ATLANTA — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump faced off in Atlanta for the first-ever presidential debate ahead of the 2024 November election.
The first general election debate was held at CNN's studios in Atlanta. Unlike the Republican primary debates, no audience was present.
Once a Republican stronghold, Georgia was a pivotal battleground in 2020. Both parties are preparing for another closely contested race in the state this year. Trump also faces an indictment in Georgia for his push to “find 11,780 votes” and overturn Biden’s victory based on false or unproven theories of voter fraud.
The 90-minute debate started at 9 p.m. ET Thursday and was moderated by CNN's Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
See below for updates about what happened during the debate.
Updates
10:39 p.m. | In closing statements, President Biden said that they've made significant progress from the "debacle" that was left by former President Trump in his last term.
He brought up the tax system and asked if anyone thought it was fair.
"He increased inflation because of the debacle after the way he handled the pandemic," Biden said about Trump.
He said he would significantly increase the credit people have for child care and continue to fight to bring down inflation.
Trump responded that he didn't believe that Biden did anything.
"Like so many politicians, this man is just a complainer," Trump said.
He said the military does not respect Biden. Trump also claimed that Biden talks but does not take action.
"They don't respect you throughout the world," Trump said about Biden.
The former president then said he rebuilt the military, got the largest tax cut in history and the largest regulation cut in history.
"We're in a failing nation but it's not going to be failing anymore. We're going to make it great again," Trump ended.
10:31 p.m. | Trump was asked whether he would accept the results of this election regardless of who wins and if he would say political violence in any form is unacceptable.
"I shouldn't have to say that, but of course I believe that," he said about political violence. "It's totally unacceptable."
He said he made statements and speeches but that people talk about the Jan. 6 insurrection instead.
"If it's a fair and legal and good election. Absolutely," the president stated about accepting the election results.
Trump said he wishes Biden was a great president because then he wouldn't have to run again and could be somewhere else enjoying life.
"I wasn't really going to run until I saw the horrible job he did," Trump said. "He's destroying our country."
In response, Biden called Trump a "whiner" when he lost the first time in 2020.
"I'll tell you what, I doubt whether you will accept it because you're such a whiner," Biden said. "You can't stand the loss. Something snapped in you when you lost the last time."
10:23 p.m. | The conversation turned to the age and what they would say to voters who had concerns.
Biden immediately discussed how he spent half his career being criticized for being the youngest person in politics. He said he was the second youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate.
"This guy is three years younger and a lot less competent," Biden said about Trump. "I think just look at the record. Look what I've done."
Trump said in response that he has taken two cognitive tests and "aced it." He said he wants Biden to take at least one.
"I just won two club championships -- not even senior," he said about golf. "To do that, you have to be quite smart, and you have to be able to hit a ball a long way."
He said he feels like he's in good shape. He also condemned Biden's golf skills.
"He can't even hit a ball 50 yards," Trump said.
Biden replied that he'd be happy to have a driving contest with him.
"By the way, I told you before, I'm happy to play golf if you carry your own bag," Biden said. "Think you can do it?"
10:16 p.m. | The opioid crisis was brought up, and how people are dying from overdoses. Trump was asked what he would do for those struggling with addiction and needing help.
"We were doing well with the addiction before the COVID came along," he said. "We had 2.5, almost three years of like nobody's ever had before any country in every way."
He said his numbers were low and then claimed that Biden's are high and that more drugs are in the country.
"Have you seen the numbers now," Trump questioned.
Biden replied that fentanyl and byproducts of fentanyl had gone down for a while.
"I wanted to make sure we use the machinery that can detect fentanyl. These big machines that roll over everything that comes across the border and it costs a lot of money," Biden said.
He said it was part of a bipartisan deal that was put together.
"When we had that deal done, he went and he called his Republican colleagues and said 'don't do it. It's going to hurt me politically,'" Biden accused. "We need those machines."
10:11 p.m. | The debate turned to the cost of child care and how it has been rising.
Trump was asked what he would do in his second term regarding this topic.
Trump switched the topic to the fact that he believes Biden has not fired people.
"He's the worst president in the history of our country," Trump claimed.
Biden said America is respected and that no one believes the country is weak. Biden said historians have voted for Trump as the worst president. He then switched back to the topic of child care.
"He did very poor, virtually nothing to childcare," Biden accused. "We should significantly increase the childcare tax credit."
