Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240628

Geoff is the first of two scheduled debates and it comes before joe biden and donald trump are officially named their partys nominees. Amna it is the first chance for voters to see them sidebyside on the same stage in this election cycle and during the debate, you can check out a Fact Checking blog by political fact on our website politifact on our website. Geoff we join jake tapper and dana. The American People with just over four months until election day. I am the anchor of cnns inside politics and coanchor of state of the union. Jake i am jake tapper. We will comb moderate 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. Dana when it is time for a candidate to speak, his megaphone will be turned on and his opponents microphone will be turned off. Should a candidate interrupt when his microphone is muted, he will be difficult to understand from viewers at home. At the end of the debate, each candidate will get two minutes for closing statements. There is no studio audience tonight. Prewritten notes, prompts, or contact to Campaign Staff are not permitted during the debate. By accepting our invitation to debate, both candidates and their campaigns agreed to accept these rules. Jake please welcome the 46th president of the United States, joe biden. Pres. Biden how are you . Great to be here. Thank you. Geoff and please welcome the 45th president of the United States, donald trump. Jake gentlemen, thank you 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 but prices remain high. Since you took office, the price of essentials has increased. For example, a basket of groceries that cost 100 then now costs 120 and typical home prices have jumpedmore than 30 . What do you say to voters who feel they are worse off under your presidency than they were under President Trump . Pres. Biden you have to take a look at what i was left with when i became president and what mr. Trump left me. We had an economy that was in freefall. The pandemic was so badly handled, many people were dying and all he said was that it was not that serious. The economy collapsed. There were no jobs. Unemployment rate rose to 15 . It was terrible, so we had to try to put things back together again and that is exactly what we began to do. We created 15,000 new jobs and we brought on a new position where we have 800,000 manufacturing jobs but there is more to be done. And more to be done. Working class people are still in trouble. I come from scranton, pennsylvania, from a household where at the Kitchen Table it was a problem. The price of gas, the price of housing, the price of a whole range of things. That is why im working so hard to make sure i deal with those problems and we are going to make sure that we reduce the price of housing. We are going to make sure that we build new units and make sure we cap ran so corporate greed cant take over. The combination of what is left of corporate greed is why we have this problem right now. In addition to that, we are in a situation where if you take a look at all that was done in this administration, he did not do much at all. By the time he left, there was literally chaos. So we put things back together. We make sure we have a situation where we now we brought down the price of prescription drugs which was a major issue for many people. 15 for an insulin shot as opposed to 400. No senior has to pay more than 200 for all the drugs beginning next year. The situation going to make that available to everybody, to all americans, so we are working to bring down the price around the Kitchen Table and that is what we are going to get done. Jake thank you for President Trump. Mr. Trump we have thank you. President trump. Mr. Trump we had never done so well. Everyone was amazed by it. Other countries were copying us. We got hit by covid and when we did, we spent the money necessary so we would not end up in a depression the likes of which we had in 1929. A lot of credit for the economy, for the military, no wars, and so many other things. Everything was rocking good but the thing we never got the credit for and we should have is getting us out of that covid met. He created mandates. That was a disaster for our country. Other than that, we have 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, a bounceback from the covid. He has done a poor job. Inflation is killing our country. It is absolutely killing us. Jake thank you. President biden. Pres. Biden the greatest economy in the world . He is the only one who thinks that. I dont know anyone else who things we have the greatest economy in the world. The fact of the matter is we pride ourselves on a situation where his economy, he rewarded the wealthy. He had the largest tax cut in american history. 2 trillion. Erase the deficit larger than any president has in any one term. He is the only president other than Herbert Hoover who lost more jobs and he had when he began, since Herbert Hoover. The idea that 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. Were still finding ourselves in a position when you had a notion that we were the safe country. Truth is, i am the only president this century that doesnt have any this decade that does not have troops dying anywhere in the world like he did. Jake President Trump, i want to follow up if i can mr. Trump am i allowed to respond to him . Jake you want to impose a 10 tariff on goods coming into the u. S. How will you ensure that doesnt drive Prices Higher . Pres. Biden it will cost mr. Trump it will cause countries like china and many others, its going to just force them to pay us a lot of money, reduce our deficit tremendously, and give us a lot of power for other things, but he made a statement. The only thing he was right about what i gave you the largest tax cut in history. I also gave you the largest regulation cut in history and that is why we had all the jobs and the jobs went down and then they bounced back and he is taking credit for bounceback jobs. You cant do that. He also said he inherited 9 inflation. No, he inherited almost no inflation and its aid that way for 14 months and then it blew up under his leadership because they spend money like a bunch of people that didnt know what they were doing. And they dont know what they are doing. It was probably the worst demonstration in history. As far as afghanistan is concerned, i was getting out of afghanistan but we were getting out with dignity, with strengths, with power. He got out and it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our countrys life. Jake President Trump, over the last eight years, under both of your administrations, the National Debt soared to record highs and according to a new nonpartisan analysis, your administration approved eight point 4 trillion in new debt. So far, President Biden, you have approved 4. 3 trillion dollars. Former President Trump, many of the tax cuts you signed into law or 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 . Mr. Trump because the tax cuts spurred the greatest economy that we have ever seen just prior to covid and even after covid, it was so strong that we were able to get through covid much better than just about any en we cut the taxes the Corporate Tax was cut down to 21 from 39 plus beyond that, we took in more revenue with much less tax and companies were bringing back trillions of dollars back into our country. The country was going like never before, and we were ready to start paying down debt. We were ready to start using the liquid gold under our feet, the oil and gas under our feet. We were going to have something that nobody else has had. Got hit with covid. We did a lot to fix it. I gave him an unbelievable situation is all of the therapeutics and all of the things we came up with. We gave him something great. Remember, more people died under his Administration Even though we had largely fixed it. More people died under his administration that our administration and we were right in the middle of it. Something which a lot of people dont like to talk about. He had far more people dying in his administration. He did the mandate which is a disaster, mandating it. D he did a very poor job, just a very poor job, and i will tell you, not only poor they are, but throughout the entire world, we are no longer respected as a country. They dont respect our leadership. They dont respect the United States anymore. We are like a third world nation between weaponization of his election, trying to go after his political opponent, all of the things hes done, we have become like a third world nation and it is a shame. The damage hes done to our country, and i would love to ask him and will, why he allowed millions of people to come in here from prisons, jails, and mental institutions to come into our country and destroy our country. Jake President Trump, we will get to immigration later in this block. President biden, i wanted to give you an opportunity to respond to this question about the National Debt. Pres. Biden he had the largest National Debt. That to trillion dollar tax cut benefited the very wealthy. What i am going to do is fix the tax system. For example, we have 1000 trillion errors in america i mean billionaires in america. They are in a situation where 8. 2 percent taxes. If they just paid 24 , 25 , either one of those numbers, they would raise 500 million, billion dollars, i should say, in a 10 year period. We would be able to wipe out debt, help make sure that all those things we need to do, childcare, eldercare, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system, making sure we are able to make every single solitary person eligible for what i have been able to do with the covid excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with look, if we finally beat medicare jake thank you, President Biden. Mr. Trump he did beat medicaid. He beat it to death and hes destroying medicare because all of these people are coming in, they are putting them on medicare, putting them on Social Security. They are going to destroy Social Security. This guy is going to singlehandedly destroy Social Security. These millions and millions of people coming in, they are 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. What has 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. We are no longer respected. They dont like us. We give them everything they want and they think we are stupid. They think we are very stupid people. What we are doing for other countries, and they do nothing for us, but this man has done is absolutely criminal. Jake 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, temporarily allowing emergency abortions to continue in idaho. Despite that states witness or two. Former President Trump, you take credit for the decision to overturn roe v. Wade which returned the issue of abortion to the states. However, the federal government still plays a role in whether or not women have access to Abortion Pills. They are used in about two thirds of all abortions. As president , would you block abortion medication . Mr. Trump 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 you are asking, 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. What i did was 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, something everybody wanted. 