Biden, Trump Spar Over Veterans, Ukraine During First Presidential Debate

Former President Trump said he never asked his supporters to enter the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the counting of the votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I said [to march] ‘peacefully and patriotically,'” former President Trump said.

He said he had offered 10,000 National Guard that day and that the Washington mayor declined. He said everyone knew a lot of people were coming.

When asked about the war in Ukraine, former President Donald Trump affirmed, “I’ll have that war settled” before he even takes office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had released terms of a potential ceasefire under the conditions that Russia keeps the Ukrainian territory it has already claimed and Ukraine abandons its bid to join NATO.

But former President Trump said they were “not acceptable.”

President Joe Biden highlighted passing the PACT Act of 2022 during a discussion on veterans at the CNN presidential debate. The law improved access to medical care for veterans exposed to toxic substances during military service.

The president said veterans are “better off” after passing the act. “One million of them now have insurance, and their families have it.”

“Whether it was Agent Orange or burn pits, they’re all being covered now,” President Biden said, adding that former President Donald Trump opposed the law.

Former President Trump said the economy was the best in U.S. history under his administration while President Biden said that the former president left him an economy that was in freefall. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blamed both men for running up the national debt and jointly creating inflation.

President Trump entered office promising to balance the budget, but instead he “spent more money in office that every president in history combined,” Mr. Kennedy said during a counterprogramming event streamed on X.

President Biden will surpass that mark, he said.

President Biden touted that the Border Patrol union endorsed his border security legislation, which Senate Republicans blocked recently. He lamented the family separation policy that was under his predecessor.

Trump retorted, “We had the safest border in the history of our country.”

Trump said Biden should have kept the Trump policies–which included requiring asylum-seekers to remain in Mexico pending adjudication–but lamented that he did not.

President Biden said he was against late-term abortion after former President Trump’s criticism of “extreme” laws allowing abortion in the ninth month, or after birth.

“We are not for late-term abortions, period, period,” President Biden said.

Former President Donald Trump, said he would not block access to abortion pills, when asked to address the Supreme Court’s approval of access.

He also said he supported the exceptions for incest, rape, and the life of the mother.

“I believe in the exceptions,” he said, adding “but you have to get elected.”

Moderator Jake Tapper asked former President Donald Trump about his intention to impose a 10 percent tariff on all goods entering the United States, including those from China.

“How will you ensure that that doesn’t drive prices even higher?” Mr. Tapper asked.

“Not going to drive them higher. It’s just going to cause countries that have been ripping us off for years, like China and many others … to just force them to pay us a lot of money [and] reduce our deficit tremendously,” former President Trump said.

Former President Trump said his 2017 tax cuts spurred “the greatest economy that we’ve ever seen just prior to COVID.”

He touted cutting the corporate tax cut from 21 percent from 39 percent and the revenue the United States was getting in oil as he was credited with having an energy policy that consisted of producing oil and gas domestically.

The debate kicked off with a question about the economy, the consistent top concern for voters according to polls.

“President Biden, inflation has slowed, but prices remain high,” Mr. Tapper said, citing 20 percent increases in grocery prices and 30 percent increases in home prices.

“What do you say to voters who feel they are worse off under your presidency than they were under President Trump?”

Since almost four years ago, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are meeting to debate and make their case why they should stay or return, respectively, to the Oval Office.

The debate, airing on CNN and simulcasting on many platforms, is being moderated by CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash in a studio at CNN’s headquarters in Georgia.

President Biden is on stage left, and former President Donald Trump is stage left. They did not shake hands upon taking the stage.

ATLANTA—Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) responded to The Epoch Times’s question about her chances of becoming the former president’s running mate.

“I’m honored to have my name in consideration. I’m going to continue working hard as the representative for New York’s 21st congressional district and as the House Republican Conference chair, I’m proud to be the first member of Congress to endorse President Trump for 2024,” she said.

Ms. Stefanik said the Republican Party is “really unified across America to save this country, that means electing President Donald J. Trump.”

Less than 30 minutes before President Joe Biden took the stage, he joked about conjecture that he could be using performance enhancements for his debate with former President Donald Trump.

“I don’t know what they’ve got in these performance enhancers, but I’m feeling pretty jacked up,” he said on X. “Try it yourselves, folks.”

He shared a picture with a can of water called “Dark Brandon’s Secret Sauce.” It included his picture on the label that says, “Get real jack. It’s just water.”

In an interview with CNN, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump should shake hands before the presidential debate.

“I like civility,” he said. “So walking in confidently, shaking a hand—I think our kids are watching as well. I prefer a world like that—that’s personal.”

Mr. Newsom said he would work with anyone who wants to “advance the cause of this country,” and that “goes back to this ability of shaking someone’s hand.”

Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, at the spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)
Lara Trump, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, at the spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)

ATLANTA—Danielle Alvarez, whose loved ones escaped Cuba’s communist regime, said Hispanics who came legally to the United States respect former President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Ms. Alvarez said her uncle was jailed for 26 years in Cuba “for no reason other than disagreeing” with Fidel Castro’s dictatorship.

“When we come to the United States, we seek the ability to pursue our American Dream. We’re very entrepreneurial, and the support for that was better under President Trump,” she told The Epoch Times in an exclusive interview in the spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion near the debate site.

Vivek Ramaswamy, former GOP presidential candidate and surrogate for former President Donald Trump, speaks to reporters at the spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)
Vivek Ramaswamy, former GOP presidential candidate and surrogate for former President Donald Trump, speaks to reporters at the spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Emel Akan/The Epoch Times)

ATLANTA—Former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told reporters former President Donald Trump has not asked him to be vice president.

“He has not asked me to be his vice president, whoever he asks is going to have, I think, a remarkable ability to serve this country in taking that American First agenda even further,” he said.

Mr. Ramaswamy predicted that former President Trump would not be combative on the debate stage, but rather unifying.

ATLANTA—Former President Donald Trump has stated that he has chosen his vice presidential running mate, and that his choice would be present in Atlanta.

But one of those potential running mates, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), told reporters: “Donald Trump’s gonna make that decision….You know, there’s a lot of us here in Atlanta.”

Mr. Donalds said nothing further about his chances of becoming the former president’s running mate.

A few of spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)
A few of spin room at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)
A few of the estimated 800 news reporters covering the debate from Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)
A few of the estimated 800 news reporters covering the debate from Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, near the site of the CNN Presidential Debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)

ATLANTA—California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat surrogate for President Joe Biden, told reporters about the importance of tonight’s historic debate.

“In close elections, generally, everything matters,” he said during a press scrum in the “spin room” at the McCamish Pavilion, across from the site where President Biden and former President Donald Trump will take the stage at 9 p.m. Eastern.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion near the site where President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion near the site where President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Janice Hisle/The Epoch Times)

The White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA), a non-profit organization of journalists who cover the president and the White House, issued a statement today criticizing CNN for only allowing photographers and CNN reporters inside the studio for the presidential debate.

“WHCA is deeply concerned that CNN has rejected our repeated requests to include the White House travel pool inside the studio,” the organization said.

CNN said a single print pool reporter can go inside during a commercial break to “briefly observe the setting.”

CNN will host the first presidential debate of the 2024 election tonight at 9 p.m. ET with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. This is not only the earliest presidential debate in an election year in modern history, but it is also the first time a sitting president has debated a former president.

Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate, and CNN will broadcast the 90-minute debate live. It will be simulcast on other networks, including NTD, our sister media outlet.

There will be no studio audience, candidates’ microphones will be muted while their opponent is speaking, and two minutes are allotted for question answers with one minute for rebuttals.

RFK Jr. to Hold Live Stream on X and Answer CNN Debate Questions
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at the Nixon library in Yorba Linda, Calif., on June 12, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Independent presidential Robert F. Kennedy Jr. envisioned sharing the stage with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump at CNN’s presidential debate on June 27.

Shut out of the forum, he will instead hold what his campaign has called “The Real Debate” in West Hollywood at the same time the current and former president meet in Atlanta.

Live streamed on X, Mr. Kennedy’s event will take place in a studio with a live audience, unlike the forum in Atlanta, where no audience members are permitted.

Biden–Trump First Debate: Here’s What You Need to Know and How to Watch It
(Left) Former President Donald Trump on May 17, 2024. (Right) President Joe Biden on Nov. 29, 2023. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

ATLANTA, Ga.—All eyes are on Thursday night’s highly anticipated showdown in Atlanta, where President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will face off for the first debate of the 2024 general election.

The 81-year-old Democrat incumbent and his 78-year-old opponent will be making their first appearance together in four years in what will potentially be a game-changing event in the presidential race.

Since the debate pits the two oldest presidential candidates in American history, their energy, appearance, reasoning, and reactions to questions will be intensely scrutinized. Hence, many regard this debate as more of a stage performance.

Biden vs. Trump: The High-Stakes First Debate in Race to White House
(Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Shutterstock)

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump will square off in their first debate of 2024 on June 27, aiming to present different visions for the future of the United States.

The high-stakes debate will be a crucial platform for the two oldest candidates in U.S. history to demonstrate their energy, appearance, coherence, and responsiveness, making it a pivotal event that could shape the presidential race, according to political analysts.

CNN will host the debate at its Atlanta studios. The 81-year-old incumbent and his 78-year-old opponent will be standing throughout the debate, which will last 90 minutes. There will be two commercial breaks, according to the network.

Original News Source Link – Epoch Times

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