Biden has shaky debate showing as Trump repeats falsehoods

Our live coverage of key moments, fact checks and analysis from CNN’s presidential debate has moved here

Biden-Harris campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu speaks at an event at Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on May 23.

Mitch Landrieu, Biden campaign co-chair, said that President Joe Biden “started off slow last night” but said when former President Donald Trump was talking “basically everything that he said was a lie.”

He added, “But throughout the debate, trying to listen to Donald Trump talk was painful for me,” he said.

Former Georgia Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who has endorsed President Joe Biden, said if former President Donald Trump had a horrible night at CNN’s presidential debate last night, Republicans would be talking about a different nominee.

He continued, “But he didn’t. He had a great night as far as delivery. Now the content was full of lies and riddles and innuendos.”

Former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden attend the CNN Presidential Debate on June 27.

President Joe Biden is three years and seven months older than former President Donald Trump.

But in their debate, the gap between the 81-year-old incumbent and his 78-year-old challenger seemed much larger.

Biden, hoarse and displaying little vocal range, was often unable to express his differences with Trump with clarity. At one point, after Biden had trailed off as he defended his record on border security, Trump said:

Trump, meanwhile, repeated his frequent election denialism. He said he’d accept the results of the 2024 election if it’s “fair and legal,” but then repeated his lies about fraud in the 2020 election.

Here are the debate highlights:

Biden’s age problem just got a lot worse:

Biden’s one-liner offense:

Trump makes news with abortion pill stance:

Inflation blamed on pandemic:

Read more of the takeaways.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump sparred over the state of the US economy during CNN’s presidential debate.

Watch the moment.

American and Ukrainian flags fly near the U.S. Capitol on April 20.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that the United States has given more in aid to Ukraine than European countries put together.  

“The European nations together have spent $100 billion, or maybe more than that, less than us,” Trump said.   

Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. From just before Russia’s invasion in early 2022 through April 2024, European countries contributed more aid to Ukraine than the US, according to data from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy in Germany. 

The Kiel Institute, which closely tracks aid to Ukraine, found that from late January 2022 (the month before Russia’s invasion) through April 2024, the European Union and individual European countries had committed a total of about $190 billion to Ukraine in military, financial and humanitarian assistance, compared with about $106 billion committed by the US.

Europe also exceeded the US in aid that had been “allocated” to Ukraine — defined by the institute as aid either delivered or specified for delivery — at about $109 billionfor Europe compared with about $79 billionfor the US. 

Additionally, Europe had committed more total military aid to Ukraine, at about $76 billion to about $69 billion for the US. The US narrowly led on military aid that had been allocated, at more than $50 billion for the US to less than $48 billion for Europe, but even that was nowhere near the lopsided margin Trump suggested. 

It’s important to note that it’s possible to come up with different totals using different methodologies. And the Kiel Institute found that Ukraine itself was getting only about half of the money in a 2024 US bill that had widely been described as a $61 billion aid bill for Ukraine. The institute said the rest of the funds were mostly going to the Defense Department.

In the first debate matchup between President Biden and former President Donald Trump, Biden turned in a lackluster performance that has some Democrats wondering if concerns about his age might be valid.

Host David Rind and CNN Correspondent Kristen Holmes break down the moments that mattered from the CNN presidential debate and look at where both campaigns go from here.

Listen to the special episode of One Thing here.

Former President Donald Trump at the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta on Thursday.

Former President Donald Trump claimed during the debate that he “funded” historically Black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs.  

Facts First: Trump is exaggerating here. He did not “fund” HBCUs, as they have received various forms of funding, including federal funds and donations, prior to his presidency. However, he did sign into law legislation that secured permanent funding for HBCUs. 

In 2019, Trump signed the FUTURE Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at strengthening HBCUs as well as other minority-serving institutions by providing $255 million annually.  

“HBCUs have been underfunded for over 150 years, since inception. President Trump did sign measures into law that helped HBCUs tremendously (FUTURE Act and the first two COVID-19 packages). However, he never set out to do it,” Monique LeNoir, vice president of branding, marketing and communications for the United Negro College Fund, told CNN.

Marybeth Gasman, executive director of the Rutgers Center for Minority Serving Institutions, echoed LeNoir, adding that Congress, during the Obama administration, also allocated funding to HBCUs.  

The Trump administration also had a frayed relationship with HBCUs, and Trump’s views on funding for HBCUs have also not been consistent. In 2017, he questioned the constitutional basis for federal funding for HBCUs, saying, according to NPR, that “it benefits schools on the basis of race.”

President Joe Biden coughs, while former President Donald Trump speaks during the CNN presidential debate on June 27.

If Joe Biden loses November’s election, history will record that it took just 10 minutes to destroy a presidency.

It was clear a political disaster was about to unfold as soon as the 81-year-old commander in chief stiffly shuffled on stage in Atlanta to stand eight feet from ex-President Donald Trump at what may turn into the most fateful presidential debate in history.

Objectively, Biden produced the weakest performance since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon started the tradition of televised debates in 1960 — then, as on Thursday, in a television studio with no audience.

Minutes into the showdown, hosted by CNN, a full-blown Democratic panic was underway at the idea of heading into the election with such a diminished figure at the top of the ticket.

Biden’s chief debate coach, Ron Klain, famously argues that “while you can lose a debate at any time, you can only win it in the first 30 minutes.”

By that standard, the president’s showing was devastating. The tone of the evening was set well before the half hour.

Read the full analysis.

During their debate, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump disagreed over what happened on January 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol.

On that day, Trump supporters broke into the Capitol while Congress certified Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Watch the moment here: 

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville, North Carolina, early on June 28.

President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden have arrived in Raleigh, North Carolina as he returns to the campaign trail following Thursday’s high-stakes debate against former President Donald Trump.  

A crowd of Biden supporters gathered at the Raleigh Durham Airport to greet the president upon his arrival.

Biden is expected to participate in a campaign event in Raleigh before heading to New York in the afternoon, where he will speak at the opening ceremony for the Stonewall National Monument visitor center.

In the evening, he will participate in a campaign reception in New York.

Senator JD Vance speaks to reporters in the spin room following the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Georgia on June 27.

Republican Ohio Senator J.D. Vance said he has not been told by former President Donald Trump whether or not he has been selected as his running mate.

Post-debate in the spin room on Thursday, Vance told CNN that he had spoken with Trump the day before about the debate and the election, but that the role of vice president did not come up. 

The Republican told reporters that the debate was a “study in contrast between a guy who has the energy to be president and a guy who clearly doesn’t.”

He argued that Trump was “energetic” while “Biden was sort of meandering. he clearly didn’t know where he was some of the time,” he said.

Asked about the proposal from some Democrats that Biden should be replaced at the top of the ticket, Vance suggested it would be a “threat to democracy” to replace the nominee at the Democratic National Convention. 

Taylor Jane Stimmler, whose had type 1 diabetes since she was a teenager, displays her insulin and needles used for injection, on March 2, 2023 in New York City. 

Former President Donald Trump again tried to take full credit for lowering the cost of insulin for older Americans. 

“I’m the one that got the insulin down for the seniors,” Trump said. 

Facts First: Trump’s claim that he was the one who reduced the cost of insulin for seniors is exaggerated. The former president did get a $35-per-month out-of-pocket cap on insulin for some seniors through a voluntary program that Medicare prescription drug plans could choose to participate in. But President Joe Biden ensured that all 3.4 million-plus insulin users on Medicare got $35-per-month insulin — through a mandatory cap that not only covers more people than Trump’s voluntary cap but also applies to a greater number of insulin products and stays in effect at a level of individual drug spending at which Trump’s cap disappeared. 

Trump could fairly say he played a role in lowering insulin costs and that Biden does not deserve sole credit. The Biden-era federal government has acknowledged that his mandatory $35 monthly cap, signed into law in his Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, “closely aligns with” the voluntary $35 monthly cap in the Trump-created model that was announced in 2020 and launched in the final month of the Trump presidency in 2021. 

But Biden’s policy does more than Trump’s in several substantive ways:

In this 2018 photo, then-President Donald Trump holds up the Veterans Affairs Mission Act he signed during a ceremony with members of Congress, including House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Phil Roe and veterans in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, DC. The new law continued funding for the Veterans Choice Program for an additional year.

Former President Donald Trump took credit for the Veterans Choice health care law, claiming that President Joe Biden has “gotten rid of all the things that I approved.”  

“Choice, that I got through Congress. All of the different things I approved, they abandoned,” Trump said. 

Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. The Veterans Choice program was signed into law in 2014 by his predecessor, President Barack Obama. Trump signed a law in 2018, the VA MISSION Act, that expanded and modified the program established under Obama, and, as Trump has said, made the initiative permanent.  

During Trump’s presidency, he falsely took credit for the Veterans Choice law more than 150 times.

In a debate performance filled with halting moments, President Joe Biden struggled to articulate one of his key policy accomplishments that he has touted repeatedly on the campaign trail — his efforts to lower prescription drug costs.

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats pushed through Congress and Biden signed, contained several measures aimed at reducing drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries.

They include giving Medicare the historic power to negotiate the prices of certain prescription medications, placing a $35 monthly cap for each insulin prescription and adding a cap on Medicare Part D drug plans so that enrollees won’t pay more than $2,000 a year in out-of-pocket costs, starting in 2025. 

In his initial remarks, Biden said the insulin cap was $15 and described the annual cap on out-of-pocket Part D drug costs as a $200 limit for any drug – both of which were inaccurate.

