TV debate ticker A "disaster" - Biden fails in the TV debate

US President Joe Biden sharply attacks his challenger in the TV debate, but sounds hoarse and often falters. Donald Trump appears more energetic, reacts mockingly and calls Biden the "worst president" in the USA. blue News follows the TV debate here in the ticker.

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9:10 a.m.

Are the Democrats planning the Biden exit?

The reactions to Joe Biden's appearance are devastating, especially within his own party. Behind closed doors, Democrats are actually talking about the - actually unimaginable - question immediately after the debate: whether their front man is so weak that they need to find an alternative candidate around four months before election day. "It's hard to argue that Biden should be our nominee," CNN quotes an unnamed party official. Others speak of sheer "panic" in the party.

But would it even be possible to take Biden out of the race? Theoretically, yes. The Democrats are meeting for a coronation party conference in Chicago at the end of August. Actually to officially nominate Biden as their presidential candidate. However, the party could still change its mind at short notice and nominate a new candidate.

However, Biden would have to drop out of his own free will, as he has formally won his party's primaries and the delegates at the party conference are bound by their results for the time being. However, Biden could cite health or family reasons to withdraw in order to save face. Whether he would be prepared to do so is questionable.

And the even bigger problem: the party does not seem to have a real plan B. It has failed to build up a successor. Biden, in particular, has to accept the blame for this. The grandfather of seven claims that he is the best qualified person for the job and that only he can beat Trump.

6.20 a.m.

Prominent Democratic campaign donor worried

Joe Biden needs to think seriously about whether he is the best candidate for the Democrats, says Mark Buell, a prominent Democratic campaign donor. "Do we have time to put up another candidate?" Buell told The New York Times after the debate. He is not yet calling for Biden's resignation, Buell emphasized. But: "We are responsible for making a real assessment of how America feels about the candidate and then confronting Biden - there is simply too much at stake."

5.49pm

US Vice President Harris defends Biden's performance

US Vice President Kamala Harris has defended President Joe Biden's performance in the televised debate with his challenger Donald Trump in a TV interview. "Yes, there was a bumpy start, but also a very strong finish," said Harris on Thursday (local time) on CNN. We have seen a president who has drawn a stark contrast to his rival and Trump has lied "over and over again". "People can argue about style, but in the end this election has to be about substance," Harris said. For three and a half years in the White House, she has seen Biden as a man who has done successful work for the American people, said the Vice President.

In the heated debate, Biden had appeared hesitant at times, often misspoke and did not always give coherent answers. In initial reactions, US commentators reported voices behind the scenes in the Democratic Party saying that the 81-year-old's performance had caused "panic".

5.30 am

Democrats in panic mode after debate

A member of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) calls on President Biden to end his campaign after the debate. "Now would be a good time for Biden to resign, citing health concerns," Nadia B. Ahmad, a progressive DNC member from Florida, tells The New York Times.

4:56 p.m.

Scathing criticism - even on CNN

CNN reports that the duel has caused "panic" among Democrats. Commentators on the channel, which is not known for being close to Trump, agree that the debate was a fiasco for the president.

It is obvious that Biden is not fit for the job. Democrats who claimed that Biden was alert and lucid in private conversations were clearly lying. He had failed to raise the issue of abortion effectively, for example. His party should not have allowed the appearance.

4:50 a.m.

Biden sounds hoarse

Biden's voice sounds hoarse in the debate and was difficult to understand at times. The television station CBS reported, citing sources in the Biden team, that the president had a cold - but did not have Covid. He had been tested.

4.42 p.m.

Analysis

Donald Trump has said many things that do not correspond to the facts. But Joe Biden did not cut a good figure: the president came across as rickety and insecure. A CNN commentator calls Biden's performance a "disaster": the Democrats are likely to get nervous now.

More reactions shortly.

4:40 a.m.

Melania Trump is missing

Former First Lady Melania Trump is absent from her husband's first TV duel. The 54-year-old did not accompany the former president to the debate against Biden - unlike his wife Jill. The current First Lady appears with her husband on the TV stage in Atlanta after the exchange of blows. Trump leaves the television stage immediately after the end of the duel - alone.

Melania Trump had hardly appeared in public since leaving the White House at the beginning of 2021, largely remaining silent and hardly playing a role in her husband's election campaign. Biden's wife Jill, on the other hand, is very present in her husband's election campaign. The US president wrote on the X platform on Thursday: "The best thing about campaigning is having you by my side, Jilly."

