US Elections 2020 LIVE Updates: US President Donald Trump gave a combative, at times agitated defense of his Covid-19 response while his election challenger Joe Biden, offering a glaring contrast in style in a rival televised town hall, accused him of doing "nothing" to end the pandemic. The dueling appearances, scheduled at the same time on rival networks, showed Biden giving unflashy, often in-depth answers to voters in the audience, while Trump delivered a fiery defense of his presidency.
Trump, who is well behind in the polls ahead of the November 3 election, was especially under pressure when it came to the coronavirus that has killed 217,000 Americans and inflicted deep economic damage. "We're rounding the corner," Trump insisted with his usual optimism, even as swaths of the United States see sharply rising caseloads.
US Covid-19 Cases Surpass Eight Million as Surge in Infections Hits Nation amid Cooler Weather | US cases of the novel coronavirus crossed 8 million on Thursday, rising by 1 million in less than a month, as another surge in cases hits the nation at the onset of cooler weather. Since the pandemic started, over 217,000 people have died in the United States. The United States reported 60,000 new infections on Wednesday, the highest since Aug. 14, with rising cases in every region, especially the Midwest. Health experts have long warned that colder temperatures driving people inside could promote the spread of the virus. Read full story here.
Biden, speaking to voters in Philadelphia on ABC, blamed the Republican president for concealing the deadliness of the virus that has killed more than 216,000 people in the United States.
Oct 16, 2020 8:20 AM (IST)
Biden to Raise $2.4 Trillion from Taxes Over a Decade: Analysis | US presidential nominee Joe Biden would raise $2.4 trillion in new federal government revenue over the next decade, largely from tax hikes on corporations and the highest-income households, according to an analysis released on Thursday. Analysts at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center revised a March estimate that suggested Biden would raise around $4 trillion in taxes, a figure that closely tracked other studies. The $4 trillion figure became a regular attack leveled by President Donald Trump against Biden ahead of their Nov. 3 election contest.
Oct 16, 2020 7:58 AM (IST)
“We shouldn't be defunding cops. We should be mandating the things that we should be doing within police departments and make sure there's total transparency," Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden says at the town hall.
72% Indian-Americans Plan to Vote for Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden, Finds Survey | Indian-Americans continue to be strongly attached to the Democratic Party, with little indication of a shift towards the Republican Party, a latest survey of the community in the US said on Wednesday. As many as 72 per cent of the registered Indian-American voters plan to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, while 22 per cent intend to vote for incumbent Republican Donald Trump, three per cent will support a third-party candidate, and three per cent do not intend to vote at all, according to the survey.
Oct 16, 2020 7:18 AM (IST)
US Sees Uptick in Coronavirus Cases Ahead of Elections | More than 17 million Americans have cast ballots either in person or by mail so far, representing 12.5% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election, according to the U.S. Elections Project at the University of Florida. Voters are seeking to avoid in-person lines on Election Day to stay safe as coronavirus infections and hospitalizations continue to rise, but are also concerned about the possibility that Trump will challenge widely used mail-in ballots, after he claimed without evidence that they are fraudulent.
Oct 16, 2020 7:15 AM (IST)
2 People from Biden’s Campaign Test Positive for Covid-19 Ahead of Town Hall |On Thursday, the Biden campaign said two people involved in the campaign had tested positive for COVID-19, including one on the staff of US Senator Kamala Harris, Biden's running mate. Although neither Biden nor Harris was in close contact with the people, the campaign said it was cancelling Harris' travel until after Sunday. "This shows how seriously we take COVID, how we have since March done everything in our power as a campaign to ensure the safety of our staff and volunteers and voters," Biden's campaign manager, Jen O'Malley Dillon, told reporters on a call.
Oct 16, 2020 7:14 AM (IST)
Close Contest in Florida | Both candidates have been visiting those states this week, with Trump holding rallies in Florida, Pennsylvania and Iowa and Biden traveling to Ohio and Florida. Trump has pulled into a statistical tie with Biden in Florida, a key battleground, with 47% support versus Biden's 49%, and a credibility interval of 4 points, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll showed.
Oct 16, 2020 7:13 AM (IST)
Biden Holds 10 percentage-point Lead Nationally: Reuters Poll | Trump's campaign is counting on a surge of last-minute votes. But Reuters/Ipsos polling conducted between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13 shows there are far fewer undecided likely voters this year - around 8% - and they are just as likely to pick Biden as they are Trump. Four years ago at this stage of the campaign, more than twice as many people were similarly wavering between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The Reuters/Ipsos polling shows Biden holding a 10 percentage-point lead nationally, with a tighter margin in the battleground states that will help decide the election.
