'Clown': Biden and Trump trade insults over healthcare
Good news! The candidates are glossing over healthcare policy and getting straight to the juicy stuff - the personal jabs.
Mr Trump claimed Mr Biden wanted to "extinguish 180 million people with their private health care".
Mr Biden denied this. "He knows what I proposed. What I proposed is that we expand Obamacare and we increase it.We do not wipe any – and one of the big debates we had with 23 of my colleagues trying to win the nomination, (they) were saying that Biden wanted to allow people to have private insurance still."
Mr Trump then accused the Democrats of wanting "socialist medicine".
Mr Trump went on to use the term "Pocahontas" - one of his familiar taunting references to Elizabeth Warren - and called Mr Biden a "liar" over his healthcare policies.
Mr Biden fired back with a blunt question to the audience: "Folks, do you have any idea what this clown is doing?"
He later accused Mr Trump of having "no plan" for health care. "He sends out wishful thinking. He has executive orders that have no power. He hasn't lowered drug costs for anybody. He's been promising a health care plan since he got elected. He has none, like almost everything else he talks about. He does not have a plan. He doesn't have a plan. And the fact is this man doesn't know what he's talking about."
First question on Supreme Court judge replacement
The first question of the night went to Mr Trump, with moderator Chris Wallace asking about the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
"We won the election," said Mr Trump. "Elections have consequences. And we have a phenomenal nominee, respected by all. A top, top academic... good in every way.
"We won the election, and therefore we have every right to choose her."
Mr Biden responded by saying we should "wait and see what the outcome of this election is" before deciding who fills the seat of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Debate kicks off with opening statements
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are now both on the stage. They did not shake hands.
In his opening statement, moderator Chris Wallace noted the debate is being conducted under health and safety protocols.
"The audience has promised to remain silent - no cheers, boos or other interruptions," he said.
But by all means, please feel free to cheer and boo from whatever device you're reading this on for the next 90 minutes. It's going to get wild.
The debate is about to begin
We're just about to kick off. FEEL THE EXCITEMENT.
Violent extremists pose increased threat in election lead-up
Before the debate begins, this piece about an increase in violent domestic extremism is worth a read.
US security officials have warned that violent domestic extremists pose a threat to the presidential election next month, amid what one official called a “witch’s brew” of rising political tensions, civil unrest and foreign disinformation campaigns.
FBI and US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memos say threats by domestic extremists to election-related targets will likely increase in the run-up to the 3 November election.
Trump's campaign posts premature victory email
The Trump campaign has released an email declaring the president "finished Joe Biden".
The email, which was sent with the subject line "I finished debating Joe Biden", was sent to Donald Trump's campaign email subscribers around 6.30pm Eastern Time.
"I showed the American People that I will ALWAYS fight to put America First no matter what and that I will NEVER stop working to Make America Great Again," the email said, before making a request for donations.
Alas, as bold and triumphant as this all sounds... the debate hasn't actually started yet. We've got a bit under 40 minutes to go.
But confidence is key and all that.
'Who do you owe the money to?': Harris blasts Trump
You can certainly expect Donald Trump's recent tax returns controversy to be brought up tonight.
On Monday, The New York Times reported Mr Trump paid just $US750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017.
Mr Trump dismissed the report as "totally fake news, made up, fake".
Speaking about the report last night, Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris said the American people deserve a “full accounting of the financial interests, including the indebtedness of the president of the United States".
Speaking on MSNBC last night, Ms Harris said it was a national security issue.
“Who does he owe the money to? Tell us, who do you owe the money to? And do you owe debt to any foreign nation? Let’s just be clear about what debt means, you owe somebody money,” she said. “Do you owe anybody money who is impacted by any decision you make as president of the United States? We need to know that.
"The American people have a right to know that when the president of the United States acts, he acts with their priorities in mind, not with his priorities in mind.”
Joe Biden and Ms Harris released their most recent tax returns just hours before the debate.
The 2019 tax return from Biden and his wife shows taxable income of $US944,737 and a federal tax bill of $US299,346.
Ms Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, reported $US3,018,127 in taxable income and paid $US1,185,628 in taxes.
Biden responds to 'secret earpiece' rumours
Joe Biden has weighed in on the "secret earpiece" rumours, and he's having none of it:
In case you missed this, rumours have been circulating in the lead-up to today's debate that Mr Biden is going to wear a secret earpiece to receive answers from his team.
There was no evidence to support these claims, but several far-right websites including Breitbart ran stories suggesting the Democratic candidate was trying to cheat his way through the debate.
Hillary Clinton faced similar rumours during the 2016 presidential campaign.
How will the debate work?
President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden will face off in a 90-minute debate in Cleveland, Ohio.
Fox News host Chris Wallace will moderate the debate. The 72-year-old is known for his tough yet impartial interviewing style, and won praise from both Democrats and Republicans after he moderated the 2016 debate between Mr Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Wallace has chosen six topics for debate, which will be divided into 15-minute segments:
- The Trump and Biden records
- The coronavirus pandemic
- The economy
- The integrity of the 2020 election
- Race and violence in cities
- The US Supreme Court
Of course, the actual questions put to each candidate will remain a mystery until the debate starts. Each candidate will be given two minutes per question to respond.
Welcome to our US debate blog
Good morning and welcome to SBS News’ rolling coverage of the first televised US election debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.
My name is Gavin Fernando and I’ll be bringing you the most important developments of their discussion.
The debate is set for 9pm Eastern time (11am AEST), and will last 90 minutes without commercial breaks.
You can watch the first of three presidential debates LIVE on SBS and SBS News social platforms from 11am.