10 years ago or so, they started talking about how many weeks and 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 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 they are all making their own decisions right now and right now, states control it. That is the vote of the people. Like Ronald Reagan, i believe in the exceptions. I am a person that believes. And frankly, i think it is important to believe in the exceptions. The 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 it is very important. Some people dont. Follow your heart. But you have to get elected also because that has to do with other things. You got to get elected. The problem they have is they are radical because they will take the life of the child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth. After birth. If you look at the former governor of virginia, he was willing to do this. He said we will put the baby aside and we will determine what we do with the baby, meaning we will kill the baby. What happens is we brought it back to the states and the country is now coming together on this issue. It has been a great thing. Dana thank you President Biden . Pres. Biden it is a terrible thing, what you have done. The vast majority of scholars supported roe when it was decided and that was this idea that they are all against it is just ridiculous and this is a guy who says a state should be able to have we are in six weeks you dont even know if you are pregnant or not but you cannot see a doctor, and have him decide on what your circumstances are, whether you need help. The idea that states are able to do this is a little like sam we are going to turn civil rights back to the states and that each state have a different role. Look, theres so many young women who have been including a young woman who was just murdered and i went to the funeral. The idea that she was murdered by an immigrant coming in to talk about that. Theres a lot of young women raped by their inlaws, by their spouses. , brothers and sisters, just ridiculous. And they can do nothing about it and they try to arrest them across state lines. Dana thank you. Mr. Trump there have been many young women murdered by the same people he allows across our border. We have a border that is 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 back with the states are the states are voting. In many cases, its a rankly very liberal decision. In many cases, its the opposite, but they are voting and its bringing it back to the vote of the people which is what everybody wanted including the founders. But they would have Ronald Reagan wanted it brought back. He was not 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. Again, this gives it the vote of the people and that is where they wanted it. Every legal scholar wanted it that way. Dana staying on the topic of abortion, President Biden, seven states i will let you do that. Seven states have no legal restrictions on how far into her pregnancy a woman can obtain an abortion. You support any legal limits on how late woman should be able to terminate a pregnancy . Pres. Biden i supported roe v. Wade which had three trimesters. First time is between the woman and the doctor. A second time is between the doctor and an extreme situation. Third time is between the doctor i mean, between the woman in the state. The idea that the politicians, that the founders want the politicians to be the ones making decisions about Womans Health is ridiculous. No politician should be making that decision. A doctor should be making that decision. That is how it should be run. If i am elected, im going to restore roe v. Wade. Mr. Trump so that means he can take the life of the baby in the ninth month and even after birth because some states, democrat run, take it after birth. Again, the government the former governor of virginia, put the baby down and we decide what to do with it. So he is willing to come as we say, rip baby out of the womb and the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen, democrat or republican. Nobody wants it to happen. Pres. Biden that is simply not true. Roe v. Wade does not provide for that. That is not the circumstance. Only if a womans life is in danger, shes going to die, that is the only circumstance in which that can happen but we are not for late term abortion, period, period. Mr. Trump under roe v. Wade, you have lateterm abortion. You can do whatever you want depending on the state. We dont think that is a good thing. We think it is a radical thing. We think the democrats are the radicals, not the republicans. Pres. Biden for 51 years, that was the law. For 51 years, it was the right way to go and it was taken away because this guy put very conservative members on the Supreme Court and takes credit for taking it away. What is he going to do . What is he going to do if the maggot republicans maga republicans control the congress and pass a universal ban on abortion, period, across the board at six weeks or seven or eight or 10 weeks, something very conservative . Is he going to sign that bill question mike i will veto it. He will sign it. Jake lets turn to the issue of immigration and border security. A Record Number of migrants have illegally crossed the southern border on your watch. Overwhelming border states and overburdening cities such as new york and chicago and in some cases causing real safety and security concerns. Even that, why should voters trust you to solve this crisis . Pres. Biden because we worked very hard to get a bipartisan agreement that not only changed all of that, but made sure if we are ever in a situation where you have no circumstance where they could come across the border with the number of we significantly increased the number of asylum officers, by the way, the Border Control endorsed me, endorsed my position. In addition to that, we found ourselves in a situation where when he was president , he was taking separating babies from their mothers, putting them in cages, making sure the families were separated. That is not the right way to go. What i have done since i have changed the law, what happened . I changed it in a way that now you are in a situation where before the there are 40 fewer people coming across the border illegally, better than when he left office, and im going to continue to move until we get a total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do with more Border Control and more asylum officers. Jake President Trump . Mr. Trump i really dont know what he said at the end of the sentence. I dont think he knows what he said either. We have the safest border in the history of our country and all he had to do was 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, terrorists. We have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country, all terrorists, all over the world, not just in south america. They come from the middle east, everywhere. All over the world, they are pouring in, and this guy, just left it open. I did not have legislation and i said, close the border. We had the safest border in history. In that final couple of months of my presidency, we had, according to porter to patrol border patrol, who endorsed me for president , but they endorsed me for president. Brandon, just speak to them. We had the safest border in history. Now, we have the worst border in history. There has never been anything like it and people are dying all over the place including the people that are coming up. Jake President Biden . Pres. Biden the only terrorists who have done anything across the border is the one who 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 terroristic ever got through, but the i thats simply not true. There is no data to support what he said. Once again, he is exaggerating. He is lying. Jake President Trump, staying on the topic of immigration, you said you are going to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in american history. Does that mean you will deport every undocumented immigrant in america including those who have jobs, including those whose spouses are citizens, including those who have lived here for decades . And if so, how will you do it . Mr. Trump he said we killed three people. The people we killed our albaghdadi and salomani, and it had a huge impact on everything, not just border, on everything. He is the one who killed people with a 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. They are killing our people in new york, in california, in every state in the union because we dont have borders anymore. Every state is now aborted and because of his ridiculous, insane, and very stupid policies, people are coming in and they are killing our citizens at a level we have never seen we call it migrant crime. I call it biden migrant crime. They are killing our citizens at a level we have never seen before and you are reading it like these three incredible young girls over the last few days, one of them i just spoke to the mother. They just had the funeral for this girl, 12 years old. This is horrible, what has taken place. What has taken place in our country, we are literally an uncivilized country now. He doesnt want it to be. He just doesnt know. He opened the borders. Nobody has ever seen anything like this. We had to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out fast because they are going to destroy our country. Just take a look at