10:03 p.m. | The climate crisis was brought up, and Trump was asked if he'd take any action to slow the crisis.
"I want absolutely immaculate clean water, and I want absolutely clean air," Trump said. "And we had it."
He said he had the best environmental numbers ever during his term.
Biden said he didn't understand where Trump was getting his facts and that nothing he said was true in response. He said Trump did nothing for the climate.
Presidential Debate in Atlanta
9:57 p.m. | Biden gets asked about what he would say to Black voters about why he hasn't made progress considering Black families still far less than white families, along with other inequalities.
Biden argued that he has made a lot of progress despite there being more that could be done.
"We've done a great deal so far, and I'm not budging on that," he said.
Trump replied that the inflation is killing Black families and others.
"He caused this inflation," Trump accused.
9:50 p.m. | Biden took a shot about Trump being convicted. The former president was convicted in a criminal case in New York state on 34 counts that he falsified business records related to a hush money payment over an affair with an adult film star.
"The only person on this stage who is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now," he said.
Trump is also facing criminal charges in three other cases related to the Jan. 6 riot and allegations he interfered with the election results in Georgia.
In response, Trump brought up about how Biden's son is a convicted felon and then went on to say that Biden could be a convicted felon once he's out of office.
"This man is a criminal," Trump said about Biden. "I did nothing wrong."
Biden replied that the accusations were outrageous.
"It's simply a lie," Biden said.
9:41 p.m. | The Jan. 6 Insurrection was brought up and what Trump would say to voters for those who believe he violated his oath due to his action or inaction that day.
"I don't think too many people believe that," Trump said.
Trump then said they had low taxes, among other things, and that we were respected.
"What happened to the United States' reputation under this man's leadership is horrible," Trump said.
Biden replied that Trump discussed how these people were patriots instead of doing anything on Jan. 6.
"He says he'll now forgive them for what they've done," Biden said.
9:34 p.m. | President Biden was asked about the war in Gaza. He said everyone had endorsed the plan he put forward.
"The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas," Biden stated.
Trump, in response, said that Israel is the one who wants to continue and that they should be allowed.
"I've never heard so much foolishness," Biden said.
Trump was asked if he would support the creation of an independent Palestinian state in order to create peace.
"I'd have to see," Trump said. "But before we do that, the problem we have is that we spend all the money."
9:28 p.m. | The debate switched to immigration. Biden said he worked hard to get a bipartisan agreement when it came to this topic.
"By the way, the border control endorsed me," Biden said. "It's better than when he left office,"
Trump said all Biden needed to do was leave the border alone.
"We had the safest border in history," Trump said. "Now we have the worst border in history."
9:17 p.m. | This is the first presidential election since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe Vs. Wade. This allowed the power to be given to the states when it came to abortion laws.
"What happened is that we brought it back to the states, and the country is now coming together on this issue, " Trump said about Roe Vs Wade being overturned. "It's been a great thing what you've done."
Biden pounced back, telling Trump that it was a terrible decision.
"It's been a terrible thing you've done," Biden said. "The fact is that the vast majority of constitutional scholars supported Roe."
Biden said if he is reelected, he will reinstate Roe vs Wade.
"He's willing to rip the baby out of the womb in the 9th month and kill the baby," Trump said in response. "Nobody wants that to happen."
Biden replied, stating that was not true.
9:11 p.m. | Trump accuses Biden of having more people dying during his administration than his own.
"We've become like a third-world country in this nation," Trump said.
Whereas Biden circled back about the national debt and said, Trump's administration had the largest national debt. Biden also said that he'd be able to wipe out the debt and that they would continue to support and strengthen the healthcare system.
"This man is going to single-handly destroy social security," Trump said about Biden in response. "He will wipe out social security. He will wipe out Medicare."
9:03 p.m. | President Biden gets the first question asking about inflation and what he would say to voters who feel they're worse off under his presidency than they were under former President Donald Trump.
"We had an economy that was in free fall," Biden stated about the economy when he took over. "What we had to do was put things back together again.
He said they were working to reduce the price of housing and that they have brought the price of prescription drugs down.
Trump's response was that he did a great job with the economy.
"Everything was rockin' good," he stated. "We have the greatest economy in the history of our country. We have never done so well."
Trump also accused Biden of creating mandates that were a "disaster" for the country.
"He's done a poor job, and inflation is killing our country," Trump said.
9 p.m. | The first-ever presidential debate ahead of the 2024 November election begins.