The best part of the campaign trail is having you by my side, Jilly. https://t.co/szfXMjTDIS

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 27, 2024

4.39 pm

Final words

Biden says there has been "significant progress" under him. A fairer tax system is now needed. He praises the fact that he has lowered drug prices: The President comes across as erratic during his speech and he stutters every now and then. He wants to continue the fight against inflation, he ends.

Trump says Biden is doing nothing. He is not respected: Israel, Iran and China would dance around on his nose. "What happened with Ukraine should never have happened." And: "The whole country is exploding because of you." What he has achieved, on the other hand, has "never been seen before". His achievements for the veterans were "unbelievable". But now the USA is a "failing nation".

4.37 p.m.

Does Trump accept the election result? He is not committing himself

Trump still won't commit to whether he will accept the outcome of the election in November. The moderators ask several times, but the Republican wriggles out, only answering the question on the third attempt and even then only evasively: "If it's a fair, legal and good election, then by all means," Trump replied. "There's nothing I'd rather do," he added later. All clear: If Trump wins the election, it was fair, legal and good - if he loses, it was unfair, illegal and bad.

Biden says he doubts that Trump will accept the outcome of the election "because you're such a whiner". The Democrat countered Trump: "You can't stand to lose."

Trump lost to Biden in the 2020 presidential election, but still does not concede defeat to this day. At the time, the Republican launched a campaign against the outcome of the election and tried everything he could to reverse the result. This culminated in the violent attack by his supporters on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, where Congress had convened on that day to formally confirm Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters in a speech with unsubstantiated claims that his election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud.

4.35am

Trump defends withdrawal from Paris climate agreement

Trump defends the withdrawal of the USA from the Paris Climate Agreement during his time in office. "It was a rip-off of the United States, and I ended it because I didn't want to waste that money," says the Republican. The agreement was a "disaster".

Biden rejects this and emphasizes that the USA can only fight climate change if it is a member of the agreement. There is no indication that Trump is interested in pollution and climate, says the Democrat.

Biden has made the fight against climate change a priority and is promoting the economic opportunities of climate protection. As one of his first acts in office, he ordered the USA to return to the climate agreement from which his predecessor Trump had withdrawn.

4.31 am

"You are a whiner"

Will Trump recognize the election result? If it's fair, yes, answers Trump. He would like to be somewhere else, but he has to run because Biden is doing such a bad job. "You're a whiner," says Biden. There was no electoral fraud.

The second commercial break follows.

4:29

"We are very, very close to World War III"

"We are very, very close to World War III": Putin and Kim Jong-un would not respect Biden, says Trump. Biden refers to Trump's behavior regarding NATO. If Trump won, Putin would continue with Poland. "Then we will have a war."

4:25 p.m.

The topic of age - and golf

When it comes to age, Trump boasts that he has "mastered" two cognitive tests. Biden should do the same. He has won two golf tournaments. "I'm in very good shape." Biden says his handicap is good and he's happy to face Trump in competition.

4:21 p.m.

"He gets money from China"

Now it should be about the drug crisis in the USA - but not with Trump: "He gets money from China", says Trump. Biden also has the highest national deficit. He then returns to the topic: drugs are coming into the country with the illegals.

Biden says that drug abuse is on the decline. With regard to the border, there had been a bipartisan compromise that Trump had buried in order to prevent any progress.

Trump somehow ends up with the imprisoned US journalist who is in prison in Russia. Putin is probably demanding billions for him, Trump says.

4:20 p.m.

Biden on Trump's criminal proceedings: "Morality of a street mutt"

Trump and Biden engage in a heated exchange on Trump's indictments and criminal proceedings. "The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now," says Biden.

Trump is also accused of many other crimes and must pay high civil penalties, Biden added. "Billions of dollars for harassing a woman in public and a whole bunch of other things; for having sex with a porn star the night your wife was pregnant," Biden said, getting the details wrong: Melania Trump had already given birth to son Barron four months before the questionable appointment. "You have the morals of a street dog," Biden said.

Trump said without evidence that Biden could possibly soon be a convicted criminal "because he has caused many deaths at the border".

Trump was found guilty at the end of May in the trial over the concealment of hush-money payments to a porn actress. It is the first time in US history that a former president has been convicted of a criminal offense. The sentence will be announced in July - the 78-year-old faces a prison sentence at worst. Trump denies all guilt and regularly describes the investigations against him as a political "witch hunt".

