Biden stumbles, Trump lies in first US presidential debate of 2024

NEWS WIRES

27 June 2024 at 11:02 pm·2-min read

Democratic President Joe Biden delivered an uneven performance at Thursday's debate, while his Republican rival Donald Trump rattled off a series of attacks that included numerous falsehoods, as the two oldest presidential candidates ever clashed on stage ahead of November's US election.

The two men traded attacks on abortion, immigration, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and their handling of the economy as they each sought to shake up what opinion polls show has been a virtually tied race for months.

A hoarse-sounding Biden stumbled over his words on several occasions during the debate's first half-hour, but he found his footing at the halfway mark when he attacked Trump for his conviction for covering up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, calling him a "felon."

In response, Trump brought up the recent conviction of Biden's son, Hunter, for lying about his drug use to buy a gun.

Moments later, Biden noted that almost all of Trump's former cabinet members, including former Vice President Mike Pence, have not endorsed his campaign.

"They know him well, they served with him," he said. "Why are they not endorsing him?"

Two White House officials said Biden had a cold. But his up-and-down evening could deepen voter concerns that the 81-year-old is too old to serve another four-year term.

Trump, meanwhile, unleashed a barrage of criticisms, some of which were well-worn falsehoods he has repeated on the campaign trial, including claims that migrants have carried out a crime wave and that Democrats support infanticide.

(REUTERS)

Business Insider Video
Highlights from the hard-to-watch 2024 Trump-Biden presidential debate
The first debate between Biden and Trump since 2020 was filled with awkward stumbles, insults, and lies. Here are the highlights.
HuffPost UK
Trevor Phillips Destroys Nigel Farage With One Devastating Question
The Reform UK leader rejected the accusation that his party is a home for racists.
The Telegraph
Old, rich and living on benefits: welcome to the state pension capital of Britain
East Preston feels an unlikely stronghold of benefits dependency. The genteel village on the West Sussex coast might be the closest thing that Britain has to a moneyed pensioner utopia.
The Daily Beast
Obama Rode to Biden’s Rescue—but Intervention Could Yet Come
On Friday afternoon, in the aftermath of President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump, private murmurs and public calls for an “intervention” ricocheted through Democratic circles. But then a hold-up emerged.Some 17 hours after Biden botched his big debate moment, his former boss came to the rescue.For many high-ranking Democrats, a single tweet from former President Barack Obama appeared to nix any chance of the 44th president meeting with the 46th and urging him to drop out.Rea
The Independent
Led by Donkeys interrupt Nigel Farage speech by lowering huge Putin banner
Nigel Farage was initially unaware that the Russian president was on the poster, with the words ‘I heart Nigel’ written below
Manchester Evening News
'My mortgage has doubled... the country's gone to pot': The Greater Manchester neighbourhood where people want change
'I was born and bred here... I've never known the place be as big of a dump as it is'
Associated Press
A private call of top Democrats fuels more insider anger about Biden's debate performance
A sense of concern is growing inside the top ranks of the Democratic Party that leaders of Joe Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee are not taking seriously enough the impact of the president’s troubling debate performance earlier in the week. DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country, a group of some of the most influential members of the party.
PA Media: UK News
Rishi Sunak: I’ll still be Prime Minister on Friday
The Conservative leader defended his party’s record in government against what he described as a ‘declinist narrative’.
CNN
Russia wants to confront NATO but dares not fight it on the battlefield – so it’s waging a hybrid war instead
When someone tried – and failed – to burn down a bus garage in Prague earlier this month, the unsuccessful arson attack didn’t draw much attention. Until, that is, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala revealed it was “very likely” that Moscow was behind it.
HuffPost
Critics Clown Trump's 'IDIOTIC' Electric Planes Remarks: 'Dumb As A Box Of Rocks'
"What happens if the sun isn’t shining while you’re up in the air?” the former president asked at a rally in Virginia.
The Telegraph
A Labour landslide would leave the UK unrecognisable
Until now, Sir Keir Starmer has carefully hidden the Labour Party’s radical, hard-Left agenda from the public. But on the brink of the largest majority in nearly a century, his mask has slipped.
The Guardian
‘Disbelief’ as US-UK trade deals under threat after Britain axes negotiators
Business community decries ‘act of arson’ as one-seventh of trade posts within British consulates in the US are scrapped
CNN
A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls
Arzo survived a suicide attempt but now faces a new threat that could send her family – and millions like them – back to Afghanistan and a life that has become so intolerable for women and girls that some would rather die.
HuffPost UK
A Rupert Murdoch Newspaper Has Endorsed Labour In Another Blow For Rishi Sunak
It is the first time it has done so since Tony Blair was prime minister.
The Independent
‘Panicking’ Rishi Sunak in final weekend of campaigning to save his own seat
Rishi Sunak‘s team asked for a hustings to be arranged in his own constituency which was later cancelled as he tries to make sure he saves his own seat
The Telegraph
Jill Biden has the fate of the world in her hands
Now might be a good time for Dr Jill Biden, the First Lady, to have a rummage around in the back of the wardrobe for one particular item of clothing. When Joe Biden opted against running for president in 2004, his decision was underlined by his wife’s decision to wear a halter top with the word “NO” scrawled on her stomach.
The Telegraph
‘Trillion dollar trainwreck’: US super stealth fighter is eating the next generation
All of a sudden, the US Air Force is considering cancelling a multibillion-dollar effort to develop a new stealth fighter. Citing the high cost of the so-called “Next-Generation Air Dominance” programme and the competing demands of other projects, USAF leaders have warned they may have no choice but to cancel NGAD – and find other ways of winning control of the air in future wars.
Sky video
France election: Marine Le Pen on the brink of power, as Emmanuel Macron's big gamble looks set to fail
In France, politics is happening at a ferocious pace.
The Telegraph
Wetherspoon boss: I’m not backing any political party this year
Sir Tim Martin, the JD Wetherspoon founder and chairman, has called last orders on all political parties at the general election, despite backing the Conservatives and Reform UK in the past.
PA Media: UK News
Farage’s Reform UK calls for election watchdog to investigate undercover sting
Reform claimed Channel 4 used an actor as a plant in its undercover expose of Nigel Farage’s election campaign, a claim the broadcaster has denied.

Latest stories