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First 2024 Trump-Biden presidential debate: Top clashes over issues from the border to Ukraine

First 2024 Trump-Biden presidential debate: Top clashes over issues from the border to Ukraine

Heated exchanges ensued between former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the CNN Presidential Debate on Thursday night, as the two rivals went head-to-head during their second debate since 2020.  Illegal immigration, abortion, and inflation were among the top issues on the debate stage, as well as climate change and the Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars. The debate comes as Biden and Trump are the frontrunners for the Democratic and Republican parties respectively. This is the first televised debate between the candidates for this election cycle and a second hosted by ABC is scheduled to be held in September.  Trump did not participate in the Republican primary debates, while the Democratic National Convention (DNC) threw its full support behind Biden and did not hold any debates among his challengers. BIDEN CAMP DODGES ANSWERING IF PRESIDENT PLANS TO USE PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS BEFORE DEBATE Here are the top clashes from Thursday’s debate: When CNN moderator Jake Tapper asked President Joe Biden to inform voters why he can curb the record-high numbers of illegal migrants crossing the border during Thursday night’s debate, Biden and Trump sparred over their immigration policies, which ended in Biden calling Trump a “liar” and Trump appearing to not understand a portion of Biden’s responses. After touting Congress’s bipartisan border package that lawmakers bucked earlier this year, Biden said “we find ourselves in a situation where when he was president, he was separating babies from their mothers put them in cages, making sure that the families were separated.” “That’s not the right way to go. What I’ve done since I’ve changed the law, what’s happened? I’ve changed it in a way that now you’re in a situation where there are 40% fewer people coming across the border illegally, that’s better than when he left office. And I’m going to continue to move until we get the total ban on the total initiative relative to what we can do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers,” Biden said. But Trump, appearing to not understand Biden, responded: “I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence, I don’t think he knows what he said either.” “Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country,” Trump continued. “All he had to do was leave it, all he had to do was to 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 asylum, terrorists – we have the largest number of terrorists coming into our country right now.” TRUMP, BIDEN SPAR OVER GOLF HANDICAPS AS THEY TRY TO CONVINCE VOTERS THEY ARE NOT TOO OLD FOR THE PRESIDENCY Biden accused former President Trump of “having sex with a porn star” and said he has “the morals of an alley cat,” but the presumptive Republican nominee maintained that he did not, and accused Biden of being behind his legal cases because “he can’t win fair and square.”  “How many billions of dollars do you owe civil penalties for molesting a woman in public? For doing a whole range of things—having sex with a porn star…while your wife was pregnant?” Biden said. “You have the morals of an alley cat during the night, sir.”  Trump fired back denying the allegations. “I didn’t have sex with a porn star, number one,” he said. “Number two, that was a case that was started, and they moved a high-ranking official—DOJ—into the Manhattan DA’s office to start the case.”  Trump was referring to Matthew Colangelo, who served as a senior DOJ official in the Biden administration, and left to join Bragg’s prosecution team.  Trump threw several jabs at Biden for giving billions of dollars to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy to continue its defense against the Russian invasion that began in February 2022 and said if elected, he’d have the war “settled” before taking office. “He’s given $200 billion, that’s a lot of money,” Trump said. “I don’t think there’s ever been anything like it. Every time that Zelinsky comes to this country. He walks away with $60 billion. He’s the greatest salesman ever.” “The money that we’re spending on this war, we shouldn’t be spending. It should have never happened. I will have that war settled between Putin and Zelinsky as President-Elect before I take office on January 20. I’ll have that war settled. People being killed so needlessly, so stupidly and I will get it settled, and I’ll get it settle fast before I take office.” In response, the current president said, “The fact is that Putin is a war criminal.” “He’s killed 1000s and 1000s of people and he has made one thing clear, he wants to reestablish what was part of the Soviet empire, not just a piece, he wants all of Ukraine,” he said. “By the way, all that money we give Ukraine from weapons we make here in the United States, give them the weapons, not the money at this point, and I made our NATO allies produce as much funding for Ukraine as we have – that’s why it’s that’s why we’re strong,” he said.  A RASPY BIDEN GETS OFF TO A HALTING START AGAINST TRUMP IN THE FIRST 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DEBATE During the CNN Presidential Debate, CNN moderator Dana Bash presented the age Biden and Trump would be at the end of a potential second term. Biden would be 86. Trump would be 82.  Biden defended his age, saying he “spent half my career being criticized about being the youngest person in politics. I was the second-youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate, and now I’m the oldest. This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent.”  But Trump reminded that he has taken two cognitive tests.  “I aced both of them, as you know, we made it public. He took none. I’d like to see him take one. Just want a real easy one,” Trump said.  Trump, an avid