4.16 am

Children are not in demand

Even when it comes to social security, Trump ends up on the subject of migration. It is now clear that this point is his lever to get the audience on his side.

Jake Tapper now asks about the high cost of childcare. Trump does not answer this question. "Joe, our country is being destroyed. He's the worst president in the history of our country. He wants open borders. If he wins the election, our country has no chance." He has never fired anyone.

Biden replies that the USA is highly respected in the world. He is visibly angry. On the contrary, Trump is the worst president. Tapper asks what Trump would do for children. Trump says: "Nobody has ever set up an economy like this." Biden wants to raise taxes. "If you lowered them, as I said, companies would bring more money into the country."

Biden responds that Trump has done nothing for the middle class and left the highest deficit.

4:06 p.m.

Climate? Trump talks about migration

On the subject of climate change, Trump says he wants clean air and clean water. All of that existed under him. "He hasn't done a damn thing" for the climate, complains Biden. Trump says China and others aren't doing anything either - and changes the subject again.

Insulin in the USA has become cheaper because of him. And then he goes back to talking about migrants taking everything away. Biden comes back to the climate and talks about goals that will be achieved.

4.02 p.m.

Black voters

Blacks have more jobs under Biden, but black families don't have more money. The president talks about programs he has set up for the black population: It's about housing programs, childcare and the job market. "We've done a lot, and we need to do more."

"He says it's because of inflation. He caused the inflation. I gave him a country without inflation." Migrants are taking jobs away from blacks and Hispanics, Trump says. Biden counters that the economy has been weakened under Trump and there have been no jobs. Biden had called blacks "super predators", Trump claimed. Hillary Clinton had used this expression, behind closed doors - not Biden.

Trump is repeatedly trying to incite blacks against immigrants in this election campaign.

3:51 p.m.

Trump brags he's taken in "hundreds of millions of dollars" in donations

What about revenge? "My revenge will be success," Trump says. Because Biden attacked him as a felon, he counters, "Joe could be a convicted felon." If he were prosecuted for the situation on the border or in Ukraine, he would have a criminal record. Biden replies that it is "simply wrong" for Trump to make such threats and talks about his recent trials.

"I never slept with a porn star," Trump defends himself. He had a "terrible judge". He has raised "hundreds of millions of dollars" in donations in the last few days of the trial, he boasts.

Biden accuses Trump of saying that there were also good people among the Nazis. That was made up, Trump counters. "It's a nonsense story and he knows it." "It happened," Biden insists. We saw what happened on January 6.

The first commercial break follows.

3:45

Biden calls Trump a "loser" and a "liar"

Biden attacks his predecessor harshly and insults him. Biden calls Trump a liar several times. "He exaggerates, he lies", said Biden with regard to Trump's statements on the situation at the border. Regarding his rival's statements about veterans, Biden said: "Everything he says is a lie." The Democrat also referred to Trump as a "loser" and a "sucker", alluding to an alleged statement Trump made about war veterans during his time in office.

In 2018, a media report had caused a stir that then-President Trump had allegedly said on the occasion of a planned visit to an American military cemetery in France: "Why would I go to that cemetery? It's full of losers." He later reportedly referred to the more than 1,800 US Marines who lost their lives in the Battle of Bellau Wood in the First World War as "suckers".

Biden said his late son Beau, who served in the U.S. military, was not a sucker or a loser. "You're the sucker. You're the loser," he accused his predecessor.

Trump had rejected the media report at the time and did the same during the TV debate. The story was not true, the Republican said during the debate and demanded an apology from Biden for this accusation.

3.44 p.m.

Storming the US Capitol

When asked whether he could reassure voters concerned about a repeat of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump, as before, rejected all accusations and resorted to his standard explanation: he had told his supporters to march "peacefully and patriotically" to the Capitol. In fact, this was just a brief statement in a speech in which he repeatedly called on his supporters to contest the results of the presidential election. Among other things, Trump said at the time: "If you don't fight like crazy, you will soon have no country left."

Biden sharply criticized Trump in response. "He encouraged these people," said Biden. Trump had sat in the White House for three hours and had not intervened while his supporters had smashed windows, occupied the parliament building and brutally rioted. Instead, Trump called these people "patriots" and wanted to waive their sentences. "And now he's saying if he loses again - whiner that he is - that there could be a bloodbath," Biden raged.

