Joe Biden makes his first public comments since he struggled in the debate on Thursday, directly addressing concerns about his age and saying "when you get knocked down, you get back up"
Democrats have expressed unease at the president's shaky debate performance - with party insiders saying some of his answers triggered panic
Biden's campaign insists the president will not step down as the Democratic candidate and that he will debate Donald Trump again in September
At a campaign rally in Virginia, Trump told the crowd the debate was a "big victory" for him and said he does not think Biden will bow out of the race
During the debate, Trump repeatedly attacked Biden on the economy and his foreign policy record, while Biden took aim at his rival's criminal conviction and alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election
Trump also repeated falsehoods - from abortion, to taxes and the deficit - and at first avoided answering if he would accept the 2024 election result
You can watch the key moments from the debate here
Biden defends his foreign policy record in the Middle East and in Afghanistan, after Trump took aim at both.
And on Ukraine, he claims that Trump told Putin to do "whatever you want".
Biden says Putin thought he would take Kyiv in "five days".
"He, in fact, didn't do it at all. They've lost thousands and thousands of troops," Biden says, before he is cut off.
Trump then says, "I never said that".
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from the debate
Biden pulled out a signature catchphrase when Trump blamed him for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"I've never heard so much malarkey in my life," Biden says.
The debate has now turned to Ukraine.
The question is whether Putin's terms for ending Russia's war in Ukraine are acceptable.
Trump is up first, and he is claiming that Putin decided to invade because he saw how incompetent Biden's team was in their exit from the war in Afghanistan.
"When Putin saw that he said: 'You know what, I think we're going to go in'", Trump says.
He adds that the war in Gaza would not have happened either if he were in office.
Image source, ReutersResponding to Trump's claims of a wave of "Biden migrant crime" and low approval ratings for the president among veterans, Biden says that "every single thing he said is a lie".
"We have great respect for veterans," he says, adding that his son Beau Biden was exposed to burn pits while serving in Iraq.
Biden also brought up a controversial moment from Trump's presidency, in which he allegedly said that fallen US soldiers were "losers and suckers".
"My son was not a loser and not a sucker," he says. "You're the sucker. You're the loser," he added, addressing the former president.
Trump responded that the quote was "made up" and he never said it.
"Nobody has taken better care of our soldiers than I have," Trump added.
Trump - who has vowed to conduct mass deportations if he takes office - is asked whether he plans to deport "every undocumented immigrant to America," including people who have lived in the US for decades, and if so, how he would do it.
He responds by doubling down on his claims that Biden's immigration and "open border" policies have contributed to a rise in crime.
"We have to get a lot of these people out and we have to get them out fast, because they are going to destroy our country," he says, without elaborating on his plans.
Brandon Drenon
Reporting from Atlanta
At a Young Atlanta Republicans watch party in downtown Atlanta, everyone booed when Biden’s face first appeared on the screen.
Someone else yelled, “I want my money back.”
Trump then walked out and the crowd at Hudson Grille began to clap.
When Biden is asked about his economic policies and people’s reaction to them, people here began to laugh.
“I come from Scranton, Pennsylvania,” Biden said, relating himself to working-class Americans – a statement which was met by another collective round of “boos”.
There’s an occasional “shhh” coming from someone in the crowd, as the sporadic yells from the crowd are drowning out Biden’s audio in the bar.
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from the debate
Biden showed his first flashes of anger a few minutes ago as the debate turned to the subject of abortion.
After Trump claimed, falsely, that some Democrats want to allow abortions "after birth", Biden replied, "That simply is not true."
He hits Trump for appointing Supreme Court justices who struck down the nationwide constitutional right to abortion.
He says abortion rights were "taken away because of this guy" and conservative justices.
Abortion rights are a critical issue for Democrats in this election, and one of a few wedge issues that could blow political winds in their party's favour this year.
Image source, ReutersTrump is continuing to attack Biden on his border policies.
He claims prisoners, people from mental health institutions and terrorists are coming into the country from across the border.
Biden rebuts, saying there is no data to support what Trump is claiming.
Asked why Americans should trust Biden to handle the US-Mexico border despite historic migrant arrivals, Biden pivoted, suggesting that Trump and Republicans were to blame for the collapse of a bipartisan border deal earlier this year.
He also criticised Trump for family separations that took place during his administration.
"Now, you're in a situation where there's 40% people coming across the border illegally. That's better than when he left office," he added.
