Biden, Trump indulge in ugly war of words during heated presidential debate
Joe Biden and Donald Trump traded barbs during the first presidential debate on Thursday, June 27 at CNN headquarters in Atlanta.
During the first thirty minutes of the discussion, fiery Biden defended his policies and record with meandering. In response, Trump countered him for spreading lies on economy, abortion rights, and the defence budgets of NATO allies.
The debate has several intense instances of personal attacks and name-calling between Biden and his GOP rival Trump. While the POTUS called Trump a “convicted felon”, referring to Trump’s historic hush money trial conviction, the ex-President dubbed the Democrat a “criminal”.
Biden inquired Trump about the amount of money he owes in civil penalties, and brought up the charges made by former adult film star Stormy Daniels that Trump had “sex with a porn star… while your wife was pregnant”. He went on to say that the GOP leader had “the morals of an alley cat.”
Trump refuted Daniels’ accusations and maintained that the criminal investigations against him, which included his conviction in Manhattan for fabricating financial documents pertaining to a payment of hush money to Daniels, were driven by political motivations.
Biden mocks Trump as ‘only felon on the stage’
Trump referred to Biden as a “criminal,” making unsubstantiated assertions. He alleged that Biden used his position as vice president to support his son Hunter Biden, who was just found guilty of federal gun-related offenses. Reacting to this, the Commander-in-Chief quipped Trump is the “only felon on the stage”.
Both Biden and Trump declared each other the “worst president” in American history.
Biden blasted Trump as a “sucker and loser” in reference to the statements made by Trump’s former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who said the former president called military personnel who died in battle as “losers” and those who were injured or captured as “suckers”.
“You’re the sucker, you’re the loser,” Biden told Trump.
Trump rejected Kelly’s allegation as a “made up” remark and sought an apology from Biden.
During the heated exchange, Trump claimed “insane asylums” and “mental institutions” are the sources of illegal immigration to the United States. He, however, did not offer any evidence to support his argument.