By NBC News
What to know about tonight's debate
- President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump held their first presidential debate of the cycle tonight in Atlanta. The two candidates were in a studio without an audience.
- Biden struggled at times, stumbling over answers with a raspy voice — a campaign aide said he has a cold — and adding fodder to concerns about his age and mental fitness. Near the halfway mark, Biden started gaining his footing again, mocking Trump's physical fitness and calling him a "whiner" and a "loser."
- Trump, meanwhile, offered numerous falsehoods and misleading statements in his responses. He hammered Biden on immigration and the border, even when he was asked about other issues. And he repeatedly dodged questions about whether he would accept the results of the election.
- Both candidates also hurled personal insults at each other, with Biden hitting Trump for his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels and Trump calling Biden a "complainer" and the "worst president" in American history.
How Obama and Pelosi react to Biden's debate performance could shape the race
Chuck Todd
Just how consequential was Biden’s poor debate performance? We will find out in the next 72 to 96 hours. Based on the number of panicked texts and emails I received from various leaders in the Democratic Party, there is a lot more consternation about Biden’s running for a second term than I’ve heard since he took his first oath in 2021.
Here are a few things to watch in the next few days.
1.How does Team Biden calm the Democratic waters?
The obvious answer is to flood the zone with Biden, signing him up for interviews with multiple outlets, from the Sunday shows to Jon Stewart and everything in between.Whether he’s up to it or not, they may have no choice but to put him out there if they want to shore up the nervous nellies.
2.What Democrats step up and defend Biden as staying on as the nominee?
The two Democrats I’m most intrigued to hear from are former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama. They are, arguably, the two most influential Democrats not named Joe Biden right now, and if they went public saying, “Thank you for your service but it’s time for new blood,” I’m not sure Biden could survive as the nominee.
Of course, they are also the two Democrats Team Biden needs the most right now to go public and calm the waters.The most influential donors who are nervous about Biden will follow the lead of Pelosi and Obama on this.One way or another, I expect to hear from them. The longer it takes for them to rally around Biden publicly, the more the Democratic chattering class will start talking about a convention scenario.
When Ronald Reagan had his poor first debate performance, he didn’t have to wait nearly three months for a second bite at the apple.But before folks start looking up the rules of an open convention, expect the Biden campaign to remind many of us of the Reagan comeback. His best hope right now is that the country is so polarized that the debate barely moves the poll needle. That having been said, the biggest problem Biden has right now is that, at best, he’s a good six weeks away from being able to have a chance to prove the growing number of doubters wrong.It could be the start of a long, hot summer of intrigue inside the Democratic Party.
Biden-supporting House member calls for open convention
Andrea Mitchell
One House member who is a Biden supporter said after having watched the debate that there has to be an open convention and that more people are going to be calling for it.
Biden makes a pit stop at a Waffle House
Megan Lebowitz
Biden is making a stop at a Waffle House on his way to the airport.
He will talk with diners and pick up pre-ordered food.
Democrats are talking about replacing Joe Biden. That won’t be so easy.
Ben Kamisar
Alex Seitz-Wald
Ben Kamisar and Alex Seitz-Wald
Biden’s performance in the first debate tonight has sparked anew round of criticism from Democrats, as well as public and private musing about whether he should remain at the top of the ticket.
Party rules make it almost impossible to replace nominees without their consent, let alone smoothly replace them with someone else. And doing so would amount to party insiders' overturning the results of primaries when Democratic voters overwhelmingly to nominate Biden. He won almost 99% of all delegates.
Still, the Democratic National Committee’s charter does make some provisions in case the party’s nominee is incapacitated or opts to step aside, and an anti-Biden coup at the convention is theoretically possible, if highly unlikely. So how would it work?
Read the full story here.
Fact Check
Fact check: Are immigrants taking 'Black jobs'?
Elleiana GreenElleiana Green is a Digital Politics intern with NBC News
Asked about Black voters who are disappointed with their economic progress, Trump claimed Black Americans are losing their jobs because of illegal border crossings under Biden’s administration.
Statement
“The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come through the border. They’re taking Black jobs now,” Trump said.
