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Standout Moments From Thursday’s Biden and Trump Town Halls

Biden commits to stance on court-packing, Trump refuses to say when last negative COVID test was.

There was no second debate but President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden spent time making their case to voters on national TV with just 19 days to go until Election Day.

Mr. Trump is desperately trying to get the few remaining undecided voters to his side with polls showing him behind Mr. Biden nationally and trailing in several key battleground states.

Meanwhile, Mr. Biden’s campaign is working to just run out the clock and do whatever they can to avoid rocking the boat.

Both town halls were a stark contrast, with one showing a man running for President answering questions from voters and the other was angrily defending himself.

Here are some key moments from both town halls.

Biden boots on making COVID-19 vaccine mandatory

Over on ABC, the Democratic nominee was asked by a voter if he would coronavirus vaccine mandatory. He responded by acknowledging that doing so would not be easy to fully know the specifics of approved vaccines.

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“It depends on the state of the nature of the vaccine when it comes out, and how it’s being distributed,” Biden said.

He stopped short of saying he would make it mandatory but did say he would lean on the nation’s governors and other elected officials to implement the vaccination recommendations.

Trump refuses to denounce QAnon

Over on NBC, President Trump refused to denounce the conspiracy theory group known as QAnon, who claim there is a secret government group of pedophiles. Mr. Trump shot down the claims, saying doesn’t know if the group believes that or not.

“I do know that they are very much against pedophilia,” Trump said. “I agree with that.”

Despite all the theories being repeatedly debunked, Mr. Trump praised Republican candidates who support the theory. After being pushed, Trump said no one knows if the group really exists or not.

Trump continues his misinformation on masks

Mr. Trump said his opinion on wearing masks hasn’t changed despite him getting the virus. He said there are “different stories” on mask-wearing by the experts but refused to say where he got that information from.

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“You have a story where they want, a story where they don’t want,” Trump said.

Mr. Trump went on to say his adviser Dr. Scott Atlas, whom he misidentified, cast doubt on the theory of wearing masks. He said 85 percent of Americans can still get the virus while wearing a mask but that has proven to be false.

Biden says agreeing with the crime bill was a mistake

Mr. Biden said he believed the 1994 criminal justice package he wrote was deeply flawed and he agrees now that it was a mistake.

The former Vice President said “things have changed drastically” since the bill was written and it lead to mass incarceration among people of color.

“It had a lot of other things in it that turned out to be both bad and good,” Biden said.

Mr. Biden responded to accusations by Mr. Trump that he supports the effort to “defund the police,” repeatedly disavowing the idea altogether.

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Trump doesn’t deny being $400M in debt

Mr. Trump denied owing any money to foreign governments but he did not deny a debt of more than $400 million, which was first reported by the New York Times.

When pressed, Mr. Trump got on the defense, saying the Times obtained his tax returns illegally and said the amount was “peanuts” compared to his overall net worth.

What I’m saying is that it’s a tiny percentage of my net worth,” Trump said.

Stephen Anderson
Written By

Stephen Anderson is FWRD AXIS' Co-founder and Chief Political Reporter based in the United States.

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