US presidential debate highlights: Trump, Biden spar over economy, abortion, wars in Ukraine and Gaza

US Presidential Debate 2024: The US President Joe Biden clashed with his Republican White House predecessor Donald Trump in the first presidential debate ahead of November presidential elections. Biden repeatedly struggled to finish his allotted time and had to be reminded by the moderators that he had time to speak. Here are the key takeaways from the debate that Democrats are decrying as an event that has slimmed Biden's chances of return to the White House. 

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President Joe Biden said that he doubts Donald Trump will accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses, calling the former president a "whiner."

Donald Trump claimed that Biden administration is driving the world towards third World War. "We are closer to World War-3 and he is driving us there."

Trump: Every time we have a hostage we pay 6 million dollars, now we have a WSJ hostage now in Russia, I'll have him out as soon as I win the elections. We paid 6 billion dollars to free 5 people and I paid nothing to bring 58 people back home

Trump, 78 and Biden, 81, answered questions related to concerns on their age. Trump challenged Biden to take cognitive tests like he claimed he has. Biden laughed it off and challenged Trump for a "driving test".

Biden hit at Trump for describing US as a "failing country". "No president in the US history has talked about this country like that," Biden said.

On Drug Overdoses, when asked what will Trump do to help Americans who are addicted to drugs like fentanyl, the former president said: "We were doing good until the covid hit, the amount of drugs and human trafficking in women is coming under him because he is so bad, the number of drugs coming into our country is the highest under his administration."

Biden: The wages of black voters have increased, we are finding housing for blacks, there's more to be done but we have a great deal done, inflation is still hurting them badly.

Trump: He caused the inflation, it's killing black families and hispanic families, I gave him a country without any inflation, he caused inflation.

Trump did not directly address the question on climate crisis. He went back to "we had cleanest water, cleanest air" claim and interestingly said "we had H2O."

Biden rubbished Trump's response as "foolish", and said that Trump doesn't have a roadmap to address the most pressing issue of our times: the climate crisis.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that Americans are "living right now in a rat’s nest" due to rising crime in the country which he associated with more immigrants entering.

"They’re killing our citizens at a level that we’ve never seen before," the former president said.

Trump: Well I said my retribution is going to be success, he talks about my felony but his son his a convicted felon and his going to be convicted numerous times, this man is a criminal, I think nothing wrong.

In a striking moment during the ongoing debate, Biden took a personal dig at Trump and said that the former president had "sex with a porn star when his wife was pregnant". 

"You have the morals of an alley cat," Biden told Trump.

"First of all, I did not have sex with a porn star," Trump said, while claiming that he is going to appeal the verdict of a Manhattan court in the same. 

Trump, while responding to the Capitol insurrection on January 6, 2021 said: "On Jan 6 we had a great border, we were energy independent, we were respected all over the world, then he comes in and we are one of the most stupid people across the world."

"I said peacefully and patriotically, I offered Nancy Pelosi 10000 National Guards but they turned down the offer, she now admits she turned it down."

The duo sparred over war in Gaza. Biden repeated his three-stage plan to end the war in Gaza that includes return of hostages in Hamas captivity and immediate ceasefire. 

Biden said that Hamas wants to continue the war while Trump retorted by claiming it's Israel that's continuing the war but nonetheless Israel must be allowed "to finish the job in Gaza". 

Trump: Putin's terms are not acceptable. This was was never to be started, he have Ukraine $200bn, Zelenskyy turns out to be the greatest salesman, I'll get the war settled before I get back as President

Responding to the question if he would accept Putin's terms to end Ukraine war — keeping territory Moscow has occupied in war, and Kyiv to end its bid to join NATO — Trump went back to the US' hasty exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 under Joe Biden. In the end, Trump said he would no accept Putin's terms. 

"The whole world is blowing up in front of him," Trump said. The former president reasoned that because of the way the US forces exited from Afghanistan, Putin found courage to invade Ukraine. 

Biden said that Trump "encouraged" Putin "to do whatever you want" whilst he was president. 