On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in Washington. Congress had convened there to formally confirm Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters in a speech with unsubstantiated claims that his election victory had been stolen from him through massive fraud. Five people died as a result of the riots. The attack still has repercussions today. Since then, Biden has repeatedly warned that Trump is a danger to democracy. Trump still clings to the lie of electoral fraud to this day.

Trump regularly employs radical rhetoric, uses hateful language and incites his supporters. During the current election campaign, he spoke in mid-March about how he wants to make it more difficult to sell Chinese cars on the US market. He added: "If I'm not elected, there will be a bloodbath. (...) It will be a bloodbath for the country." This made big waves. Trump's election campaign team rebutted, arguing at the time that the ex-president was only talking about the US car industry and that the "bloodbath" quote had been taken out of context.

3.41 pm

Trump: Could end war in Ukraine before taking office

Former US President Donald Trump has blamed incumbent Joe Biden for the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and called on Europe to spend more money on Kiev. If the USA had a "real president" who was respected by Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin, he would never have invaded Ukraine, the Republican said at the presidential debate in Atlanta on Thursday (local time). Biden had even encouraged Putin, Trump said.

Trump again announced that he would be able to end the war if he were re-elected. This would happen before he takes office in January, the 78-year-old continued. Trump left open exactly how he intends to do this. Trump also said that Biden, a Democrat, should demand that European countries spend more money on supporting Ukraine. When asked, the Republican went on to say that Putin's conditions for peace in Ukraine were unacceptable.

Biden once again called Putin a war criminal. "He has killed thousands and thousands of people," said the 81-year-old. The Democrat warned that Putin would not stop with Ukraine.

Under Biden, the USA is Ukraine's most important supporter in the defensive struggle against Russia's war of aggression. According to Pentagon figures, the USA has provided Ukraine with more than 51 billion dollars in military aid since the start of the war. At the beginning of the year, however, the American arms deliveries were temporarily held up for several months due to a domestic political blockade in the USA. Fueled by Trump, Republicans from the right-wing fringe of the party in the US parliament opposed the aid. In the event of his re-election, Trump has signaled that he will dramatically reduce or completely stop support for Kiev - and give Putin a free hand in its neighbourhood.

3.40 pm

Middle East, Nato and Ukraine

Middle East: Hamas has not yet released the hostages. What does Biden want to do to end the war? Only Hamas wants to continue the war, says Biden. He supplies Israel with weapons apart from heavy 2000-pound bombs. "We have saved Israel", he says. He will continue to support Jerusalem: Hamas is very weakened, he says.

"Let Israel finish the job," says Trump and returns to the subject of Ukraine. Would Trump support a state of Palestine? Trump changes the subject, talks about Nato and how he has urged the members to spend more. "Billions upon billions have come in over the next few months."

3.29pm

"He has opened our borders"

What about Trump's big deportation initiative? "They're killing our people like never before," Trump says. "It's terrible what's happening in our country. He's opened our borders. You've never seen anything like it." Immigrants would live in luxury hotels. "Everything he says is a lie," Biden replies.

He goes on to say that Trump has called veterans "losers": Trump denies this, saying, "Nobody has taken better care of our veterans than I have." "We've taken care of veterans more," Biden says. More than anyone in history.

3:20 p.m.

Illegal immigration

Jake Tapper asks Biden what he would do about illegal entry into the U.S., which is at record levels. Biden mentions that the U.S. Border Patrol union supported him. In fact, it supported a bipartisan Senate bill that Biden endorsed that would have invested in security measures at the border. Republicans blocked the bill at the behest of Trump, who did not want Biden to win an election-year victory.

Now Trump is responding and, as expected, attacking Biden. He falsely claims that Biden has opened the border. Millions of people are coming across the border from prisons and psychiatric wards and, above all, terrorists from all over the world. It all sounds very similar to Trump's first election campaign in 2016 - and it's not true.

3:19 p.m.

Roe v Wade

The issue now is abortion: will Trump ban abortion pills? "I'm not going to block it," Trump says. He says states can now decide. "I think it's important that there are exceptions." For example, if the mother's life is at risk. The Democrats wanted to kill babies.

"It's terrible what you've done," countered Biden. He wants to restore the right to abortion. Trump changes the subject: young women are being killed by illegal immigrants. Trump immediately appears fitter than the incumbent. "Under Roe v Wade, you can have late-term abortions," he throws at Biden's feet.