Biden-Trump debate compared to Nixon and Kennedy’s historic matchup

Biden-Trump debate compared to Nixon and Kennedy’s historic matchup

President Biden and former President Trump’s tense Thursday night match-up was the first debate since 1960 to not feature a live audience. CNN CEO Mark Thompson told Axios earlier this week that he was aiming for “an absolutely classic debate,” similar to the first-ever televised debate between former Presidents Kennedy and Nixon in 1960.  It was one of several details that spurred comparisons online between the CNN Presidential Debate and the historically significant first debate between Kennedy and Nixon. Political commentator S.E. Cupp wrote on X, “Maybe the most consequential debate since Nixon/Kennedy?” TRUMP LEADING BIDEN AHEAD OF CNN PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE, SUPPORT FROM BLACK VOTERS WAY UP SINCE 2020: POLL Nixon, who had just spent the better part of a decade as vice president in the Eisenhower administration, had led then-young Sen. John F. Kennedy in most national polls ahead of the event, according to the National Constitution Center. However, Kennedy’s team took a more media-savvy approach, accepting an invitation for a media walkthrough before the event and opting for wearing makeup for the cameras, according to reports. Nixon, feeling the toll of both the intense campaign trail and a recent hospital stay, appeared tired and unhealthy.  PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: HOW MUCH DID THE DEBT GROW UNDER BIDEN AND TRUMP’S TERMS? It was widely reported that people who watched the debate on television thought Kennedy won, and people who listened to it on the radio thought Nixon won. Kennedy went on to win the election by a narrow margin. RealClearPolitics elections analyst Nathaniel Rakich made the comparison to Thursday’s debate on X. “The modern version of the Nixon-Kennedy debate: People who only read the transcript will think Biden won, people who watch or listen will think Trump won,” he wrote. THE MANY FACES OF DONALD TRUMP FROM PAST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES Others also compared Biden to Nixon after the 81-year-old president appeared tired and sometimes unfocused while sparring with his rival on screen. Former Trump 2020 campaign aide Tim Murtaugh wrote on X, “It’s funny. They say that people who listened to Kennedy and Nixon debate on the radio thought Nixon won because he spoke well and made good arguments. But people who watched on TV thought Kennedy won because he looked better.” “Biden lost both groups tonight,” he added.

Top 5 moments during Trump-Biden debate showdown: ‘I didn’t have sex with a porn star’

Top 5 moments during Trump-Biden debate showdown: ‘I didn’t have sex with a porn star’