Trump and Biden responded to some of the most pressing questions on illegal immigration. Trump described "migrant crime" as "Biden migrant crime". Biden, meanwhile, went after Trump for "snatching children from their mothers" whilst he was in power. 

Donald Trump has taken a surprisingly balanced take on abortion. Asked if he would reverse Supreme Court's decision on allowing use of abortion pills, he emphatically said no. "Like Ronald Regan, I believe in exceptions."

But Trump said he is against abortions in the "ninth month of pregnancy". 

Biden responded that it's women's sole right what they want to do with their bodies, not anybody else's.

Donald Trump said that the US exit from Afghanistan in August 2021 was the "most embarrassing day in the history of our country". 

"They (the world) don't respect our country. We have become like a third world country," Trump said in a repetition of a similar claim he made earlier. 

Joe Biden and Donald Trump delivered their opening statements, defending their respective records on economy.

Trump said "we are the greatest economy in the world", a point Biden forwarded by stating this is exactly what he's doing and that his opponent is accepting that.  

A Gallup poll found that about 67 per cent of Americans say Biden is too old to be president, nearly twice as many as those who said the same for Trump.

Trump is expected to focus on issues of common interest such as economy, state of inflation as well as illegal immigration along the southern US border. His repeated emphasis on casting claims of fraud in the 2020 election too are likely to make a comeback.

Biden's lost thought on the debate stage will be heavily scrutinised.

President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his immediate predecessor have secured their parties' nominations. The last presidential rematch came in 1956, when Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower again defeated Adlai Stevenson, the Democratic opponent he had four years prior.

This is the first debate of a presidential rematch in 68 years. 

Notably, the 81-year-old Biden and 78-year-old Trump are the oldest candidates ever to seek the presidency. Hence the viewers will also question their cognitive abilities and emotional steadiness, besides the other key issues. 

Trump aides see Biden as prone to verbal slip-ups that could amplify voter concerns about the president's age. 

Meanwhile, Biden aides think debates could hurt Trump by exposing his volatility and sometimes changing positions on issues, such as abortion. 

The key issues might include how the candidates would handle challenges posed by persistently high grocery prices, migrants on the US-Mexico border and the ongoing Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine wars. 

Biden might mention Trump's role in the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol in an alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election. The president might also talk about his conviction on 34 felony counts for involvement in a hush-money scheme that could come up during the debate.

Meanwhile, Trump might respond by talking about the legal woes facing Biden's son, Hunter, who was convicted of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun.   

CNN's moderators will decide the questions.

In a morning post on his Truth Social platform, Trump argued that Biden was the real threat to democracy, "and a threat to the survival and existence of our country itself." 

Biden arrives in Georgia for his first debate of the 2024 election cycle with his predecessor Trump - a high-stakes event for both candidates.

Air Force One touched down at a military base about an hour's drive from the capital Atlanta, where the debate will take place at CNN's headquarters beginning at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Friday).

In Thursday's 90-minute debate, candidates will appear at a uniform podium, be given a pen, paper and bottle of water and cannot use props or notes, CNN said. 

"Microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak" and moderators "will use all tools at their disposal to enforce timing and ensure a civilized discussion," CNN said. 

Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate CNN's debate. ABC's will be moderated by anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis. 

The first debate will air at 9:00 pm ET on Thursday (0100 GMT on Friday) on CNN and be broadcast from an Atlanta studio without a live audience. 

Television news channel ABC said it will host the second presidential debate on Sept. 10, also from an audience-free studio. 

Trump's campaign released two 30-second ads just a few hours ahead of the debate with Biden. 

The first ad is labelled as "Who's Laughing Now". It contains images of various gaffes of Biden, including stumbling on the stairs of Air Force One, falling over while clipped into his bike and appearing lost on stage. 

The second ad is titled "Promises". It consists of headlines about inflation, the situation at the southern border and withdrawal from Afghanistan. It asks voters whether or not they are better off financially since Biden took office. It also contains questions if the country is more secure. 

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The United States President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump will meet on a debate stage on Thursday (Jun 27) for the first of two televised face-offs. Experts have claimed that the debates could prove critical in their tight rematch race to win the White House in November.