Final 2020 presidential debate

By Meg Wagner, Kyle Blaine, Jessica Estepa, Melissa Macaya and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 2:27 p.m. ET, November 23, 2020
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2:20 a.m. ET, October 23, 2020

Biden: "I don't see red states and blue states. What I see is American, United States."

From CNN's Aditi Sangal

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participates in the final presidential debate against U.S. President Donald Trump at Belmont University on October 22 in Nashville.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participates in the final presidential debate against U.S. President Donald Trump at Belmont University on October 22 in Nashville. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

"If I get elected, I'm running as a proud Democrat, but I'm going to be an American president. I don't see red states and blue states. What I see is American, United States," Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said after President Trump criticized the stimulus bill passed by the House Democrats as a "bailout of badly run, high-crime, Democrat... cities and states."

"Every single state out there finds themselves in trouble. They're going to start laying off, whether they're red or blue — cops, firefighters, first responders, teachers — because they have to balance their budget," Biden added.

Some context: Lawmakers have struggled for months to agree on another economic stimulus package to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Read more about where negotiations stand here.

Watch the moment:

2:18 a.m. ET, October 23, 2020

Covid-19 continues to ravage the US economy. Here's the latest on stimulus negotiations.

From CNN's Lauren Fox

Millions of Americans are still out of work. Many small businesses and major airlines are struggling to stay afloat. And states are still contending with massive budget gaps.

But those in need of relief from the coronavirus pandemic won’t see more money from the federal government anytime soon. Lawmakers have struggled for months to agree on another economic stimulus package to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In tonight's debate, President Trump sought to lay blame on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for Congress' failure to pass another bill.

Pelosi said Thursday that a vote could still happen ahead of Election Day on a stimulus package, but signaled that work remains to get an agreement, write legislation and put it on the floor before Nov. 3.

"If we can get an agreement, I think we can, but again we are legislators. We understand how long things take. It is not just a question of us agreeing in a room. ... it takes time," Pelosi said. "It can happen. It is really up to them."

In private conversations, Pelosi has indicated to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, the chief negotiator for the White House, that it would be her goal to hold a vote ahead of Election Day though there are still plenty of obstacles to a bill getting through both chambers of Congress anytime soon.

One aide familiar with the discussions told CNN that if a deal was reached, the expectation is that "it would come to the floor ASAP" for a vote in the Democratically controlled House.

But getting a deal still remains up in the air. An overall agreement is still not finished and it may not be reached in time for Election Day. The deal would have to be finished by the weekend in order to get a vote on the floor next week and Pelosi said Thursday that major issues remain outstanding from unemployment insurance to liability protections.

Democrats and Republicans never got very close to a deal, but there was bipartisan support for a second round of stimulus checks, extending a boost to unemployment benefits, providing more support for small businesses and more money for schools.

Congress passed a $2.2 trillion relief package in March, known as the CARES Act, but most of those programs have expired.

Read more here.

10:04 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Who has spoken the most so far

Nearly an hour into tonight’s debate, President Trump maintains a nearly three minute lead in speaking time ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden.

9:55 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

How Trump and Biden compare on health care

From CNN's Tami Luhby

President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, right, during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville.
President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, right, during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville. Patrick Semansky/AP

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have very different views on how to fix what’s wrong with the nation’s health care system, and their differences are on display in tonight's debate.

Trump has long said he would unveil a plan to replace Obamacare that would continue to protect those with pre-existing conditions. However, he has yet to do so.

Instead, his administration points to a range of health care measures aimed at reducing drug and insulin prices, improving kidney health, broadening access to alternatives to Obamacare plans and increasing hospital price transparency, among others. Some of these efforts have been enacted, but others remain in the proposal stage or have been blocked by the courts.

Biden, on the other hand, wants to broaden coverage and increase affordability by building on Obamacare. He would beef up the Affordable Care Act’s subsides to help more people purchase policies, and he would introduce a government-run public option of the Obamacare exchanges. 

Read more about Trump's proposed health care plan here and Biden's here

10:03 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Biden pivots to economy impacts on American families and Trump hits him for being "typical politician"

From CNN's Dan Merica

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gestures while speaking during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden gestures while speaking during the second and final presidential debate on Thursday in Nashville. Julio Cortez/AP

The key differences between Joe Biden and Donald Trump were distilled on Thursday night in a brief exchange about what middle class families are feeling right now.

Biden looked to pivot from a lengthy exchange where Trump attacked the business entanglements about Biden’s son, Hunter, by focusing on what American families are feeling.

“There’s a reason why he’s bringing up all this malarkey. There’s a reason for it. He doesn’t want to talk about the substantive issues. It’s not about his family and my family. It’s about your family. And your family’s hurting badly,” Biden said, looking directly into the camera.

The tactic clearly bothered Trump, but Biden pressed on by telling about families struggling to pay their mortgage, put new tires on their car or paying for education for their children.

“They’re the decisions you’re making,” Biden said. “In the middle-class families like I grew up in... they’re in trouble. We should be talking about your families. But that’s the last thing he wants to talk about.”

Trump slammed Biden quickly, even mocking the way he pivots to the camera: “That’s a typical political statement. Let’s get off this China thing and then he looks.”

Trump said the tactic was what a “typical politician” always does, adding, “I’m not a typical politician. … That’s why I got elected. Let’s get off the subject of China, let’s talk around sitting around the table. Come on, Joe, you can do better.”

