It's on: Trump, Biden face off in campaign's final debate

08:04 October 23

Inaugural Day

Moderator asked the participants about their Inauguration day and their speech to the people who didn't vote them.

Trump that if he’s reelected, during his inaugural address, he would tell voters who didn’t back him in the election that “success is going to bring us together, we are on the road to success.” He touted the country’s economic growth “prior to the plague coming in from China” that sparked the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, meanwhile, says he would tell his detractors that “I represent all of you, whether you voted for or against me” and “I’m going to make sure that you’re represented.” He went on to reiterate some of his major campaign themes, pledging to grow the economy, address systemic racism, move the nation towards clean energy and make sure every American has “an even chance.”

07:52 October 23

Climate change

Moderator asked about their climate change and their strategies to combat climate change.

Biden sounded the alarm for the world to address a warming climate, as Trump took credit for pulling the US out of a major international accord to do just that. Trump asserted he was trying to save American jobs, while taking credit for some of the cleanest air and water the nation has seen in generations some of it a holdover of regulations passed by his predecessor.

Democrat Joe Biden and President Donald Trump are sparring over the nation’s reliance on oil and what needs to be done to reduce future emissions.

During the presidential debate Thursday, Biden said the US needs to embrace clean energy and eventually transition away from the use of oil.

Trump quickly pounced, cutting in, “That’s a big statement,” and wondered aloud if voters in oil-producing states like Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania were listening.

Biden said that his plan was far more nuanced than Trump was making it sound and emphasized that the transition would be gradual. He also criticized Trump for subsidizing the oil industry while failing to give similar benefit to clean energy producers, like wind power and solar.

07:39 October 23

Racial division

Participants were asked about how Black and brown people experience race in America. They were also asked what they have done on criminal justice. US President Donald Trump was asked about his language and tweets.

Biden was asked about the criminal legislation which was passed when he was a senator. 

As Joe Biden and Donald Trump are clashing on race relations, as the former vice president calls the current president “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history.”

Biden said Trump “pours fuel on every racist fire” and noted that at his last debate the president wouldn’t condemn white supremacy and told an extremist group to “stand down and stand by.”

Trump portrayed himself as a champion of Black people. Repeating his standard line that no president has done more for Black Americans than anyone other than Abraham Lincoln, Trump accused Biden and former President Barack Obama of ignoring issues of racial justice.

Trump told Biden: “You’ve done nothing but the crime bill which put tens of thousands of Black men in jail."

Biden said he’s been trying to change drug sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed African Americans and that the public knows his record.

Trump, touting criminal justice reform and opportunity zone bills he signed, said: “I am the least racist person in this room.”

07:32 October 23

Immigration policy

When asked about the immigration policy, Trump said that anybody entering the country should enter legally and also assured that they are going to be reunited with their families very soon. The Trump administration is working on it.

President Donald Trump is defending his administration’s separation of immigrant children who remain away from their families following detentions along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Trump said during Thursday’s debate that children are often brought across the border not by families but “by coyotes and lots of bad people.”

The American Civil Liberties Union told a judge this week that there were still 545 children separated from their parents from 2018.

Trump said his administration had constructed more than 400 miles of his promised border barrier. He also said, “They built cages,” referring to Obama-era facilities depicted in media reports during the separations.

Biden disputed Trump’s answer, saying kids “were ripped from” their families in 2018.

07:30 October 23

American poverty

Moderator Welker proposes a question regarding the increased number of people in poverty and there is no stimulus bill to help Americans. 

07:16 October 23

Affordable Care Act

Participants were asked about the Supreme court's decision to strike down the Affordable Care Act. in this Biden slams Trump that he has done nothing related to the Medicare system and also said that he will destroy the medical system.

Trump and Biden each sought to position himself as the defender of American’s health care, keenly aware that it ranked among the top issues for voters even before the coronavirus pandemic struck the nation.

But Trump’s efforts to repeal and undermine the Obama-era Affordable Care Act proved to be a liability, as Biden hammered his efforts to strip coverage from tens of millions of Americans and his lack of a plan to cover those with preexisting conditions.

Biden, by contrast, fended off Trump’s attack that his plan to reinforce the Obama-era law with a “public option” amounted to a step toward socialized medicine by relying on his well-established public persona — and his vanquishing of Democratic primary rivals with more liberal health care policies.