Oct 16, 2020 7:12 AM (IST)
Trump and Biden to Headline Dueling Town Halls, as Early Voters Swamp Polls |US President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden will hold dueling prime-time town halls instead of a second debate, which was to have been held virtually, as early voters continued to swamp polling places. Trump pulled out of the scheduled debate when the commission in charge of organizing the event said it would be held virtually after he contracted the coronavirus. A final debate is still scheduled for Oct. 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. With less than three weeks to go until the Nov. 3 vote, the Republican president is searching for ways to change the dynamics of a race in which Biden has a double-digit advantage in some national polls.
Oct 16, 2020 7:11 AM (IST)
Twitter Unblocks Trump Campaign Account | US President Donald Trump's Twitter election campaign account was unblocked on Thursday after the social media campaign temporarily restricted it saying a video from the account about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's son violated its rules. The video posted by the @TeamTrump account referred to a New York Post story from Wednesday that contained alleged details of Hunter Biden's business dealings with a Ukrainian energy company and said the former vice president had met with an adviser of the company. The Trump campaign, with 2.2 million followers, said in a new tweet it was "re-posting the video Twitter doesn’t want you to watch." Twitter did not respond to a request for a comment about why the account had been unblocked. "Joe Biden is a liar who has been ripping off our country for years," the video was captioned.
US President Donald Trump waves after participating in an NBC News Town Hall, at Perez Art Museum Miami, on October 15, 2020, in Miami. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The president also appeared to acknowledge he was in debt and left open the possibility that some of it was owed to a foreign bank. He insisted that he didn't owe any money to Russia or any "sinister people" and suggested that being $400 million in debt was a "very very small percentage" compared to his overall assets.
Biden, appearing nearly 1,200 miles away, denounced the White House's handling of the virus, declaring that it was at fault for closing a pandemic response office established by the Obama administration in which he served. Though vague at times, he acknowledged it was a mistake to support a 1994 crime bill that led to increased Black incarceration and suggested he finally will offer clarity on his position on expanding the Supreme Court if Trump's nominee to the bench is seated before Election Day.
Trump, less than two weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19, dodged directly answering whether he took a test the day of the Sept. 29 debate, only saying "possibly I did, possibly I didn't." Debate rules required that each candidate, using the honor system, had tested negative prior to the Cleveland event, but Trump spoke in circles when asked when he last tested negative.
It was his positive test two days later that created Thursday's odd spectacle, which deprived most viewers of a simultaneous look at the candidates just 19 days before Election Day. The moment seemed fitting for a race unlike any other, as yet another campaign ritual changed by the pandemic that has rewritten the norms of society.
The presidential rivals took questions in different cities on different networks: Trump on NBC from Miami, Biden on ABC from Philadelphia. Trump backed out of plans for the presidential faceoff originally scheduled for the evening after debate organizers said it would be held virtually following his COVID-19 diagnosis.
The town halls offered a different format for the two candidates to present themselves to voters, after the pair held a chaotic and combative first debate late last month. The difference in the men's tone was immediate and striking.
Trump was Trump. He was loud and argumentative, fighting with the host, Savannah Guthrie, complaining about the questioning — and eventually saying for the first time that he would honor the results of a fair election, but only after casting an extraordinary amount doubt on the likeliness of fairness.
He again sought to minimize revelations from a New York Times investigation that he has more than $400 million in debt and suggested that reports are wrong that he paid little or no federal income taxes in most years over the past two decades. He insisted that Americans should not be alarmed by his debt and repeatedly insisted that he is "underleveraged."
Biden meanwhile, took a far different, softer, approach with audience questions. The former vice president, who struggled growing up with a stutter, stuttered slightly at the start of the program and at one point squeezed his eyes shut and slowed down his response to clearly enunciate his words. At times his answers droned on.
Dressed in a blue suit and holding a white cloth mask in one hand, the Democratic nominee also brought a small card of notes on stage and referred to it while promising to roll back tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He said doing so would save, as he consulted his notes, "let me see... $92 billion."
Biden vowed to say before Election Day whether he will support expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court if Democrats win the presidency, the Senate and hold the House after November.
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