Trump said in the debate that Biden "inherited almost no inflation" when he came into office and that now "inflation is killing us".
When Biden came to office in January 2021 inflation stood at 1.4% using the most widely used measure of inflation, the Consumer Price Index, external (CPI), based on a typical basket of household goods.
It rose significantly during the first two years of his administration, hitting a peak of 9.1% in the year to June 2022.
This was comparable with many other Western countries, which experienced high inflation rates in 2021 and 2022, the main contributing factors being global supply chain issues as a consequence of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine.
Since then, US inflation has steadily fallen, with the latest monthly figure 3.3% in May, external.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, prices have risen by a total of about 20%, external.
Image source, .
Image source, ReutersThe candidates have now turned to abortion, with Biden saying the repeal of Roe v Wade - which had established a constitutional right to abortion - has been a "terrible thing".
"The vast majority of constitutional scholars supported Roe v Wade when it was decided," Biden said. "This idea that they were all against it is ridiculous."
The idea that states can mandate their own abortion regulations, Biden added, is like having "each state have a different rule" on civil rights.
He says the choice to have an abortion is between a woman and her doctor and pledges to restore Roe v Wade if re-elected.
"No politician should be making that decision."
Kayla Epstein
Reporting from the debate in Atlanta
As the debate gets underway, both Biden and Trump are both projecting more muted versions of their public personas. The first time they debated, in 2020, the conversation quickly got heated and out of hand, with the candidates talking over each other.
But both men are speaking in even tones - Biden's voice is particularly hoarse this evening. They're likely aware of the more unfavourable opinions people have about them.
They're matching each other's energy, too. As Trump grew more strident to hit Biden on immigration and COVID vaccination mandates, Biden responded in a stronger voice as well. He did stumble, however, when he said he "beat Medicare," a seeming non-sequitor.
Then again, we're only a few minutes into this debate, and things could change on a dime.
The next question is about the national debt soaring to record heights in the last eight years. Trump, who has championed tax cuts under his leadership, is asked why top corporations should pay less taxes than they do now given the debt.
Trump says that the tax cuts "spurred the greatest economy that we've ever seen".
He added that when taxes are cut, the US took in more revenue and companies were investing "trillions of dollars" back into the country.
Image source, ReutersPresident Biden seemed to momentarily lose his train of thought during an exchange on billionaires needing to pay more taxes, and on childcare.
"If we finally beat Medicare," he said, before being interrupted by Jake Tapper.
"He did beat Medicare. He beat it to death," Trump quipped. "He's destroying Medicare."
Trump also accused Biden of nearly "wiping out" social security because of the "millions" of migrants at the southern border.
"What's happened to our country is not to be believed," he added.
The former president has doubled down on a talking point of his in the first 15 minutes of the debate - that the US "is no longer respected" by other nations.
"What's happened to our country is not to believed," he says. "Foreign countries cannot believe what happened to the United States of America."
He added the US does a lot for other countries, "and they do nothing for us".
CNN moderator Dana Bash is asking about one of the most important issues to voters in the upcoming election: abortion.
Trump is asked if he would block abortion medication. He says no, noting that the Supreme Court just upheld the right to the medication.
He repeats some of his same talking points on the controversial topic - that everyone wants the states to decide whether abortion should be legal.
"Every legal scholar... wanted it brought back to the states. Now the states are working it out."
Much of the start of the debate has focused on the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both Trump and Biden have talked at length about how Trump handled the pandemic. Biden has referred to the time as a moment of "chaos".
The questions have so far focused on domestic economics - but already, the topic of Afghanistan and the chaotic US withdrawal from Kabul has come up.
Moments ago, Biden noted that the US was still fighting in Afghanistan under Trump.
Trump's response was that he planned to pull out with "dignity" and "strength".
"When he got out, it was the most embarrassing day in the history of our country's life," Trump added.
Image source, ReutersIt's Biden's turn to respond to Trump's claims that he created the best economy.
Biden says Trump's economy "rewarded the wealthy".
Trump was asked to respond to a question on whether tariffs could drive up prices. Trump says he gave voters the largest tax cut in history.
Image source, ReutersDonald Trump responded to the first question about the economy and high inflation.
He says that the US had the "greatest economy" when he was in power. "We got hit with Covid, and when we did, we spent the money necessary so we wouldn't end up in a great depression".
"Everything was rocking good," he says, before attacking Biden on his Covid policies and economic track record.