where they are living. They are living in Luxury Hotels in. New york city and other places our veterans are on the street. They are dying because he doesnt care about our veterans. He doesnt like the military at all and he doesnt care about our veterans. I had the highest Approval Rating for veterans, taking care of the v. A. He has the worst. Hes gotten rid of all the things i approved that i got through congress. All of the Different Things that i approved, they abandoned. He had by far the highest, and now, its down in less than half because he has done all these great 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. Pres. Biden every single thing he says is alive. Every single one. For example, veterans are a helluva lot better off since i past the acts. One million of them have insurance and their families have it. Their families have it because what happened . Whether it was asian orange or pitch, they are all being covered now and he they oppose that. We are all set in a situation where i have Great Respect for veterans and my son spent a year in iraq, living next to one of those burn pits, came back with stage four glass tour with stage iv. I went to the world war ii cemetery, world war i senator harry cemetery that he refused to go to. He told me, i dont want to go in there because they are a bunch of losers and suckers. My son was not a loser or sucker. You are the sucker. You are the loser. Jake President Trump . Mr. Trump that was a madeup quote. They made it up. It was in a thirdrate magazine that is failing like many of these magazines. He made that up. He put it in commercials. We have notified him. We had 19 people that said i did not say it. Think of this who would say im at a cemetery or talking about our veterans nobody is taking better care im so glad he brought it up. There is nobody that has 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 have 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 this information. He made up the suckers and losers. He should apologize to me right now. Pres. Biden a fourstar general was on your staff who said you said it. Period. That is number one. And number two, the idea, the idea that i have to apologize to you for anything along the line, we have done more for veterans than any president has in american history. American history. And they now are in their family. The only sacred obligation we have as a country is to care for our veterans when they come home and their families and equips them when they go to war. That is what we are doing, that is what the v. A. Is doing now. They are doing more for veterans and never before in history. Jake all right, thank you so much. Dana lets move to the topic of foreign policy. I want to begin with russias war against ukraine which is now in its third year. Former President Trump, russian president Vladimir Putin says he will 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 except up to you . Mr. Trump first of all, our veterans and our soldiers cannot stand this guy. They cannot stand him. They think he is the worst commanderinchief if thats what you call him that we have ever had. They cannot stand him so lets get that straight. And they like me more than just about any of them. And that is based on every single bit of information. As far as russia and ukraine, if we had a real president , a president that was respected by putin, he would have never he would have never invaded ukraine. A lot of people are dead right now, much more than people know you know, they talk about numbers. You can double those numbers, may be triple those numbers. He did nothing to stop it. In fact, i think he encouraged russia going in. He was so bad with afghanistan, it was such a horrible embarrassment, most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, that when putin watched that and he saw the incompetence, he should have fire those generals like i fired the one that you mentioned. So hes got no love lost. But he should have fired those generals. Got embarrassing moment in the history of our country, afghanistan, where we let the liens of dollars of equipment behind, we lost 13 beautiful soldiers, and 38 soldiers were obliterated. And by the way, we left american citizens behind. In food and saw that, he said, you know what . I think we are going to go in. This was his dream, i talked to him about it. The differences, he never wouldve invaded ukraine, never. Thus like israel wouldve never been invaded in a million years i 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. Had no money for hamas, no money for terror. Thats why you had no terror at all during my administration. In this place, the whole world is blowing up under him. Dana President Biden . Pres. Biden ive never heard so much larkey in my whole life. I ran iran cause brain damage for a number of his troops, and he did nothing about it when he was president. He didnt do a thing, number one. Number two, we got over 100,000 americans and others out of afghanistan during the airlift. Number three, if you look at what trump did in ukraine, this guy told trump do whatever you want, and thats exactly what trump did, he encouraged him to do whatever you want. He said were going to takekyiv in five days, remember . He in fact didnt do it at all. Theyve lost thousands and thousands of troops, 500,000 troops. Dana President Trump, i just want to go back to my original question, our prudence terms acceptable to you, keeping territory in ukraine . Mr. Trump look, this is a war that never should have started. Hes given 200 moving dollars now or more to ukraine. 200 million, thats a lot of million dollars. I dont think theres ever been anything like it. Every time zelenskyy comes to this country he walks away with 600 million dollars, hes the greatest salesman to enter this country. Im not knocking him, im not knocking anything. Im just saying the money we are spending on this war, it should never have happened. I will have that more settled between putin and zelenskyy before i take office on january 20. People being killed so needlessly, so stupidly, and i will get it settled and i will get it settled past, before i take office. Pres. Biden the fact is that putin is a war criminal. He has killed thousands and thousands of people. He has made one thing clear, he wants to establish the soviet empire, not just a piece of ukraine. Thats what he wants. Do you think he will stop there . What do you think happens in poland . What do you think happens with those nato countries . If you want a war, you need to find out what he is going to do. By the way, all that money, we are giving weapons, not money at this point. Our nato allies have produced as much funding for ukraine as we have. Dana moving on to the middle east, in october, hamas attack israel, killing more than 1000 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. Resident biden, put forward a proposal to resolve this conflict. But so far, hamas has not released the remaining hostages. Israel is continuing its military offensive in gaza. So what additional leverage will you use to get hamas and israel to end the war . Pres. Biden everyone from the United Nations Security Council straight through the g7 to the israelis have endorsed the plan i put forward. There are three stages to it. The first stage is we trade the hostages for a ceasefire. The second phase is a ceasefire with additional conditions. The third phase is the end of the war. The only one that once the war to continue is hamas. In the meantime, what has happened . The only thing ive denied israel was 2000 bombs. They dont work on populated areas. Provided israel the weapons they need when they need them. And by the way, im the guy that organize the war against iran when they had a fullgrown Ballistic Missile attack, no one in israel was accidentally killed, and it stopped. We saved israel. We are the biggest supporter of israel in the world. There are two Different Things. Hamas cannot be allowed to continue. By the way, they have greatly weakened hamas, and they should be. They should be eliminated. But youve got to be careful using certain weapons on population centers. Mr. Trump we have an ocean separating us. The european nations together have spent 100 million are may be more than that, less than us. What is call them and say youve got to put up the money like i did with nato . I got them to put up hundreds of b1s of dollars. The secretary of nato said trump did the most incredible job ive ever seen. Almost 100 of the money that was paid by us, he didnt do that. Youve got to ask these people to put up the money. We are over 100 billion spent that has a bigger impact because of location, because we have an ocean in between. Youve got to ask them, as far as israel and hamas, he said the only one that wants to keep going is hamas. Actually, israel is 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, but they dont like him because he is a very bad palestinian. He is a weak one. Pres. Biden this is the guy that wants to get out of nato. Are you going to stay in nato or pull out of nato . Our strength lies in our alliances as well. There may but be a big ocean, but what happens, you have an article five agreement. An attack on one is an attack on all. If you want to start a nuclear war he is talking about, go ahead, then they will move on to poland and other places. He has no idea what the hell he is talking about. By the way, there are 1500 nations around the world who support ukraine, is a serious threat to world peace. Dana President Trump, just a followup, would you support the creation of an independent palestinian state for peace in the region . Mr. Trump the problem may have is that we spend all the money. They trade deals with european nations. If you had them up, they are about the same size economically. Their economy is about the same size as the United States. They dont want anything we have, but we are supposed to take their cars, their food, their everything, their agriculture. Big thing changes, they dont want to pay. The only reason that he 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. They asked me that question, would you guard us against russia . In a very secretive meeting of the 28 states at that time, nations at that time, i said no, if you dont pay, i wont do that. You know what happened . Billions and