There were several heated moments and pointed jabs during the first 2024 presidential debate between President Biden and former President Trump on Thursday night.  Discussing a variety of topics, including immigration and the border, the war in Israel, and abortion, the candidates managed to land some punches and challenge one another on their respective records.  CNN FLASH POLL SHOWS TRUMP AS CLEAR WINNER OF FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ‘STUNNING NUMBER’ Here are the top five moments from the presidential debate, which was hosted by CNN. During the debate, Biden hit Trump over the various criminal cases he is involved in, including the New York trial that ended with Trump’s conviction for falsifying business records. The records were related to alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, who Trump allegedly had an affair with. However, Trump shot back at Biden, claiming, “I didn’t have sex with a porn star.” PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SHOWDOWN BETWEEN BIDEN, TRUMP WAS FESTIVAL OF THE UNPRECEDENTED “He was so bad with Afghanistan,” Trump claimed during the debate, calling it “such a horrible embarrassment.”  “He should have fired those generals like I fired the one that you mentioned, and so he’s got no love lost, but he should have fired those generals,” he added. “No general got fired for the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country, Afghanistan, where we left billions of dollars of equipment behind. We lost 13 beautiful soldiers and 38 soldiers were obliterated.” TRUMP RIPS BIDEN FOR NOT FIRING GENERALS AFTER BOTCHED AFGHANISTAN WITHDRAWAL: ‘INCOMPETENCE’ The president slammed Trump’s claims he could be prosecuted, brushing it off as “outrageous.”  “Joe could be a convicted felon with all of the things that he’s done,” Trump claimed.   “This man is a criminal. This man — you’re lucky. You’re lucky. I did nothing wrong. We’d have a system that was rigged and disgusting. I did nothing wrong,” he added.  Biden shot back, “the idea that I did anything wrong is outrageous.” TRUMP’S CLEAR-CUT DEBATE VICTORY OVER BIDEN RAISES AWKWARD QUESTION ABOUT 2024 CAMPAIGN Biden pushed back on Trump after the former president said he would allow late term abortions to occur. “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. The former governor of Virginia: ‘put the baby down, then we decide what to do with it.’ So, he’s willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby. Nobody wants that to happen — Democrat or Republican. Nobody wants that to happen,” Trump said.  But Biden claimed, “You’re lying. That is simply not true.”  According to the president, he is “not for a late-term abortion — period. Period.”  While discussing Israel’s war with terrorist group Hamas in Gaza, Trump slammed Biden, who he said doesn’t want to let Israel “finish the job.” “He’s become like a Palestinian, but they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one,” he said.  “I’ve never heard so much foolishness,” Biden responded. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Trump, Biden to hold dueling rallies in these key states post debate as they aim to expand the 2024 map

Trump, Biden to hold dueling rallies in these key states post debate as they aim to expand the 2024 map

ATLANTA – With the first presidential debate in their 2024 election rematch now in the rearview mirror, President Biden and former President Trump stay in the South as they hold rallies in states they’re aiming to flip come November. Following their face-to-face on-stage showdown at the CNN Presidential Debate Thursday night in Atlanta, Georgia – where Biden struggled with a raspy voice and delivered halting answers – the president heads to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he’ll hold a rally Friday in a state he lost to Trump by a razor-thin margin in 2020. Trump, whom pundits declared the winner of the debate, will be rallying Friday in Virginia, which he lost by 10 points four years ago. A RASPY BIDEN DELIVERS A HALTING DEBATE PERFORMANCE It’s been two decades since a Republican carried Virginia in the race for the White House.  You have to go back to then-President George W. Bush, who won the Commonwealth in his 2004 re-election victory. But recent polling indicates a close contest. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLL IN VIRGINIA  A Fox News poll conducted June 1-4 indicated the Democratic president and his Republican predecessor in the White House each with 48% support in a head-to-head match. In a multi-candidate race, Biden stands at 42% and Trump at 41%, with Democrat-turned-independent Robert K. Kennedy at 9% and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and independent Cornel West each at 2%. University of Lynchburg political science professor Dave Richards, asked about the apparently deadlocked race in his state, said “politics down here are in a confused state and I think that’s being reflected in the polling, where there’s not a clear front-runner.” At a closed-door Republican National Committee retreat for top-dollar donors earlier this spring at a resort in Palm Beach, Florida, senior Trump campaign advisers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita and veteran pollster Tony Fabrizio spotlighted internal surveys that suggested both “Minnesota & Virginia are clearly in play.” “In both states, Donald Trump finds himself in positions to flip key electoral votes in his favor,” the survey, which was shared with Fox News, emphasizes.  And according to a memo from the Trump campaign obtained last week by Fox News, the former president’s team is aiming to open 8 offices in Minnesota and 11 in Virginia and hire staff to manage the new locations. THIS REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR SAYS HIS STATE IS IN PLAY IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia agrees, at least when it comes to his state. A couple of days ahead of the Fox News poll’s release, the governor said in a Fox News Digital interview that “we’re here in June and there’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but Virginia looks like it’s in play and that’s pretty exciting.” Youngkin will join Trump at Friday’s rally at the historic Greenbriar Farms in Chesapeake, Virginia. The governor’s appearance will likely spark more speculation about Youngkin as a possible running mate. The two politicians met in person two weeks for the first time ever, as they discussed flipping Virginia in the autumn election. CLICK HERE TO GET FOX NEWS APP When asked in a recent interview with Fox News’ Aishah Hasnie about Youngkin, Trump said he’s “great” and “I think I could consider it.” Biden on Friday will be in Raleigh, North Carolina’s capital city. The Biden campaign said that the president and First Lady Jill Biden will be joined by “Grammy-nominated artist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Fat Joe, in addition to multi-platinum musician and entrepreneur E-40.” The president lost the state by just 74,000 votes four years ago. The latest polls in the state indicate Trump with a mid-single digit advantage. As he aims to be the first Democrat since former President Obama in 2008 to carry North Carolina, he’s beefed up his campaign’s footprint in the state and flooded the airwaves with ads. Biden’s stop next week will be his fourth so far this year in North Carolina, which has seen a surge of new residents since the 2020 election that potentially may benefit the Democratic incumbent. “I think with the fact that only 75K votes differentiated between Trump and Biden, and the fact that registered Republicans have a higher turnout rate than registered Democrats, I think Biden’s campaign sees the opportunity,” Michael Bitzer, chair of the politics department at Catawba College. But Bitzer emphasized “it’s an opportunity only if they invest in the ground operations to make that turnout work.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Voting under way in Iran’s snap presidential election