Watch the moment:

2:14 a.m. ET, October 23, 2020

This is what Trump's SCOTUS nominee could mean for Obamacare

From CNN's Jeremy Herb and Clare Foran

Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, arrives for closed meetings with senators, at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, October 21.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump's nominee for the Supreme Court, arrives for closed meetings with senators, at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, October 21. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

President Trump was just asked about his Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett. Democrats have focused on the Affordable Care Act during her confirmation hearing, as the Supreme Court is set to soon take up a case on the health care law.

During her confirmation hearings in the Senate, Barrett said she had made no commitments to the President or anyone else about how she might rule on a case aimed at dismantling the Affordable Care Act or on a potential dispute in the upcoming presidential election.

Barrett vowed that she had not discussed specific cases, like the upcoming challenge to the Affordable Care Act, with Trump or anyone else when she was nominated to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whose death threw the Senate into a pitched election-year confirmation battle that could swing the court in a more conservative direction.

"Absolutely not. I was never asked, and if I had been that would've been a short conversation," Barrett said during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing when she was asked whether she had committed to vote to repeal the health care law.

The Supreme Court will hear a case on Nov. 10 on whether to strike down the Affordable Care Act, which means Barrett could be on the bench if Republicans are successful in confirming her before Election Day, Nov. 3.

The legal challenge to former President Barack Obama's signature health care law loomed over Barrett's hearing: Democrats raised the care that the Affordable Care Act has provided to individuals, continuing their theme from Monday, while Republicans attacked the law.

Barrett pushed back on Democrats' arguments during her confirmation hearing that her previous criticism of Chief Justice John Roberts' opinion upholding the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in 2012 was a sign of how she would potentially rule in next month's case. She said that her writing then was in an academic setting and argued that it had no bearing on the upcoming challenge the law.

"I am not hostile to the ACA. I'm not hostile to any statute that you pass," Barrett said. "I apply the law, I follow the law, you make the policy."

9:50 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Here's what would happen if Obamacare disappears

From CNN's Tami Luhby, Jeremy Herb and Clare Foran

President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden were just asked about health care and the Affordable Care Act.

President Trump pledged in 2016 to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but that hasn’t happened. Now his administration is backing a court challenge that’s scheduled for the Supreme Court just after the election in a case brought by a coalition of Republican state attorneys general and the Trump administration, who argue the law's individual mandate is unconstitutional, and the entire law must fall.

Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett was grilled by Democrats about the health care law during her confirmation hearings. Barrett said she had made no commitments to the President or anyone else about how she might rule on a case aimed at dismantling the Affordable Care Act or on a potential dispute in the upcoming presidential election.

If the court wipes away Obamacare, it would have a sweeping impact on the nation's health care system and on the lives of tens of millions of Americans — not only for the roughly 20 million people who've gained coverage on the Affordable Care Act exchanges and through the expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults.

The law is also what allows parents to keep their children on their health insurance plans until age 26 and obtain free mammograms, cholesterol checks and birth control. And one of its most popular provisions is its strong protections for those with pre-existing conditions, including barring insurers from denying coverage or charging higher premiums based on people's health histories.

Read more here.

9:56 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Fact check: Trump's claim that Biden called him "xenophobic" following travel restrictions on China

From CNN's Holmes Lybrand

“When I closed and banned China from coming in … he was saying I was xenophobic, I did it too soon,” President Trump said in tonight's debate.

Facts First: This needs context. It’s not clear the former vice president even knew about Trump’s China travel restrictions when he called Trump xenophobic on the day the restrictions were unveiled; Biden has never explicitly linked his accusation of xenophobia to these travel restrictions. 

Biden’s campaign announced in early April that he supports Trump’s travel restrictions on China. But the campaign did not say the former vice president had previously been wrong about the ban, much less apologize. Rather, the campaign says Biden’s January 31 accusations – that Trump has a record of “hysterical xenophobia” and “fear mongering” – were not about the travel restrictions at all.  

The campaign says Biden did not know about the restrictions at the time of his speech, since his campaign event in Iowa started shortly after the Trump administration briefing where the restrictions were revealed by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. 

Given the timing of the Biden remarks, it’s not unreasonable for the Trump campaign to infer that the former vice president was talking about the travel restrictions. But Biden never took an explicit position on the restrictions until his April declaration of support. 

See the exchange:

 

9:51 p.m. ET, October 22, 2020

Biden hits Trump over recently revealed Chinese bank account

From CNN's Gregory Krieg

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden answers a question and President Donald Trump listens during the second and final presidential debate Thursday in Nashville.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden answers a question and President Donald Trump listens during the second and final presidential debate Thursday in Nashville. Morry Gash/Pool/AP

After President Donald Trump unleashed a series of unsubstantiated claims about Joe Biden’s personal finances, the former vice president hit back, citing a recent New York Times story that revealed the President keeps a previously undisclosed bank account in China.

“I have not taken a penny from any foreign source ever in my life,” Biden said. “We learned that this President paid 50 times the tax in China (that he has in the US), has a secret bank account with China, does business in China, and, in fact is talking about me taking money? I have not taken a single penny from any country whatsoever, ever.”

Biden then turned to Trump’s taxes – and the President's refusal, even now, to make them public. The Times report that uncovered the extent of Trump’s business ambitions in China, along with the bank account, was rooted in tax information that Trump had tried to keep secret.

“You have not released a single solitary year of your tax returns,” Biden said, before suggesting there was more to find out about the President’s overseas dealings. “What are you hiding? Why are you unwilling?”

Trump had opened the door to the conversation with a suggestion that Biden had gotten rich off his previous spells in high office. But, as Biden noted, he has released more than two decades of tax returns and there is no evidence to back Trump’s assertion.

“Release your tax returns,” Biden concluded, “or stop talking about corruption.”

Watch the moment: