TRANSCRIPT
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have faced each other in a historic high stakes debate in CNN's Atlanta studio.
It is the first time in history that a sitting U-S president is facing a former president in a debate and it is the first of two televised face-offs scheduled before the November 5th presidential election.
In an attempt to win over the opinion polls and the White House, the two candidates clashed on issues of migration, abortion, conflict in the Middle East, foreign policy and the economy at large.
During the debate, President Biden had a chance to reassure voters that, at 81, he can still lead the U-S for another four years, if re-elected.
"Well, first of all, I spent half my career being criticised 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's three years younger and a lot less competent. I think that just look at the record. Look at what I've done, look I've turned around a horrible situation he left me. As I said, 50 million new jobs 800,000 manufacturing jobs or investment in America. Over millions, billions of dollars in private investment in enterprises. We are growing."
Meanwhile, 78-year-old Trump, the second oldest man to ever run for President, argues he is in better shape and can handle the affairs of the United States for the next four years.
"Well, I took two tests, cognitive tests. I aced them, both of them. As you know, we made it public. He took none. I'd like to see him take one, just one, a real easy one, like go through the first five questions. He couldn't do it. But I took two cognitive tests. I took physical exams every year. And you know, we knock on wood wherever we may have wood that I'm in very good health. I just won two club championships, not even senior, two regular club championships. To do that, you have to be quite smart."
Voters have in the past expressed reservations about President Biden's age and ability to rule for another four years, as he is the oldest man to ever run for president.
Mr Biden heightened these concerns among voters and his Democratic allies as he spoke in a raspy low voice, stumbled on his words, and was rather unclear many times during the debate.
Roughly midway through the debate, the Biden campaign told reporters the president was battling a cold in an attempt to explain his raspy voice.
But Joe Biden struggled to sound convincing when asked about what he was doing around immigration in the country.
“We worked very hard to get a bipartisan agreement that not only changed all of that, made sure that we are in a situation where you had no circumstance where they could come across the border with the number of border police there are now. We significantly increase the number asylum officer. 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 the 40 per cent 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're going to do with more Border Patrol and more asylum officers."
Donald Trump responded by attacking President Biden's coherence and accusing him of opening up the U-S border to “criminal immigrants”.
"I really don't know what he said at the end of this sentence. I don't think he knows what he said either. Look, we had the safest border in the history of our country. All he had to do was leave it. All he had to do is 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, all terrorists all over the world, not just in South America, all over the world. They come from the Middle East, everywhere, all over the world, they're pouring in. And this guy just left it open, and he didn't need legislation, because I didn't have legislation. I said, close the border. We had the safest border in history."
Meanwhile, Donald Trump battered President Biden with a series of often false attacks and deflections.
Donald Trump falsely claimed that Mr. Biden "encouraged" Russia to attack Ukraine, even though President Biden has consistently tried to rally support for Ukraine and his administration took active steps to warn President Vladimir Putin not to invade.
Donald Trump was criminally charged with leading a national conspiracy to overturn the results of election in states he lost to Mr Biden, and then failing to stop the mob that sought to do it by force when they attacked the US Capitol building.
He was asked during the debate about his role in the January 6 US Capitol attack.
CNN's Jake Tapper: “What do you say to those voters who believe you violated your constitutional oath through your actions on January 6, 2021 - and worry that you will do it again?
Donald Trump: Well, I didn't say that to anybody. I said peacefully and patriotically ... I had virtually nothing to do. They asked me to go make a speech. I could see what was happening. Everybody was saying they're going to be there on January 6 - and I said: you know what? It's a lot of people coming. You could feel it. And I said that they ought to have some National Guard - or whatever."
Democrats have expressed concerns about President Biden's performance.
And Republicans like congressman Matt Gaetz have slammed Joe Biden's debate performance, while Donald Trump's backers have declared victory.
"Joe Biden didn't look like a man who was in command of the country or the facts or his own campaign or the debate. And like this is after Joe Biden retreated to a log cabin in the woods for a week to get constantly drilled. Meanwhile, President Trump was out on the road campaigning in swing states, carrying his message directly to the voters. America deserves an energetic president. We get that in President Trump. And with President Biden, it's more like a silver alert than an energetic president."
Others believe that although President Biden demonstrated some limitations, it should not be held against him.
Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN that the debate should be scored based on substance.
"Listen, people can debate on style points, but ultimately, this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance. And the contrast is clear. Look at what happened during the course of the debate. Donald trump lied over and over and over again, as he is want to do he would not disavow what happened on January, 6, he would not give a clear answer on whether he would stand by the election results this November. He went back and forth about where he stands on one of the most critical issues of freedom in America which is the right of a woman to make decisions about their own body. He has been completely ambiguous and all over the place.”
Gavin Newsom, who is the governor of California, weighed in as well.
"Well, I think the performance over the last three years has been anything but. I think he's delivered for the American people. He's laid out an economic plan, laid out a vision for the future, and he delivered on substance. Donald Trump was a disaster tonight because he couldn't. The lies, the misinformation."
And others like Gaby Pacheco, who is a Miami resident, worry about the effect on immigration.
"And there is some huge problems. Our immigration system, they are individuals who are like my family, like myself, here without status and don't have a way to regularise themselves. We do have a border that needs to be modernised, that there is issues there. And yet, everything that I heard tonight, was reduced, specifically from Trump to fearmongering. And, when the question was not around immigration, immigration was brought in when, there was time that they was asked a question around, deportations and undocumented people, there was no answer."
The United States elections are scheduled to be held on November 5 this year.
