Republican party, since 1988, has agreed to and complied with the rules of those debates as set by the commission. Until tonight. Donald trump refused to comply with the commissions rules for the debate that was scheduled for tonight, and he became, donald trump became the very first president ial candidate in the history of the commission to drop out of a debate scheduled by the commission on president ial debates. And after donald trump dropped out of that debate, joe biden became available for and agreed to doing a 90minute town hall on abc that was scheduled for tonight at 8 00 p. M. Several days after that, donald trump reached an agreement with nbc to appear at a town hall at the same time. And what happened on this night tonight in president ial Campaign History was exactly what the commission on president ial debates was designed to avoid. Voters forced to decide which candidate they should watch in dueling television forums chosen by the candidates. Since the trump town hall w
Hours . Ill see you again tomorrow night. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. I guess we all had a difficult choice to make tonight with these two things going head to head. I decided to watch the town hall that would be about governing and that would be the presidency, and so i was watching joe biden. And you might want know, rachel, although the joe biden town hall ended half an hour ago at 9 30, last time i looked before running out here, he was still in the hall in philadelphia answering questions without, you know, without it being part of the show because not everyone there got to ask all of their questions. And so he, i think well find out tomorrow how long he stayed there still in the hall right now answering peoples questions. Put the mask on after the program was over to stand there and answer their questions. And i have to say, having seen joe biden on the campaign trail in the past, that is the candidate biden
Be on tonight. They talked at the same time on opposing networks. Again, tonight the contrast was stark. Trump and biden took questions from voters just hours after the u. S. Passed 8 million coronavirus cases, a number just shy of the population of new york city. Over 218,000 souls now gone. Whats gotten a bit lost is were now in the third spike of infections. 37 states plus guam, washington, d. C. Seeing double digit increases in cases. Its become the defining issue of this election. Mass death has a way of focusing the mind and the voters. And it was a big focus at tonights dueling townhalls. Mr. President , if you knew covid19 as you told bob woodward in february as what . As you told bob woodward in february was airborne and deadlier than the flu, why did you only put in place a travel ban from china and not put in place other measures . I put on a travel ban far earlier than dr. Fauci thought it was necessary, who i like. Far earlier than the scientists. I was actually the only o
Candidates did the opposite of the debate that was supposed to be on tonight. They talked at the same time on opposing networks. Again, tonight the contrast was stark. Trump and biden took questions from voters just hours after the u. S. Passed 8 million coronavirus cases, a number just shy of the population of new york city. Over 218,000 souls now gone. Whats gotten a bit lost is were now in the third spike of infections. 37 states plus guam, washington, d. C. Seeing double digit increases in cases. Its become the defining issue of this election. Mass death has a way of focusing the mind and the voters. And it was a big focus at tonights dueling townhalls. Mr. President , if you knew covid19 as you told bob woodward in february as what . As you told bob woodward in february was airborne and deadlier than the flu, why did you only put in place a travel ban from china and not put in place other measures . I put on a travel ban far earlier than dr. Fauci thought it was necessary, who i l
Didnt it feel like a number of hours . All right. Ill see you again tomorrow night noup its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. We all had a difficult choice to make tonight with these two things going head to head. I decided to watch the town hall that would be about governing and would be about the presidency and so i was watching joe biden and you might want to know, rachel, although the joe biden town hall ended a half an hour ago at 9 30, last time i looked before running out here, he was still in the hall, in philadelphia, answering questions without, you know, without it being part of the show because not everyone there got to ask all of their questions. And so he, i think, well find out tomorrow exactly how long he stayed there, still in the hall right now answering peoples question. Put the mask on after the program was over to stand there and answer their questions and i have to say, having seen joe biden on the campaig