The first presidential debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden has gotten off to a contentious start in Cleveland, Ohio, breaking down after just a few moments with Trump interrupting Biden on several occasions and Biden calling the president a clown and a liar.
As the discussion about the Supreme Court quickly turned to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, Trump claimed without evidence that 2 million people would have died if Biden were president.
Moderator Chris Wallace pleaded with Trump, stating that COVID-19 would be discussed later in the day. He then asked Trump about whether he had a plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, and the president said, “First of all, I guess I’m debating you, not him, but that’s OK. I’m not surprised.”
Biden laughed at Trump’s jabs. But he also appeared to get upset at times, too.
“Here’s the deal, the fact is that everything he’s saying so far is simply a lie,” Biden said. “I’m not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he’s a liar.”
Wallace asked Trump to let Biden finish. “Folks, do you have any idea what this clown is doing?” Biden said.