His closing statement was even more garbled, with Biden skipping from Medicare drug price negotiations to the insulin cap to the Part D out-of-pocket limit without coherently describing any of the proposals. And he then said he would make it available to every senior — though it already is.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he believes President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump’s performances in CNN’s presidential debate on Thursday will “leave a lot of Americans depressed” about the major party nominees heading into November’s election.

Kennedy, who hosted a simultaneous rebuttal event in California during the debate, said his main takeaway was his disapproval of both Biden and Trump and suggested voters who watched the debate may consider his candidacy more seriously.

Kennedy reiterated his argument that the majority of Americans do not want to see a rematch of the 2020 presidential election in November and suggested he may be more appealing to voters who don’t want to decide between Trump and Biden.

“They are tired of choosing the lesser of two evils. They want, you know, another choice and, you know, hopefully, some of them are gonna start looking at me,” Kennedy said.

Roughly 8 in 10 registered voters who watched the debate (81%) say it had no effect on their choice for president, according to a CNN poll of debate watchers conducted by SSRS. Another 14% said that it made them reconsider but didn’t change their mind, while 5% said it changed their minds about whom to vote for.

Roughly equal shares of Joe Biden and Donald Trump supporters said the debate had changed their mind.

Debate watchers’ views of Biden did dip slightly following the debate: Just 31% viewed him favorably, compared with 37% in a survey of the same voters taken prior to the debate. By contrast, 43% of debate watchers viewed Trump favorably, similar to the 40% with positive views of him prior to Thursday’s event.

And 48% of debate watchers say Trump better addressed concerns about his ability to handle the presidency, with 23% saying Biden did a better job and 22% that neither candidate did. Another 7% thought both candidates did an equally good job allaying concerns.

The poll’s results reflect opinions of the debate only among those voters who tuned in and aren’t representative of the views of the full voting public – in their demographics, their political preferences or the level of attention they pay to politics. Debate watchers in the poll were 5 points likelier to be Republican-aligned than Democratic-aligned, making for an audience that was slightly more GOP-leaning than all registered voters nationally.

Among those debate watchers, 48% say they’d only consider voting for Trump, 40% that they’d only consider voting for Biden, 2% that they’re considering both candidates, and 11% that they aren’t considering voting for either. 

See other findings from the CNN Flash Poll here.

Methodology: The CNN poll was conducted by text message with 565 registered US voters who said they watched the debate Thursday, and the poll findings are representative of the views of debate-watchers only. Respondents were recruited to participate before the debate and were selected via a survey of members of the SSRS Opinion Panel, a nationally representative panel recruited using probability-based sampling techniques. Results for the full sample of debate watchers have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5.5 percentage points.

President Joe Biden during the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta on Thursday.

President Joe Biden brushed off concerns about his debate performance, telling reporters that he thought he performed well while visiting a Waffle House.

When asked about calls for him to drop out and if he had any concerns about his debate performance, Biden attacked former President Donald Trump. 

“No, it’s hard to debate a liar. New York Times pointed out he lied 26 times, big lies,” Biden said. 

When asked about whether he is sick, Biden said that he has a sore throat, according to the print pool.

A group of undecided voters in Warran, Michigan, had mixed reactions to the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

One woman said that she was concerned that President Joe Biden “was hesitant, very not cognitive.”

“That’s somebody I don’t think that needs to lead our country,” she told CNN’s Laura Coates.

But another voter said she was looking for a leader who would be able to “uphold policies that will protect me.” She said she got that feeling more from Biden because he spoke about more about specific policy points.

“Whereas on the other side from (Donald) Trump, all I really heard was I’ve done this and it was the best ever, but I never heard what it was,” the voter said.

So while former President Donald Trump “may have appeared like a stronger candidate” there was a lot of substance missing, she said.

Another voter said that, specifically on the issue of Trump’s legal troubles, he believes that the criminal charges against the former president are intended to take him off the campaign trail. But, at the end of the debate, he wasn’t impressed with their candidate.

Watch CNN’s Laura Coates speak with the panel of Michigan voters:

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President Joe Biden during the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta on Thursday

A Biden adviser is responding to the widespread Democratic panic following tonight’s debate by saying that Donald Trump did not give voters any reason to vote for him tonight and that “on the issues,” voters will ultimately be with President Joe Biden. 

“President Biden is the only person who has ever beaten Donald Trump. He will do it again,” the adviser said.

They also insisted that the election was never going to be won or lost over one single moment, including a debate. 

A source close to the campaign told CNN that Biden is someone who is very accustomed to Democratic panic and has practiced ignoring noise. The source said Biden is in the campaign for the long game. They pointed back to the 2020 Democratic primary when Biden was written off by many Democrats before making a comeback in South Carolina. 

Some of Biden’s closest aides have for years now been defensive about Biden being under-estimated, and that sentiment is one that we are starting to see crop up.