billions of dollars came flowing in the next day and the next months. Now we are in the same position. We are paying everybodys bills. Jake lets turn the to the issue of democracy. I want to ask about january 6, 2020 one. After you rallied your supporters that day, some of them storm the capitol to stop the counting of votes. As president , you swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. What do you say to voters who believe you violated that oath for your actions and inaction on january 6 and where you will do it again . Mr. Trump not too many believe that. That me tell you about january 6. On january 6 we were energy independent. We had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever. On january 6, we were respected all over the world. All over the world we were respected. And then he comes in and we are now laughed at. We are 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 you will be talking about, where he goes after his clinical opponent because he cant beat him fair and square. Jake my question was, what do you say to those voters who believe you violated her constitutional oath of your actions on january 6, 2021 and where you will do it again . Mr. Trump i said peacefully and patriotically. And nancy pelosi, on tape to her daughter who is a documentary filmmaker, she saying oh no, its my responsibility, i was responsible for this. I offered her 10,000 soldiers, our National Guard, but she turned them down. The mayor, in writing, the mayor of d. C. , they turned it down. I offered 10,000 u. S. I had virtually nothing to do. They asked me to go make a speech. I could see what was happening. Everybody was saying theyre going to be there on january 6. I said, you know what . Thats a lot of people coming. You could feel it, and you could feel it. I said that out to have some National Guard or whatever. And i offered it to her. And she now admits that she turned it down. And it was the same day i dont know, he can be very happy with her daughter because it made her into a liar. She said i take full responsibility for january 6. Jake President Biden . Pres. Biden he invoked he encourage those folks at the capitol, number one. I set for three hours watching, begging his colleagues to do something, to call for a stop, to end it. The great patriots of america. In fact, he says he will now forgive them for what theyve done. If convicted, he says he wants to commute their sentences. He went to every single court in the nation, i dont know how many cases, scores of cases. They said no, this guy is responsible for what was done. He didnt do a damn thing, and these people should be in jail. They should be accountable. And he wants to let them all out. Jake President Trump . Mr. Trump what they have done to some people who are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You have 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 city. If i didnt bring in the National Guard, that city wouldve been destroyed. They took over big chunks of seattle. I was all set to bring in the National Guard. They saw them coming and they left immediately. What he said about this whole subject is so off. Peaceful and patriotic. One other thing. The unselect committee, which is basically two horrible republicans that are all nonnow , 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, they would go to jail. Pres. Biden the only person on the stage who is a convicted felon is the man im looking at right now. The fact of the matter is, what he is telling you is simply not true. The fact is that there was no effort on his part to stop what was going on. All those people, everyone of those who were convicted deserves to be convicted. The idea that they didnt kill somebody, just merely broke down doors, broke the windows, occupied offices, turned over desks, turned over statues. The idea that those people are patriots . Come on. In the debates we had the first time around, the idea hes refusing to denounce these guys, denounce the people we are talking about now, what are you going to do . Jake im going to give you a minute for a final question i have. After a jury convicted you of 34 felonies last month, you said if reelected, you would have every right to go after your opponents, you talked about members of the january 6 Committee Going to jail. Can you clarify exactly what it means about healing you have every right to go after them . Mr. Trump i said my retribution is going to be success. By Richard Beeson is going to be success. When he talks about a convicted felon, his son is a convicted felon at a very high level. He will probably be convicted numerous other times. He shouldve been convicted before, but his Justice Department let the statute of limitations lapse. But he could be a convicted felon as soon as he gets out of office. Joe could be a convicted felon with all the things hes done. Hes done horrible things. All of the death caused at the border . Telling the ukrainian leader that we want a billion dollars are you will not change the prosecutor . We are not going to give you a billion dollars unless you change the prosecutor. This man is a criminal. You are lucky, i did nothing wrong. We have a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong. Jake President Biden, you want to respond, i will give you minute to respond. Pres. Biden the idea that i did anything wrong relative to what youre talking about is outrageous. It is simply a lie. Number two, the idea that you have the right to seek retribution against any man is simply wrong. No president in our history has spoken like that before. How many billions of dollars do you owe in civil felonies for doing a whole range of things . Having sex with a poured star porn star all your wife was pregnant. You have the morals of an alley cat. Mr. Trump i didnt have sex with a porn star, number one. They moved that case is going to be appealed and won. We had a terrible judge, a horrible judge, democrat. The prosecutor, were all highranking democrats, appointed people. Both the civil and the criminal. He basically went after his political opponent because he thought it was going to damage me. When the public found out about these cases, because they understand it better than he does. He has no idea with these cases are. That when they found out about these cases, you know what they did . My poll numbers went way up. 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 and pain has taken hundreds of millions of dollars in because the public knows its a scam, and its a guy thats after his political opponent because he cant win fair and square. Jake President Biden, you have said donald trump in his maga republicans are determined to destroy american democracy. Do you believe the tens of millions of americans who are likely to vote for President Trump are voting against democracy . Pres. Biden the more they know about democracy, yes. Hes got a whole range of issues he has to face. I dont know what the juries will do. Could you ever think of hearing any president say that im going to seek retribution . What got me involved, was because of a rack. Until what happened in charlottesville, virginia. People coming out of the woods carrying swastikas and torches. A young woman got killed and i spoke to the mother. They ask him what you think of those people who got killed and those who try to stop it . He said i think they are fine people. Carrying swastikas, fine people. This is a guy who says hitlers has done some good things. Thats what he said. This guy has no sense of american democracy. Mr. Trump jake, both of you know that story has been totally wiped out. When you see the sentence, it said 100 exoneration. 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. Its ridiculous. We are trying to justify his presidency. Without question, the worst president , the worst presidency in the history of our country. We shouldnt be having a debate about it. There is nothing to debate. He made up the charlottesville story. Every anchor, every reasonable anchor has debunked it. Just the other day it came out where it was fully debunked. It is a nonsense story. He knows that, and he didnt run because of charlottesville. He used that as an excuse to run. Pres. Biden it happen. All you have to do is listen to what he said at the time. I ran because i was a guy like this could be reelected. If he thought there were good people coming out of that forest carrying those torches, he didnt deserve to be president at all. The idea that hes talking about all this being fabricated. Saw with our own eyes. We saw the victims. His own Vice President. Theres a reason why 40 of his 44 top cabinet officers, his Vice President hasnt endorsed him at this time. Why . Why arent they endorsing him . Jake we will be right back with more from the cnn president ial debate. Amna good evening, im im and abbas. The pbs news hour, your source for news you can trust, asking tough questions. Right now its very much in the hands of the republicans in congress to be able to do just that. Amna russia right now has you outmanned, outgunned. Is it time to think about negotiating a settlement . Im ready to negotiate now with people who really want this. Covering events as they unfold. All the homes are gone. All the buildings are gutted. What goes through your mind when you see them fire that close to home . The drama and the stakes for this week are perilously high. Eight soldiers died in the second deadliest attack on Israeli Forces of the war. What your message to the ukrainians who had to live through occupation . I think that they survive through this. Exploring political divides. Have you try to have a conversation with some of the folks who have a different view on this issue . Oh yeah, theyve been pretty interesting. What . Does it mean for your team . It makes it incredibly difficult for us to respond. Examining nationwide controversies. How does this election cycle make you feel in one word . Nervous. Study show that young women are experiencing the highest rate of cancer diagnosis. As we expose more shorelines, we are likely to see more dust, and thats toxic dust because there is arsenic and heavy metal in this lake bed. The most pretentious and selfrighteous. On behalf of the entire news hour team, thank you for joining us. Dana welcome back to the cnn National Debate from