President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have spent months sparring from afar, laying the groundwork for an intense showdown on Tuesday night.
Here are the key moments so far from their first primetime debate:
Trump, Biden spar over Obamacare
Trump and Biden sparred in the opening moments over the consequences if the Supreme Court overturns the Affordable Care Act.
In answering the first question of the night, Biden argued that if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed as a Supreme Court justice and the court overturns former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, 100 million people who have pre-existing conditions will lose their coverage.
“And so it's just not appropriate to do this before this election,” Biden said, referring to a Senate vote on Barrett.
Trump disputed the statement that 100 million people have pre-existing conditions, before pivoting to attack Biden for his own health care plan which he said will “extinguish” the health care of 180 million people who currently have private coverage.
Biden said “that’s simply not true,” as Trump accused him of “going to socialist medicine.”
According to an analysis by the Department of Health and Human Services, 50-129 million Americans have some type of pre-existing health condition. Under Obamacare starting in 2014, insurance companies cannot refuse to offer health coverage to these Americans as they previously could. And according to the Congressional Research Service, private health insurance covered an estimated 178 million Americans.
Trump tries to steamroll the moderator
President Donald Trump tangled with debate moderator Chris Wallace early in the night, repeatedly interrupting a question about why he hasn’t released a comprehensive health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act.
“If I may ask my question, sir,” Wallace, the Fox News journalist, pressed as Trump kept cutting him off as he tried to ask the question.
“First of all, I guess I’m debating you, not him,” Trump shot back at Wallace. “I’m not surprised.”
Biden tells Trump to 'shut up'
Biden snapped at Trump just about 20 minutes into the debate after a line of questioning on the Supreme Court went off the rails.
“Will you shut up, man?” Biden said after Trump repeatedly talked over him. “This is so unpresidential.”
At times, the debate was an unintelligible jumble of the two candidates and Wallace talking over each other. As Wallace tried to move to the next topic area, Biden quipped “that was a really productive segment, wasn’t it? Keep yapping, man.”
While talking about the future of universal healthcare, Biden asked “do you have any idea what this clown is doing? I tell you what, he is not for any help for any people needing health care.”
Who’s smarter? Debate turns into intelligence measuring contest
The debate quickly became personal, and that continued when Biden said that many more people would die from Covid-19 unless Trump got “a lot smarter, a lot quicker.”
The president lashed back at the former vice president by referring to Biden comments from last year that have been taken out of context by conservative media.
“He said he went to Delaware State, but you forgot the name of your college. You didn’t go to Delaware State,” Trump said. “He graduated the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don’t ever use the word ‘smart’ with me.”
Biden’s comments from Oct. 19, saying that he “got his start” at Delaware State University, were actually referring to announcing his run for U.S. Senate at the campus in 1972, according to the Delaware News Journal.
Biden responded with exasperation to Trump’s attack: “Oh, give me a break.”
Trump whips out a mask on stage
Trump broke out his mask on stage to deny accusations that he questions the effectiveness of masks.
Trump added that he selectively wears them, and pointed out that he didn’t have to put one on on Tuesday night because people were tested and took the proper safety measures. Meanwhile, the president took a jab at his opponent: “I don't wear a mask like [Biden],” Trump said. “Every time you see him, he's got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from you, and he’s wearing the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
Biden fully embraced the attack of being an avid mask-wearer. “Masks make a big difference,” he said. “If we just wore masks between now and social distanced between now and January, we would probably save up to 100,000 lives.”
Trump pushed back against Biden’s enthusiasm for masks and wrongly said Dr. Anthony Fauci disagreed with scientists who promoted protective gear. Fauci promoted the universal wearing of masks in August.
Biden: ‘You're the worst president America has ever had’
In a heated exchange over Trump’s tax returns, Biden accused his opponent of being “the worst president America has ever had.”
Biden attacked Trump for taking advantage of the U.S. tax code and vowed to eliminate tax cuts under Trump’s tax law. Trump cut in to ask why Biden had not already done so over his past “25 years” as a senator.
“Because you weren’t president, screwing things up,” Biden deadpanned. “You're the worst president America has ever had. Come on.”
Trump retorted sharply that he had “done more in 47 months than you’ve done in 47 years.”
Minutes after the exchange, Biden’s campaign doubled down, tweeting from his account that “Donald Trump is the worst president we've ever had.”
Trump pushes back on tax report, demurs on releasing returns
Trump insisted he paid “millions of dollars” in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, the two years in which the New York Times reported he paid just $750 in a bombshell report on Sunday.
When Biden interjected, “show us your taxes then,” Trump repeated the claim he has made since entering politics five years ago — that he will release his tax returns once they are no longer under audit. Trump has said he could not release them while the audit is ongoing — a claim his own IRS commissioner has refuted.
The Times reported that Trump paid zero income tax in 11 of the 18 years the paper examined, citing decades’ worth of “tax-return data … for Mr. Trump and the hundreds of companies that make up his business organization.” Trump then paid $750 in 2016 and again in 2017. The newspaper found that Trump reduced his tax bill by reporting massive losses and taking advantage of tax breaks and refunds.
Biden suggested he would eliminate the breaks Trump has taken but falsely suggested that they were isolated to the cuts included in the 2017 tax law that Trump championed.
“The tax code that put him in a position that he pays less tax than a schoolteacher on the money a schoolteacher makes is because of him — he says he's smart because he can take advantage of the tax code, and he does take advantage of the tax code,” Biden said. “That's why I'm going to eliminate the Trump tax.”
In fact, Trump has taken advantage of longstanding deductions, according to the Times report. The paper said it did not obtain return data for 2018 and 2019, after Trump’s tax law took effect.
The Times report also suggested Trump has taken on significant debt, with some $300 million in loans he has personally guaranteed set to come due over the next four years. Trump disputed that detail on Tuesday too, saying, “I am totally under-leveraged because the assets are extremely good.”