3.07 p.m.

The first topic: the economy

Joe Biden is first asked about high inflation. He replies that he inherited a difficult economic legacy when he took office. There was "chaos" when his predecessor left office. Trump counters that it was the best economy ever. "Everything was totally good." There was no war. Only the pandemic had hurt him.

Friday, June 28, 2024, 3.03 a.m.

Start of the TV duel

Jake Tapper and Dana Bash host this morning. The two candidates take to the stage.

Thursday, June 27, 2024, 9 a.m.

"Joe Biden is too old and Donald Trump is too much 'Donald Trump'"

This Thursday, the Dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" comments on the presidential election campaign in the USA:

"For large parts of the population it is clear: Joe Biden is too old and Donald Trump is too much 'Donald Trump'. Surveys show that around two thirds of Americans are fed up with seeing the same candidates as in 2020. Some are even downright angry that they are stuck with this duo. (...)

All alarm bells should be ringing for the incumbent President Biden. Barely 40 percent of Americans still trust him. He makes the worst blunders in his public appearances almost every week. And with his shuffling gait and stiff facial expressions, he is the opposite of the dynamic leader Americans want to see in the White House. (...)

Trump offers his own challenges. He can do no wrong with his supporters, but these are not the people he needs to win over. His Republican Party has saddled him with considerable baggage. The radical stance of the right wing of the party against abortion, for example, is not shared by a large majority of the US population. And hardly anyone from his former government team wants to see Trump back in the White House."

5 p.m.

Bad for Trump: Moderate Republicans win primary election

Moderate candidates have prevailed over supporters of former President Donald Trump in the Republican Party primary in the US state of Utah. 64-year-old MP John Curtis was chosen as the Republican candidate for the election for a Senate seat in Utah in November. Governor Spencer Cox also won a primary election against an ultra-right candidate.

Neither Curtis nor Cox are real opponents of Trump. They also support him and some of his political positions. However, both made it clear during the election campaign that they also want to deviate from the party's strict Trump course.

Curtis and Cox won easily on June 25 against rivals who had beaten them at a party convention in April, Trent Staggs and Phil Lyman. However, there tended to be more right-wing delegates at the convention, while the actual Republican electorate tended to vote more moderately in the primary.

Conservative Utah, with its large Mormon population, is already considered less loyal to Trump than other states. The victories in the primary election will in all likelihood also ensure the Republicans' success in the election against the Democratic candidates in November.

No Democrat has been elected to the Senate in Utah since 1970. Curtis is therefore likely to become Mitt Romney's successor. The former Republican presidential candidate is not running again in the congressional elections.

11 a.m.

Little-loved candidates

Both Biden and Trump are struggling with unpopularity: according to a survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, around six in ten adults in the US have a very or somewhat negative opinion of Biden.

The situation is similar with Trump. However, six in ten Republicans are satisfied that Trump is likely to be their party's presidential candidate. Of the Democrats surveyed, only 42 percent think that about Biden.

11 a.m.

How important is the TV duel?

Around half of those surveyed, 47 percent, consider the TV debate to be "extremely" or "very" important for Biden's election campaign.

Around four in ten say it is very important for Trump's election campaign. Around three in ten respondents say the debate is at least "very" important for both campaign camps.

Among Democratic supporters surveyed, 55 percent believe the debate is extremely or very important to the success of the Biden campaign. About half of Republicans, 51 percent, say that about Trump's campaign.

June 26, 11 a.m.

Voices from the people: "It's a circus"

It will be the first TV duel between Biden and Trump since 2020. Supporters of both presidential candidates see the debate either as an important test for Biden and Trump or as a spectacle not to be missed.

"I think it's super important," said 44-year-old Trump supporter Victoria Perdomo from Florida. "She's showing America what you're going to see for the next four years."

Nic Greene, registered as an independent voter, said he would likely vote for Trump because he is the "least worst candidate." Greene doesn't believe TV debates make it easier for voters to decide. "I think the majority of people have already made up their minds with or without these debates," he said. "It's a circus."

40-year-old Arthur Morris, who has not yet decided who he will vote for, has doubts about the mental capacity of Biden and Trump, who are both older. He wants to be shown by Biden that he is capable of holding the office of president in an appropriate manner, said Morris.

He wants to see from Trump that he can be trusted after the attack on the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021 by his supporters and his recent conviction in the hush money trial.

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