“He thinks he’s running against somebody else,” Biden said. “I beat all those other people.”

07:09 October 23

China and North Korea strategy

The participants were asked if they become the next president then will they make China pay. Biden said that he is going to make China pay according to the international law.

President Donald Trump says the Obama administration left him a “mess” to deal with in terms of tempering relations between the United States and North Korea.

Trump said during Thursday night’s final presidential debate that he had warded off a war that could have threatened millions of lives, saying President Barack Obama had told him he viewed potential danger from Kim Jong Un as among the country's greatest national security threats.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden said Trump had “legitimized” a “thug” by meeting with and forging a relationship with Kim.

Trump countered that Kim “didn’t like Obama” and insisted, “Having a good relationship with other countries is a good thing.” 

Trump was also asked about having bank accounts in China. Trump spent a decade unsuccessfully pursuing projects in China, operating an office there during his first run for president and forging a partnership with a major government-controlled company.  

Trump defended his pursuits, saying it never happened while he was president.

Trump was accusing Biden of taking money from China. When Biden changed the subject to say Trump didn't want to talk about "substantive issues," Trump accused Biden of being a typical politician. "Let's get off the subject of China and let's talk around sitting around the table."

"I'm not a typical politician. That's why I got elected," Trump said.

06:54 October 23

National Security

When asked about national security and foreign threats to the election Biden said that any country who interferes with the election is going to pay a price.

Trump in the next round said that Joe Biden has received 3.5 million money from Russia. 

US officials have reported that Russian hackers have targeted the networks of dozens of state and local governments in the United States in recent days, stealing data from at least two servers. Officials are also accusing Iran of being behind a flurry of emails sent to Democratic voters in multiple battleground states that appeared to be aimed at intimidating them into voting for President Donald Trump.

Trump says that nobody has been tougher on Russia through sanctions and pushing for increased military spending by NATO.

Biden criticised Trump saying that he paid 50 times tax in China compared with the US. Biden asks Trump to release his tax returns details. 

But Biden again called on Trump to release proof. “Show us,” Biden said. “Stop playing around.”

Trump targets Biden over son's Ukraine business.

06:50 October 23

Shutdown of schools and business

In this Trump says that it is not fair to keep the country's business and the schools shut down as it will cause huge damage. Trump was also about his criticism about Anthony S Fauci.

06:49 October 23

Campaign strategies

The moderator asks the campaign strategies for the election.

06:44 October 23

The Vaccine update

Both the participants were asked about the coronavirus vaccine to which US President Donald Trump said that they are trying to come up with the final product soon, Biden criticized Trump’s response.

Trump blames Chins for the spread of the virus.

Biden in speech also talked about Trump being Xenophobic

06:36 October 23

The first topic is about coronavirus

Moderator Kristen Welker asked the two contenders about America's status during the coronavirus pandemic and how will they lead the country out of this pandemic. 

The night in Nashville opened with a clash over the president's handling of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 225,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs. Polling suggests it is the campaign's defining issue for voters, and Biden declared, "Anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain president of the United States of America."

Trump defended his management of the nation's most deadly health crisis in a century, dismissing Biden's warning that the nation had a dire stretch ahead due to spikes in infections. And he promised that a vaccine would be ready in weeks.

"It will go away," said Trump, staying with his optimistic assessment of the pandemic. "We're rounding the turn. We're rounding the corner. It's going away."

"We can't keep this country closed. This is a massive country with a massive economy," Trump said.

But Biden vowed that his administration would defer to the scientists and said that Trump's divisive approach hindered the nation's response.

06:18 October 23

It's on: Trump, Biden face off in campaign's final debate

Nashville: President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden hurtled toward Thursday night’s final debate, which could be the trailing incumbent’s best chance to change the race’s trajectory with just 12 days left until the election.

The Nashville debate offered their final national stage to outline starkly different visions for a country in the grips of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 225,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs. Despite the historic tumult, the race has remained largely unchanged with Biden holding advantages in many battleground states while Trump faces a shortage of campaign cash and, crucially, time.

Worried that Trump could lose the White House and cost Republicans the Senate, some advisers urged him to trade his aggressive demeanour from the first debate for a lower-key style and put the spotlight on Biden, whom he derides as “Sleepy Joe.” But Trump made no such promise.

Biden, who has stepped off the campaign trail for several days in favour of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distract from the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises of Trump’s term.