Voting under way in Iran’s snap presidential election

Four candidates are in the race to succeed Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May. Iranians are voting for a new president following the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader at a time of growing public frustration. Polls opened at 8am (04:30 GMT) on Friday and are scheduled to close at 6pm (14:30 GMT), but the time can be extended until midnight. The snap election coincides with escalating regional tensions due to the current war between Israel and Iranian ally Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as increased Western pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme. While the election is unlikely to bring a major shift in the Islamic republic’s policies, its outcome could influence the succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, in power since 1989. Khamenei called for a high turnout to offset a legitimacy crisis fuelled by public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedom. “The durability, strength, dignity and reputation of the Islamic republic depend on the presence of people,” Khamenei told state television after casting his vote. “High turnout is a definite necessity.” Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years, as a mostly youthful population chafes at political and social curbs. Manual counting of ballots means the final result is expected to be announced only in two days, though initial figures may come out sooner. If no candidate wins at least 50 percent plus one vote from all ballots cast, including blank votes, a run-off between the top two candidates is to be held on the first Friday after the election result is declared. Three candidates are hardliners and one is a low-profile comparative moderate, backed by the reformist faction that has largely been sidelined in Iran in recent years. The next president is not expected to usher in any big policy change on the country’s nuclear programme or support for militia groups across the Middle East, since Khamenei calls all the shots on top state matters. However, the president runs the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran’s foreign and domestic policy. Four candidates A hardline watchdog body made up of six scholars and six jurists aligned with Khamenei vets candidates. It approved just six from an initial pool of 80. Two contenders subsequently dropped out. Prominent among the remaining hardliners are Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, parliament speaker and former commander of the air force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served for four years in Khamenei’s office. The sole comparative moderate, Masoud Pezeshkian, is faithful to Iran’s theocratic rule, but advocates detente with the West, economic reform, social liberalisation and political pluralism. His chances hinge on reviving the enthusiasm of reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the polls for the last four years after previous pragmatist presidents brought little change. He could also benefit from his rivals’ failure to consolidate the hardline vote. All four candidates have promised to revive the flagging economy, beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018, after the United States ditched Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers. In the past few weeks, Iranians have made wide use of the hashtag #ElectionCircus on X, with some activists at home and abroad calling for an election boycott, saying a high turnout would legitimise the Islamic republic. Adblock test (Why?)