georgia. President biden, while lack 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 from pregnancyrelated 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 . Pres. Biden i knowledge that we made a lot of progress, number one. Number two, black unemployment is the lowest it has been in eight long, long time. Number three, providing housing for black americans, these corporate operations include keeping people out of housing. In addition to that, we find that the impact of the choice that black families have to make relative to childcare is increasingly difficult. I was able to reduce black childcare costs, cut them in half. When you provide childcare protections, you increase economic growth. So there is more to be done, but we have done a great deal so far. Dana you have 49 seconds left. What do you say to black voters who say they are disappointed so far . Pres. Biden the idea that any black family, firsttime homebuyer should be able to get a 10,000 tax credit to get to buy their first home so they can get started. For those who had to take out student loans, anything having to do with volunteerism, if they paid their bill for 10 years, all the rest is forgiven after 10 years. Millions have benefited from that, and we are going to do a whole lot more for lack families. Mr. Trump he caused the inflation. Hes blaming inflation, and hes right, its been very bad. Caused the inflation and its killing black families and hispanic families and just about everybody. They cant buy groceries anymore. Look at the cost of food, its doubled, tripled, quadruple. They cant live, they are not living anymore. He caused this inflation. I gave him a country with essentially no inflation. It was perfect, it was so good. All he had to do was leave it alone. He destroyed it with his renu scam and all this money thats being thrown out the window. With his green new scam. As sure as you are sitting there, the millions of people he has allowed to come in through the border. They are taking lack jobs now. It could be 19 and even 20 Million People. They are taking black jobs and hispanic jobs. You havent seen it yet, but youre going are seeing something that is going to be the worst in our history. Pres. Biden the company was flat on its back. He decimated the economy. Thats why there was no inflation at the time. There were no jobs. I provided thousands of jobs for individuals including minority communities. We made sure that they have health insurance. I made sure that 8,000 per person per family would get written off in health care cost. He wants to get rid of the aca again. We find ourselves in a position where the idea that we put more police on the street and any other administration has. He wants to cut the cops. Providing equity to make sure everyone has a shot to make it. Inflation, he caused it by his tremendous malfeasance and the way he handled the pandemic. Dana another persistent challenges of Climate Crisis. 2023 was the hottest year in recorded history and communities are confronting the devastating effects of intense heat, intensifying wildfires, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels. Former President Trump, you have bowed to injure opponents climate initiatives, but will you take any action as president to slow the Climate Crisis . Mr. Trump let me just go back to what he said about the police. Almost every police group in the nation from every state is supporting donald j. Trump payment almost every police group. And what he has done to the black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he call them super predators. They have taken great offense at it, and now they see it happening. But when they see what i did for criminal Justice Reform and for the historically black colleges and universities where i funded them and got them all funded, and the opportunity zones with tim scott, he was incredible, he did a great job, great senator from south carolina. He came to me with the idea, and was a great idea. Its one of the most Successful Economic Development acts ever in the country, opportunity zones. The biggest beneficiary are blacks. Thats why we have the best numbers maybe ever, i read that this morning. He has lost much of the black population because hes done a horrible job for black people. Hes also done a horrible job for hispanics. But wait into you see these millions of people pouring into our country and they are going to take the jobs, and its already started. And you havent seen anything yet, its a disaster. Dana will you take any action as president to slow the Climate Crisis . Mr. Trump i want absolutely immaculate clean water, and i want clean air. We had it. We had h2o. We had the best numbers ever, and 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. Pres. Biden 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. By the way, black colleges, i came up with 50 million to start black universities and colleges because they dont have the kind of contributors to bill these laboratories, any black student thats capable of college and doing anything and white student can do. The situation where the idea that he is claiming to have done something, to have the cleanest water . He hasnt done a damn thing for the environment. Theres no way back. The only existential threat to humanity is Climate Change, and he didnt do a damn thing about it. Mr. Trump the paris accord was going to cost us or trillion dollars, china 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 treated us horribly. Nobody else was paying into it. It was a disaster. Of everything that he said just now, ill give you an example. Im the one that got the insulin down for the seniors. I took care of the seniors. What he is doing is destroying all of our medical programs because the migrants coming in, and look, i have the biggest heart on this stage, i guarantee you that. I want to take care of people, but they are destroying our country. They are taking over our schools, or our hospitals, and theyre going to be taking over Social Security. He is destroying Social Security, medicare and medicaid. Pres. Biden the idea that we in fact the only ones of consequence who are not members of the paris accord. By 2035 we have made significant progress and we will continue to make progress. We are moving in directions that are going to significantly change the causes of pollution. But the idea that he claims he has the biggest heart up here, concern about pollution and climate, im not seen any indication of that. By the way, prescription drugs, one Company Claims they reduced the price of insulin to 35. I made sure every Pharmaceutical Company in the world. Jake every day, millions of americans struggle just to make ends meet. For many older americans, Social Security provides a critical lifeline. If nothing is done to Social Security, seniors will see their benefits cut just over 10 years. Will you name tonight one specific step youre willing to take to keep Social Security solvent . Pres. Biden yes, make the very wealthy have to pay their fair share. Every time they get up paycheck the idea, millionaires pay 1 . I will not raise the cost of Social Security Social Security for anyone under 400,000. Jake are there any other measures you think will be able to help keep Social Security solvent . Pres. Biden that one enough will keep it solvent. He wants to get rid of Social Security. He is wanting to cut Social Security and medicare. If you look at the program by the House Republican caucus, he wants to cut it as well. The idea that we dont need to protect our seniors is ridiculous. By the way, the American Public has Greater Health Care Coverage today than ever before. 400,000 people 40 Million People do not have insurance, is because theyre part of the aca. The situation where i talk about education for black communities, i raise the amount of money for pell grants for anybody making under 70,000 a year. He just doesnt know what hes talking about. Mr. Trump so ive dealt with politicians all my life. Ive been on this side of the equation for the last eight years. Ive never seen anybody lie like this guy. He can look you in the face, and so many other things too. We mention the laptop, we mention pressure, pressure, russia, ukraine, ukraine, ukraine. Everything he does is alive. Its misinformation and disinformation. The losers and suckers story he made up as a total lie on the military. Its a disgrace. Social security, he is destroying it, because millions of people are pouring into our country and theyre putting them onto Social Security, medicare and medicaid. They are putting them in our hospitals. They are taking the place of our citizens. Our veterans are living in the street, and these people are living in Luxury Hotels. He doesnt know what hes doing. And its really coming back. Im never seen such anger in our country before. Pres. Biden the idea that veterans are not being taken care of. By the way, he acknowledged afterward that he fired that general. That general got fired because he was the one standing with trump when he said it. Number two, the idea that we are going to be in a situation where all these millions and millions, he talks about illegal aliens coming into the country and taking away our jobs. Theres a reason why we have the Fastest Growing economy in the world, the reason why we have the most successful economy in the world. We are doing better than any other nation in the world. And by the way, those 15 Nobel Laureates he talked about being bony, they all said that if trump is reelected, inflation is going to increase and go up. The worst president in history, 159 president ial scholars voted him the worst president in the history of the United States of america. Jake lets turn to childcare, which Many Americans struggle to afford. The average cost of childcare in this country has risen to more than 11,000 a year per child. For many families, the cost of childcare for two children is more than their rent. In your second term, what would you do to make childcare more affordable . Mr. Trump the general got fired because he was no good. And if he said that, thats why he made it up. We have 19 people that say i didnt say it, and they are highly respected, much more than him. The other thing is, he doesnt fire people. Never seen him fire people. I found a lot of the top people, i dreamed the swamp. They drained the swamp. I inherited these people. This guy hasnt fired anybody. He should have fired every military man that was involved in that afghanistan horror show, the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country. Did he fire anybody . Did you fire anybody 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, from mental institutions, 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. He is 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 eight nothing deal and reduced it 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. 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. Pres. Biden we are the most admired country in the world, we are the United States of america. There is nothing beyond our capacity. We have the finest tillis terry in the history of the world. The finest military in the history of the world. Number two, the idea that we are talking about worst president s. I wasnt joking, 159 president ial historians, theyve had meetings and voted who is the worst president in american history. They said he was the worst in all of american history. Thats a fact. Thats not conjecture. Thats what they voted. The idea that he is doing anything to deal with childcare. We significantly increased the child tax credit, increase the ability for men and women to go back to work. Jake President Trump, the question was what would you do to make childcare more affordable. Mr. Trump they write him the worst, because what he has done is so bad. I will show you. They write me one of the best, ok . If im given another four years, i will be the best. Nobody has ever created an economy like us. Nobody ever cut taxes like us. 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 water or five times. Nobody ever heard of this before. When we cut taxes, as i said, we did more business. All these companies, they were bringing money back into our country. The worst president in history by far, and Everybody Knows it. Pres. Biden the fact of the matter is that he is dead wrong, he will increase taxes on middleclass people. I said id never raise tax on anyone making under 400,000, and i didnt. Economist say its going to cost the average american 2500 a year more because they will have to pay the difference in food and all the things that are important. Number two, he is in a situation where he talks about how he somehow helped the middleclass. Middleclass was devastated by you. Now you want a new tax cut of 5 trillion over the next 10 years just going to fundamentally bankrupt the country. Number two, you have not in fact made any progress in china. We are at the lowest trade deficit in china since 2010. Jake lets discuss and epidemic impacting millions of americans at both of you 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, and under your term it is going up. Former President Trump, despite the efforts at both of you have made, more than 100,000 mere concern dying from opiates, primarily from fentanyl and other opioids. What are you doing to help americans right now in the throes of addiction . Mr. Trump we have the largest deficit in the history of our country under this guy. He gets paid by china, hes the manchurian candidate. He gets money from china, so i think hes afraid to deal with them or something. You notice he never took out my tariffs. He never took them away and he cant because its too much money. Its tremendous. We saved our Steel Industry and there is 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 situation with china. China is going to own us if you keep allowing them to do what they are doing to us as a country. They are killing us as a country, joe, and you cant let that happen. You are destroying our country. Jake 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 . Mr. Trump we were doing very well on addiction until covid came along. We had two or three years like no country has ever had him and then we had to get tough. It was the drugs pouring across the border, it started to increase. We got great equipment, we got the certain doll, the most incredible thing ever seen, the way they can spot it. We did a lot. We were getting very low numbers. Any came along, the numbers, have you seen the numbers now . Is not only the 18 Million People that i believe is even low, they dont talk about god or ways. The amount of drugs and Human Trafficking in women coming across our border. The worst thing ive ever seen. Numbers at 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. Pres. Biden fennel and byproducts of fit no went down for a while. Machines that can detect fentanyl cost a lot of money. That was part of this deal we put together, this bipartisan deal. More numbers of agents, we had that deal done. His republican colleague said dont do it. He never argued its not a good bill. We need those machines. We need those machines. We are coming down hard and every kind in every country. Thats what we have to do. We need those machines. Jake President Trump, the question again is about americans and the throes of addiction struggling to get the treatment they need. Mr. Trump he ended remain in mexico. He ended catch and release. I made it catch and release in mexico, not here. We had some any things we had done, hard negotiations with mexico, and i got it all for nothing. Every time he says a hostage, now we have a hostage, a wall street journal reporter. I think a good guy, and hes over there because putin is laughing at us and probably asking for billions of dollars for the reporter. I will have him out very quickly, as soon as i take office, before i take office. I said 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 putin is probably asking for billions of dollars because this guy pays it every time. We had two cases where he paid 6 billion for five people. I got people out and i paid essentially nothing. Dana lets turn to concerns that voters have about each of you. President biden, you will 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 . Pres. Biden first of all, i spent half my career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics. I was a second youngest person ever elected to United States senate. This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent. Ive turned around the horrible situations he left me. More investment in america, billions of dollars in private investment. We are growing. The whole idea of computer chips, we invented those chips, and we lost them because he was sending people to find the cheapest jobs overseas. I convinced samsung to bill these chips, those pay over 100,000. About 40 billion already being invested in being built right now in the United States, creating significant jobs for americans. Dana you have 40 seconds left, would you like to add anything . Pres. Biden yes, i would. The idea that we are a failing country, ive never heard of president talk like this before. Name a single Nature Country president who wouldnt trade places with United States of america, with all our problems in all our opportunities. We are the most impressive country in the world at getting things done. We are a country in the world that keeps our word and everybody trusts us, all of our allies. Kim jongun that he sends love letters to and putin, etc. Jake former president dana former President Trump, you would be 82 at the end of your second term. What do you say to voters who are concerned . Mr. Trump well, i took two cognitive tests and i aced them. I took two cognitive test, i took physical exams every year. We knock on wood wherever we may have wood, that im in very good health. I just one has a club championships. To do that, you have to be quite smart and you have to be able to hit the ball at long way a man i do it, he cant hit a ball 50 yards. Challenge me to a golf match. He cant hit a ball 50 yards. Im in as good shape as i was 25 or 30 years ago. Actually and probably a little bit lighter. Im in as good a shape as i was 20 years ago. I was willing to take a cognitive test. And you know what, i didnt do well, i aced it. Dr. Ronny jackson, he was the white house doctor, and then i took a similar one. One of them said they had never seen anyone ace them. Pres. Biden you can see he is 65, anyway, just take a look at what he says he is. I would be happy to take a driving test. I got my handicap down to six. By the way, im happy to play golf with you. If you carry your own bag. Do you think you can do it . I was an eight handicap. Mr. Trump ive seen your swing. Lets not act like children. Dana a specific concern that voters have about you tonight. We pled 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 . Mr. Trump well i shouldnt have to say that, but of course i believe that. Its totally unacceptable. If you will see my statements i made on twitter at the time and my statement that i made in the rose garden, you would say its one of the strongest statements i ever made. I believe the largest crowd ive ever spoken to, and nobody ever talks about that. Talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the capital and immediate cases were ushered in by the police. As nancy pelosi said, it was her responsibility, not mine. She said that loud and clear. But the answer is, if the election is fair and free, and i want that more than anybody. And i tell you something, i wish he was a great 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. He indicted me because i was his opponent. I wish he was a great president. I would rather have that, and i wouldnt be here. Or i might be here. The only reason im here is he is so bad as a president , im going to make America Great again a failing nation right now. We are a seriously failing nation because of him. His policies are so bad. His military policies are insane. They are insane. These are wars that will never end with him. He will drive us into world war iii. We are closer to world war iii than anybody can imagine. We are very, very close to world war iii, and he is driving us there. And kim jongun and president xi of china, all of these, prudent, 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. Pres. Biden if you want world war iii, follow him and let him win and let him say putin just do what you want. An attack on one is an attack on all. The idea, the idea. I cant think of a Major Political figure in the world who wouldnt trade places with the job of