Biden and Trump: Clash over pandemic, corruption, taxes, racial issues

(Patria) - Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden clashed on Thursday in a debate over how to manage the coronavirus pandemic in the US and racial issues in the country, and exchanged accusations of corruption.

To avoid the chaos of the first debate held at the end of September, when it was often impossible to hear what the candidates were saying due to interruptions, this time the microphones were turned off to allow each of them to speak for two minutes on each new topic, and then turned back on.

However, the tone of US President Trump also seemed more restrained this time than in the first debate when he constantly interrupted, and when both candidates exchanged numerous insults.

Democratic candidate Biden, former Vice President under Barack Obama, reiterated his criticism of how Trump is managing the coronavirus pandemic, while the current Republican president repeated accusations against Biden and his family.

The debate at Belmont University in Nashville was the president's last major opportunity to catch up to Biden in the polls, 12 days before the election.

Biden accused Trump of being responsible for COVID-19 deaths.

"Someone who is responsible for so many deaths should not remain President of the United States," Biden said. "I will put an end to this."

The two candidates were supposed to be separated by plexiglass due to COVID-19, which was not the case in the first debate, but the barriers were eventually removed after Trump and Biden confirmed they had tested negative for the coronavirus.

The US has 8.4 million infected and 223,000 deaths from coronavirus.

Trump defended his management of the coronavirus crisis, stating that the worst was over. "We have a vaccine coming, it's ready, it will be distributed in the coming weeks."

When Biden asked him to take responsibility for the situation, Trump replied: "I take full responsibility. It's not my fault that it came here, it's China's fault," he said, referring to the virus.

Accusations of corruption and taxes

After the first series of questions about the coronavirus, the exchange of fire continued regarding which candidate had improper ties to foreign countries. Trump reiterated accusations that Biden and his son Hunter were doing business with China and Ukraine, and urged his opponent to clarify the corruption allegations.

"Joe, I think you owe Americans an explanation," insisted the president, who in recent days has intensified personal attacks on his opponent, calling the Biden family a "criminal enterprise."

Biden responded to the attacks involving his son by saying he had never taken money from any foreign government, that his son was not paid by China, and that neither of them had done anything wrong regarding Ukraine.

Biden attacked Trump regarding China. The New York Times wrote earlier this week about Trump's business and financial ties to China.

"We learned that this president paid 50 times more taxes in China, has a secret bank account in China, and says I'm taking money. I haven't taken a single penny from any country," Biden said.

"The only person who made money from China is him," he added. "I don't do business with China, I don't do business with Ukraine, I don't do business with Russia."

He then went on the counter-attack - reminding Trump that he had never released his tax returns. "What are you hiding?" he asked.

Trump repeatedly stated that he had overpaid taxes, after accusations emerged that he had not paid taxes for years or had paid a negligible amount. Speaking about interference in US elections, Biden said that foreign countries would pay for it.

"Every country that interferes will pay for it," he emphasized, after naming Russia, China, and Iran.

Senior US intelligence officials have accused Russia and Iran of attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, which Moscow and Tehran strongly deny.

In a very heated exchange of views on racial issues, Biden told Trump that he was "pouring fuel on every racial fire."

"At least I'm not a racist," Trump said. Biden retorted that Trump was among those American "presidents who have been the biggest racists in modern history."

Trump then pointed out that Biden had supported laws that led to higher incarceration rates, particularly for African Americans.

Biden admitted that he had made mistakes by supporting such laws in the past and said he would advocate for the abolition of prison sentences for minor offenses and focus on rehabilitating such individuals.

They also clashed over healthcare, an issue that greatly concerns American voters. Trump said he had successfully repealed key provisions of the healthcare reform passed during President Barack Obama's administration.

The 90-minute debate was moderated by Kristen Welker, an NBC White House correspondent. Although he had complained before the debate about her moderating, claiming she was biased, Trump now praised her for doing an excellent job.

There were about 200 people at the debate, whose temperatures were taken before entry, and everyone had to wear a mask throughout the presidential debate.

Donald Trump refused a virtual debate on October 15, a format that was proposed to avoid possible infection after the president contracted the coronavirus.