Verdict
False
Analysis
There's no evidence that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from Black Americans. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Black unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in April 2023 — an all-time low. Before that, the Black unemployment rate was as high as 10.2% in April 2021.
Verdict
False
Analysis
There's no evidence that undocumented immigrants are taking jobs away from Black Americans. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Black unemployment rate fell to 4.8% in April 2023 — an all-time low. Before that, the Black unemployment rate was as high as 10.2% in April 2021.
Biden’s performance in the first presidential debate is raising questions about whether Democrats might try to replace him as the nominee.
A peppier Biden addresses debate watch party crowd: 'We're gonna beat this guy'
Ghael Fobes
Biden began his remarks in front of the debate watch party crowd with an anecdote he’s used before about a John Wayne movie and lying, dog-faced pony soldiers.
Appearing more energetic than he did during the debate, Biden used the anecdote to make the case that Trump lied throughout the debate and that fact-checkers would be sifting through his responses.
He said: "They’re gonna be fact-checking all the thingshe said. I can’t think of one thing he said that was true. I’m not being facetious. Look, we’re gonna beat this guy; we need to beat this. I need you in order to beat ’em. You’re the people I’m running for."
Kamala Harris: Biden had a 'slow start' but a 'strong finish'
Alexandra Marquez
Vice President Harris defended Biden after the debate, acknowledging to CNN, "Yes, there was a slow start, but it was a strong finish."
She said Biden was "extraordinarily" strong on "substance, on policy, on performance."
Asked why Biden’s performance was significantly different from his performances in primary debates against Harris and other Democrats in 2020, she continued her wholehearted defense of him.
“I got the point that you’re making about a 1½-hour debate tonight. I’m talking about 3½ years of performance and work that has been historic,” she said before listing Biden’s work on infrastructure and his strength in the Oval Office and the Situation Room.
Her characterization of “substance” echoed remarks earlier in the night from a Biden campaign aide and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“People can debate on style points, but ultimately this election and who is the president of the U.S. has to be about substance, and the contrast is clear,” Harris said.
Sen. JD Vance: Trump 'has not asked me' to be his running mate
Bridget Bowman
Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, told NBC News that Trump has not asked him to be his running mate.
"He has not asked me," Vance said in the spin room after the debate.
Trump recently said that he knows who he wants to be his running mate and that his pick would be at the debate. NBC News has reported that Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida are the top contenders to join the Trump ticket.
GOP Senate candidates try to turn Biden's performance against Democrats
Henry J. Gomez
Republican Senate candidates in key battlegrounds were quick to respond to tonight's debate with a coordinated message rooted in Biden's shaky performance: This is the candidate my opponent votes with nearly all of the time.
"Think about the Joe Biden you saw tonight," Bernie Moreno, the GOP nominee seeking to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio, posted on X. "That’s who Sherrod Brown supports for President and votes with 99% of the time."
In Michigan, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the front-runner in August's GOP Senate primary, posted that Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, "votes with Joe Biden 100% of the time but she hasn’t said a word about tonight’s debate."
Dave McCormick, the GOP Senate nominee in Pennsylvania, posted a clip of Biden stumbling through an answer and remarking that "we finally beat Medicare."
"This is the Joe Biden that Bob Casey votes with 98% of the time," McCormick, referring to the Democratic incumbent, wrote on X.
And in Arizona, GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake noted that Rep. Ruben Gallego, her likely Democratic opponent, "went into radio silence for the debate."
"He knows it was an embarrassment to his party & the man he’s supported 100% of the time," Lake posted on X.
Brown, Slotkin, Casey and Gallego have yet to weigh in on X.
Tracking candidate speaking times and questions
Macklin Fishman
How long did each candidate speak?
Biden:~35.5 minutes
Trump:~40 minutes
How many questions was each candidate asked?
Biden:8
Trump:13
'Double haters' want a new name
Alex Tabet
Reporting from a debate watch party in Phoenix
“Double haters” who assembled in Arizona have come up with new terms for their feelings after watching the debate tonight in Phoenix.
“Double cringe,” Jeff Herr, a self-identified “McCain Republican,” said of how he felt watching the debate tonight.