done. Its because of the people. Its because of the American People. Right now we are needed to protect the world because our own safety is at stake. Again, if you want to have war, go ahead and let putin take kyiv. See what happens in poland and hungary and other places along that border. Then you have war. Dana the question was, will you accept the results of this election regardless of who wins . Mr. Trump just to finish what he said, if i might. Russia, that took a lot of land from bush, about obama and biden. They took nothing from trump. He knew not to do it. Not going to play games with me. He took nothing from me. Now hes going to take the whole thing from this man right here. Thats a war that should have never started. It wouldve never started, ever, with me. And hes going to take ukraine. He asked me a question before, hes got us in such a bad position right now with ukraine and russia, because you run ukraine is not winning that war. They are running out of people. Theyre running out of soldiers. They have lost so many people. Its so sad. Theyve lost so many people, and theyve lost those gorgeous cities with the golden domes that are a thousand years old all because of him and stupid decisions. Dana the question was, will you accept the results of the election, regardless of who wins, yes or no . Pres. Biden if it is a mr. Trump if it is a fair, legal, and good election. If you want, we will have a News Conference on it in a week or we will have another one of these in a week. I will absolutely, theres nothing id rather do. It would be much easier for me to do that then 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 it is the only way he thinks he can win. Unfortunately it is driven up by numbers to a very high level because the people understand it. Pres. Biden we will see what your numbers are when this election is over. You are a whiner. You lost the first time. Not one not one single core in america said any of your claims had any merit, state or local, none, but you continue to provoke this lie about somehow there is all this misrepresentation and stealing. Theres no evidence of that at all. I doubt you will accept it because you are such a whiner. If you lose again excepting anything, you cant stand the loss. Dana we will be right back with more from the cnn president ial debate live from georgia. Jake it is now time for the candidates to deliver their closing statements as predetermined by a coin toss, we will begin with you, President Biden. You have two minutes. Pres. Biden we have made significant progress from the debacle left by president in his last term. We find ourselves in a situation where number one, we have to make sure we have a fair tax system. Ask anyone in the audience or watching the debate if they think the tax system is fair. Is, nobody making under 400 thousand dollars will have a single penny deducted. If im reelected, that will be the case again. This guy has read increased taxes because of the deficit. He is inflation because of the debacle after the pandemic he. Finds himself in a pan addition situation where he wants to tax more. He wants to get away with the ability for us to be able to negotiate drug prices at big pharma companies. We got it down to 35 for insulin instead of 400. No more than 2000 for any senior, no matter how much prescriptions they need. That reduced the federal debt by 160 billion over 10 years because the government does not have to pay exorbitant prices. I will make that available to every senior. He wants to get rid of that. We want to make sure that we have child care and increase the credit people have for child care. We want to make sure we are doing something about lead pipes and the things causing Health Problems for people across the country. We are going to continue to fight to bring down inflation and give people a break. Jake thank you, President Biden. President trump, you have two minutes. Mr. Trump like so many present politicians, this man is a complainer. He said we want to do this, we want to do that. He doesnt do anything. All he does is make our country unsafe by allowing millions and millions of people to pour in. The military doesnt respect him. We look like fools in afghanistan. We did not stop israel, it is such a horrible thing that never should have happened. Iran was broke. Anybody that did business with iran including china, they could not do business with the United States. Iran was broke. They had no money for hamas or hezbollah. No money whatsoever. He talked about all the stuff but did not do it. For three and a half years, we are living in hell. We have the palestinians and everyone else 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. They dont respect you throughout the world. What we did was incredible. We rebuilt the military. We got the largest tax cut in history. The largest regulation cut in history. The reason hes got jobs is because i cut regulations that gave jobs, but hes putting regulations back on. All the things weve done, nobodys ever 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 you are terminally ill, now you can go and get something and you sign a document. Theyve been trying to get it for 42 years. You know what we did for the military was incredible. Choice for our soldiers. Instead of waiting for three months to see a doctor can go out and got themselves fixed up and readied up and take care of themselves and they are living. Thats why i had the highest Approval Rating in the history of the v. A. All of these things. We are in a failing nation. It is not going to be feeling anymore. We will make it great again. Dana thank you former President Trump. President biden. Stay with us because we have full analysis of this debate. Anderson cooper and erin burnett starts now on cnn. Amna amna alright, after 90 minutes, that is the end of the first president ial debate of the 2024 cycle, a rematch between former President Trump and President Biden, the first time the two men have squared off facetoface since the fall of 2020. You watching pbs news coverage. Thank you for staying with us. Geoff we are joined in studio by White House Correspondent laura broome lopez, lisa desjardins, amy walter of the cook political report, democratic strategist guy cecil and republican strategist guy madden. Watching in atlanta is Pamela Kirkland. We will start with you because democrats were desperate for President Biden to put on a show of vitality and mental sharp nice and the questions about his age. Your phone has been blowing up for the last hour and a half. What is the word from the campaign and the democrats . Laura the democrats i with wert necessarily happy with the president s performance. At the beginning they were really nervous, thought he did not get off to a strong start. They felt as though he got stronger as the night went on, a bit more clear. But again, they wanted him to strike really strong contrast with trump on immigration, on abortion, on january 6, and a lot of folks i spoke to dont feel he necessarily did that in a way that will reach voters, whether motivating his basic world independent moderate voters. A Campaign Source texted me saying their internal polling, the dials as they were listening to voters as the debate was going on, they said internal polling showed when trump personally attacked biden, called him the worst president , or when trump tried to talk about the suckers and losers comments which he made regarding veterans, which his chief of staff john kelly said that he said when trump tried to talk about that, voters did not like his responses on those things. They were not happy with that at all. They also turned against trump when they heard him talking about january 6, and the exchange between biden and trump on january 6, and when President Biden called trump a convicted felon, that seemed to register poorly for trump with those voters. Amna lisa, we know you have covered the Trump Campaign. Its the job of every campaign and surrogate to spin this in the best possible light for the candidate at the end of the debate, but this is mr. Trumps first debate this cycle. He did not show up for the primary debates. What are you hearing from your sources . Lisa neither man has debated really in for years but the trump team, republicans are declaring victory, they think it was a fantastic night, they wanted to see joe biden look like someone who had a hard time finding his words, and in the beginning especially, that was the case, im hearing from democratic sources and House Democrats are in a dark place right now. They are very concerned about what it means for them down ballot. In the ether, there are some even raising the idea like should this be our nominee . This is the worst number moment. Is it realistic to think there will be a change . No, i dont think so. Democratic leadership says thats ridiculous, but thats how bad the moment is. Everyone saying biden did improve over the course of the debate right now you have democrats struggling even to form responses, some of them telling me they have tears, they are joking but they say they have tears about this. Im also texting with some undecided voters who are saying so far this did not sway them all away but universally they are texting me that this was a bad night for biden and raised their doubts about him. Im waiting to see if any of them come to a conclusion, but the undecided voters were the most important ones. Amna amy, pick up on what we just heard. Especially knowing the discontent with both candidates going into the debate. What did you take away . Amy for the folks who call doubleheaders, i dont think they will walk away saying you know what . I made up my mind. They will still walk away saying these two candidates, i still dont find acceptable. The problem for biden from this debate, lisa hit it on the head, the collective freak out from democrats is at the highest level you can imagine. The response tomorrow is going to be very important to watch especially from Democratic Leaders about what happens next. Remember, hes not officially the nominee until the convention in august so there will be conversations. This is the problem for biden. Its not where the doubleheaders or undecided voters go, it is that the base itself, the folks down ballot, those are the ones who now are depressed and anxious and that