truths, whats your reaction to that . Well, i think my reaction is that President Trump had a very strong performance, and i think america saw they saw the challenges that joe biden had just delivering a message. And he didnt have an answer on inflation. He didnt have an answer on the border. And i think thats what americans, the americans i talk to, republicans, independents, democrats, those are the two things that are affecting them most. The border isnt about immigration. Its about National Security and public safety. And we didnt hear answers to that. And i think me, as a business guy listening to it, its a its clear that, you know, joe bidens got a 50yearlong philosophy, which is essentially antibusiness. Right now, of course, americas economy varied in regulation. He wants to raise taxes. And every solution is higher taxes and more atqding. So, i think, you know, people didnt see anything new. There was no vision there. And people know that they were better off under President Trump. So, i think tonight, big win for President Trump. And governor, the fact there was no audience, do you think that, in the end, helped the former president . Well, i think that President Trump showed what he shows a lot of people, which is whether hes in small groups or whether hes at fundraisers. I mean, hes hes right now hes in a great spot. Hes calm. Hes strong. Hes confident. I mean, this is not the guy that was running in 2016. He knows what its himself by a Great Campaign team. And i think hes very confident about how hes Going Forward. I think that showed in hiS Performance tonight. Governor, can i ask you something. A lot of people are just tuning in. Theyre not political junkies like i or you. Theyre justta9 9 one of the last things they remember, of course, is january 6th, the president losing the election, claiming he didnt riot the capitol. Here he was asked point blank, if you lose the election, will you concede. He just doesnt answer the collection directly. If its free and fair. Why doesnt he come out and say, of course ill accept the results of this election . Well, i think you heard him say that at the end. It would be easier for him. Everybody thought we had secure elections, but we know in our country, being a democracy thats just a red herring. This was litigated. This was in democracy and our courts and every other institution which found that it was a free and Fair Election, and yet hes still on about that. And he wont say that hell accept the results of this election. I just dont get that. Well, i think for any of us that were around i was also part of that 2020 election we had a free and Fair Election in north dakota. Weve gotion security there. But we had so many rule changes in 2020 with covid. We had Record Number of mailout, not mailin ballots, but mailing out, flooding the zone with all these ballots to nonupdated voter files, unmonitored drop boxes. You can verify this is number of ballots that got counted. But im a guy that jh and business processes. When youve got unmonitored documents, you dont know where it came from, that would never pass an audit from a public company. So, i think we all want the same thing in america, whether its the 2000 election, which was challenged down in one county in florida, the 16 election, which people claim theres russian interference, the 2020 election i mean three of our last five elections, either of the different parties have been saying there are concerns. We cant let you get out of here without asking you about the vp selection process. Sure you can. Have you been asked to be vp . The former president said his vp was there tonight. Youre there. Marco rubio is there. Katie vance is there. Have you been asked to be vp . Theres so much talent in the Republican Party tonight, and i think the real veep question has got to be on the democrat side. Im sure thats the question right now, is the choice joe biden made four years ago, what are they doing Going Forward . Do you expect to know who his Vice President ial pick is this week, keeping in mind its thursday night . Again, tonight is about President Trumps big victory. And hell make that decision have you been asked . Hell make the decision at the time of his choosing. Have you asked . Theres only one person to know who the next vp is, and that is President Trump. I knew how that question would go. I think thats a no. He hasnt been asked. Gadi swartz has been watching the debate with voters known as double haters in phoenix. We started off the night talking about double haters. As that debate went on, double hate is probably not the word that this panel would use to describe their feelings on one or possibly both candidates. We were just talking about it. How would you describe it . Double what . Double frustrated. Double frustrated. How about you . Double cringe. Double cringe. And i was watching you, as you were watching this debate. I saw a lot of cringing. I saw a lot of anger at some times. If there was one moment that stuck out to you, what would it be . The moment when they started to go back and forth about golfing. Golfing, toward tend. Yeah. What does that have to do with the question the moderator asked . And they just kept going back and forth. Its like, is this real . It felt really weird to see them going back and forth like that. Denise, how about you . What was the moment that stuck out to you . First, if i could just finish. He did this a lot. I would like to say, we are not in one of Donald Trumps many properties. We are in heatfilled phoenix, arizona, where we are suffering from Climate Change. So, to say theres no problem with our climate is yet another lie because there were so many lies told today. But cringe moment, i felt like they were in first grade, second grade. It was nothing is Donald Trumps fault. Its all the democratic that biden put into office. Nothing is joe bidens fault either. Its all, i had to clean up your mess. So, figure it out, boys, because youre both wrong. And nicole, when it comes to i saw you cringing a few times during bidens speaking. What were your thoughts when you were watching that . I mean, he just really struggles to get out a coherent thought. Then he gets side tracked and he cant get back onto the conversation. Its just really challenging to watch him. And this is one of those debate watch parties where three of those debate watch parties where three of you said that you when you have moderate to severe eczema, its okay to show off. With dupixent, show off your clearer skin and less itch. Because you have plenty of reasons to show off your skin. With dupixent, the 1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, you can stay ahead of your eczema. It helps block a key source of inflammation inside the body that can cause eczema to help heal your skin from within. Many adults saw 90 clearer skin, some even achieved longlasting clearer skin and fast itch relief after first dose. Serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. Dont change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. Show off to the world. Ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. Welcome back to our special coverage of the first president ial debate between President Biden and former President Trump. We want to turn in our final moments to Kristen Welker. Theres supposed to be abe second debate in september. Question whether it will happen. Also perhaps a lot of soul searching in the Democratic Party tonight based on your sources. Theres no doubt about that. The sources have reached out to say exactly that, that there are discussions about what happens next, wisdom of holding this debate early, remember, was to shake up this race. Going into tonight, President Biden trailing within the margin of error nationally and also in two battleground states. The Biden Campaign wanted people to start paying attention, to turn this race around. And the hope was he would deliver a commanding performance. Here they are now going into the convention, a time when it is summer, when people will undoubtedly start to tune out. Again, so the impact of this remains unknown. But still a lot of time between now and the convention for democrats. That leads to the question, will this moment be frozen in time. You do have folks leaving on july 4th holiday now. Youve got olympics coming up. Were in that part of the year where peoples attention is beginning to be divided in many ways. Is that something that democrats and biden folks are holding now for hope . Absolutely. It could be frozen in time. And i think this goes to the lawmaker saying this is coming to some questioning whats happening moving forward. That includes our coverage of the first president ial debate. But continuing coverage on our