“Double frustrated,” said Nicole Aguirre, a conservative Christian who doesn’t plan to vote for president this year.
Fact Check
Fact check: Does Biden want to raise 'everybody's taxes' by four times?
Jane C. Timm
Statement
“Nobody ever cut taxes like us. He wants to raise your taxes by four times. He wants to raise everybody’s taxes by four times,” Trump claimed. "He wants the Trump tax cuts to expire."
Verdict
False
Analysis
Biden’s tax plan “holds harmless for 98% of households,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. And Biden wants to extend the majority of the Trump tax cuts, too, though he has advocated for hiking taxes on very high earners.
Verdict
False
Analysis
Biden’s tax plan “holds harmless for 98% of households,” said Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. And Biden wants to extend the majority of the Trump tax cuts, too, though he has advocated for hiking taxes on very high earners.
Gavin Newsom: 'You don't turn your back' on Biden
Alexandra Marquez
California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back on his fellow Democrats who panicked after Biden's debate performance, telling them, "Worry less and do more."
"We have the opportunity to universally have the back of this president, who’s had our back," Newsom told MSNBC after the debate, adding, "You don’t turn your back. You go home with the one that brought you to the dance. One hundred percent all in."
Newsom also lauded Biden, calling his debate performance a win on "substance."
"I’m old-school. I’m old-fashioned. That's what matters to me," Newsom said.
Fact Check
Fact check: The Jan. 6 crowd was not 'ushered in' by the police
Adam Edelman
Statement
"If you would see my statements that I made on Twitter at the time and also my statement that I made in the Rose Garden, you would say it's one of the strongest statements you've ever seen. In addition to the speech I made in front of, I believe, the largest crowd I've ever spoken to, and I will tell you, nobody ever talks about that. They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and, in many cases, were ushered in by the police. And as Nancy Pelosi said, it was her responsibility, not mine. She said that loud and clear."
Verdict
False
Analysis
During a lengthy answer to a question about whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election and say all political violence is unacceptable, Trump made several false statements, including the claim that police "ushered" rioters into the U.S. Capitol and that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was her responsibility to keep the chamber safe.
Video and news reports of the Jan. 6 riots clearly captured a U.S. Capitol under attack by pro-Trump crowds who overran the law enforcement presence around and inside the complex.
On Pelosi, Trump was most likely referring to video shot by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra for an HBO documentary that showed her during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, tensely wondering how the Capitol was allowed to be stormed.
“We have responsibility, Terri,” Pelosi says to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, as they leave the Capitol in a vehicle. ”We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”
“You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says in the video.
“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” Pelosi said.
Many allies of Trump have tried for the more than three years since the riots to paint Pelosi as somehow being responsible for the violence.
Some Trump-backing Republicans have, for example, falsely claimed that she blocked the National Guard from going to the Capitol during the riots.
Verdict
False
Analysis
During a lengthy answer to a question about whether he would accept the result of the 2024 election and say all political violence is unacceptable, Trump made several false statements, including the claim that police "ushered" rioters into the U.S. Capitol and that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it was her responsibility to keep the chamber safe.
Video and news reports of the Jan. 6 riots clearly captured a U.S. Capitol under attack by pro-Trump crowds who overran the law enforcement presence around and inside the complex.
On Pelosi, Trump was most likely referring to video shot by Pelosi’s daughter Alexandra for an HBO documentary that showed her during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, tensely wondering how the Capitol was allowed to be stormed.
“We have responsibility, Terri,” Pelosi says to her chief of staff, Terri McCullough, as they leave the Capitol in a vehicle. ”We did not have any accountability for what was going on there, and we should have. This is ridiculous.”
“You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing, when they’ve already breached the inaugural stuff, ‘Should we call the Capitol Police?’ I mean the National Guard. Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?” Pelosi says in the video.
“They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more,” Pelosi said.
Many allies of Trump have tried for the more than three years since the riots to paint Pelosi as somehow being responsible for the violence.
Some Trump-backing Republicans have, for example, falsely claimed that she blocked the National Guard from going to the Capitol during the riots.