is not helpful for you this close to an election. Geoff what about that guy . It was the Biden Campaign that wanted this debate because they wanted to draw the contrast and wanted to litigate the case as they see it against donald trump. In hindsight, was that the right approach . Rate what you saw in terms of style and policy. Im reminded there was a conversation like this in 2012 during president obamas first debate and a lot of democrats concerned about his performance, a lot of coverage about president s who go into the first debate. No question joe biden started out slow, the rasp did not help, apparently hes overcoming a cold. Number one, he got better as he went on and number two, it was a different debate without any real Fact Checking. You saw that when he said things like he lowered the price of insulin. But also theres a bit of a double standard here. We had a former president say that when he was president , he had h2o, his solution to the addiction crisis was they bought a brandnew dog that can do amazing things. In the most important thing for biden was his comments essentially defending the january 6 defendants. That is something you will see biden folks repeating. No question in total i think biden probably won on policy but in terms of presentation it was a rough start. Geoff on the issues, this is all unfolding amid an intense National Debate over abortion access. We heard donald trump say he personally is for exceptions but it should be left up to the states and he personally supports access to mifepristone. Is that a winning argument right now for republicans generally . First overall on the debate, these things are at their core performances. The voters at home judge them on presence, energy, command. In that regard, this was a blowout. As you start to drill down and say where did the candidates make up ground on the issues . On abortion, President Biden was solid. He made his points. Trump made his points. But i dont think that will be what people take away or remember. That is largely going to be litigated on the ground by activists trying to meet as many voters as possible in the districts and counties that will matter. But overall i think the biggest take away from this debate was the sort of enthusiasm that President Biden needed to get from his base activists. Right now a lot of those might not show up tomorrow. Right now the phone banks might be harder to staff and thats a huge problem at this juncture. So that is one of the things im looking for in the next couple weeks, how does the Biden Campaign recalibrate and start to use issues like abortion to their advantage in driving the base turned out that theyre going to need in battleground states. Amna lets go to Pamela Kirkland from georgia public broadcasting from atlanta. I understand talking to voters there as well, georgia is a critical state, one of six or seven battlegrounds. President biden won by fewer than 12,000 votes. What are you hearing from folks on the ground about what they were expecting going into the debate and what they took away . If theres anything the past few days have shown me going to Campaign Events here and in georgia, it is that both campaigns are committed to making inroads here in the state. In the runup to the debate, the Biden Campaign held over 200 events, smallscale events like recuse, debate watch parties, campaign surrogates. The Trump Campaign did not hold quite that many but they held an event at a barbershop in atlanta geared toward black voters. Now that the debate is over, what we are waiting to see is whether or not it moves the needle for these undecided voters in georgia. We spoke with people at these Campaign Events who had made up their minds for the most part, they know who theyre voting for in november. My colleague sarah kalus was at an event where both campaigns were represented, speaking with undecided voters who said they were turning into the debate tonight to see what the candidates were going to say on certain issues top mind for them and if it was going to be enough for them to make a decision. So far have not heard from anyone that has said the debate has swayed them one way or another. What i do know is some of the issues weve heard from georgia voters that they want to know more about are things like abortion access, things like the economy, as well as Political Division and democracy. We are still waiting to see if the debate did indeed move the needle, but what is apparent is that at least for both campaigns, they know georgia will be critical when it comes to determining who will be the next president. Amna we will be following your reporting. Pamela kirkland from georgia public broadcasting joining us tonight, thank you. Geoff laura barronlopez, i want to pick up what kevin said about the Biden Campaign aiming to recalibrate. Im reminded of what Vice President Kamala Harris said once ago, that their main opponent is not donald trump but the couch. Voters staying home because they are apathetic. What does it look like for the Biden Campaign to make an overt appeal to base voters in the Winning Coalition . Laura assuming the democratic freak out is temporary, i mean if its lasting and the questions about whether or not President Biden stays in the race become real, i dont think they will. But i think the way President Biden does that is he gets surrogates out there, younger surrogates like wes moore, the governor of maryland about to hit the trail for him in wisconsin. He gets republicans out there, former republican lawmakers who say they want to hit the trail for President Biden to talk to the double heaters to talk to nikki haley voters, because they think they would be good at creating a permission structure, and they want to see President Biden on the trail as well. Hes going to be out there in north carolina, a state that the campaign thinks is may be gettable even though it is not necessarily one of the true battlegrounds this year. He will be there with the first lady tomorrow. I think it will have to be a fullcourt press across battleground states as well as activating the grassroots in terms of the abortion initiatives in battlegrounds like arizona and nevada where we think we will see it on the ballot. Geoff there was something that happened at the end of the debate that struck me, former President Trump was asked if he would accept the results of the election. He would not explicitly answer. He was asked a second time and he pivoted to Something Else entirely. He was asked a third time and then he said the 2020 election was stolen. What does that portend . Lisa hes clearly set up setting up a situation in which he can lose and still win. The 2020 election was proven to be one of the least fraudulent in american history, theres no level of fraud, the ap found Something Like under 500 cases across the entire country. As for the battleground states, its important to note where President Trump is going tomorrow which is chesapeake, virginia. What the debate does is adds backbone to what seems like exuberant claims by the former president that he was going to growth amount, compete in places like virginia and minnesota which sounded like he is trying to get the democrats to spend money there. This adds a little wind to those sales and it is smart timing for his staff to go to virginia tomorrow. Amna do you think the map does change coming out of this . Amy the question really to me is whether youre going to see let me put it this way. The map i think has changed. This debate was going to, for the Biden Campaign, theoretically get them back to where they wanted it to be. If you look at where the race sits right now, biden needs to move the numbers in his direction. Where its is today, donald trump is doing about five points better than he did in 2020. Essentially what we are seeing and pulling whether its in polling in virginia or New Hampshire is biden is doing five points were worse or donald trump is doing five points better than 20 20. That makes a state like virginia or more of a four or five point race. It is closer. While i dont believe right now a state like virginia flips but what it does say is that trump is the one on the offense and able to expand the map and it is the biden team that is really now focused on the staining map of we can lose those states in the sunbelt as long as we win wisconsin and pennsylvania and michigan. Amna but it doesnt matter for congress. That is a congressional race. The down ballot as a whole other conversation. Amna i have to get your take on this. Do you think there will be another debate . I do. I dont think theres a change in the map. I think the map we had last time is what we will probably have at this time. We can log criticisms, biden got off to a slow start, he was in artful at the beginning and had a raspy voice. But we had a former president of the United States defend the people that attacked the capitol , lied about his own lawsuits, and on top of that said he would not commit to accepting the results of the election. So yes, what i prefer a stronger performance . Obviously so. Would i prefer a president whos not a serial liar who has 36 felonies and defends the attack on the United States capital that put lives in danger . Thats a much stronger case. Amna a few seconds left kevin. We saw the last president ial debate of 2024. I dont think there will be another one. Geoff so we may or may not see you back here in september. [applause] amna it has been wonderful having you all here. To all of you at home, thank you for joining us, that concludes our special coverage of the first president ial debate of 2024. Thank you to all of our guests, thank you toile of you. Find continuing coverage on the website at any time including Fact Checking at pbs. Org news hour. Geoff join us tomorrow night on the newshour as we further explore the impact of the debate on the 2024 president ial race. Im geoff bennett. Amna i mom n am amna nawaz. Thank you for joining us. Announcer announcer this was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. ] junior divion. [ shouts indistinctly ] [ shouting indistinctly ] the queens grandson prince harry is joining the military along with his brother, william. [ gunfire ] [ indistinct shouting ] but with the war in afghanistan in its bitter fifth year, the queen faces a difficult decision