U.S. President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, clashed over foreign policy and Russia’s war against Ukraine in a televised debate between the two oldest candidates ever to seek the U.S. presidency.
After taking the debate stage on June 27 without shaking hands and with no audience in the hall, the current president and his predecessor laid out starkly differing views on Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.
But it was Biden’s performance, his words delivered with a raspy voice and often haltingly, that overshadowed the topics being discussed and raised concerns over the 81-year-old's ability to lead the country for another four years.
Trump, who in the past has called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine "genius" and "very savvy," attacked Biden saying that if the United States had a "real president," Putin would not have attacked Ukraine.
"He knew not to play games with me," Trump said referring to Putin.
Biden, 81, countered by calling Putin a "war criminal" and warning that if Russia is allowed to succeed in its war, Putin would not stop at Kyiv.
"He's killed thousands and thousands of people," said Biden, who several times appeared to lose his train of thought while delivering responses.
Since the beginning of the war, the Biden administration has staunchly backed Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The United States has been the largest single contributor of military and financial aid to Kyiv during the conflict, though the most recently approved package of aid totaling $61 billion was delayed for some six months as Republican lawmakers held up the process demanding deep changes to border policy in exchange for their support.
The aid package was eventually approved though no deal on the border was reached.
Biden noted in the debate -- which was dominated by domestic policy issues such as the economy, immigration, and abortion -- that while Washington has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine, he has rallied leaders from more than 50 countries around the world in a coalition to help Ukraine repel Russian troops.
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What Happens With NATO And Ukraine If Trump Is Reelected In November?
"This is a guy who wants to pull out of NATO," Biden, who at times appeared halting and unfocused in his responses, said of Trump.
Earlier this month, Putin said Russia would end the war in Ukraine only if Kyiv met conditions including renouncing its NATO ambitions and ceding four partially occupied regions that Russia claims in their entirety, as well as Crimea. Ukraine dismissed the conditions as absurd and said they amounted to capitulation.
When asked about Putin’s remarks, Trump, 78, said the conditions laid out by the Russian leader “are not acceptable.”
But Trump, who voiced a litany of falsehoods during the 90-minute debate, also called Zelenskiy the "greatest salesman ever" for the Ukrainian leader’s military aid requests.
"Look, this is a war that never should have started if we had a leader," Trump said, claiming again he would be able to "settle" the war if re-elected in November.
He gave no details of how he would achieve such a result.
The Kremlin said it had no comment on the debate or the comments made during it.
“I don’t think you expect the president of Russia might set an alarm clock, wake up before morning, and watch the debates in the United States of America?" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow when asked if Putin, who has said previously he has no preference for either candidate, had watched the debate.
Concerns Over Age
Biden’s at times stumbling performance in the debate underscored concerns about his age and whether, at 81, he is too old to serve another four-year term, and prompted questions among some Democrats over whether he should step aside as their party’s nominee.
At one point, Biden seemed to confuse Trump with Putin; at another point, in a section on immigration and border security, he gave a meandering answer, prompting Trump to counter: "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don't think he knows what he said."
Biden "did get stronger as the debate went on but by that time, I think the panic had set in," David Axelrod, an adviser to former President Barack Obama, said on CNN. "There are going to be discussions about whether he should continue."
Speaking to supporters afterward, Biden appeared much more energetic as he kept up his attacks on Trump.
"I can't think of one thing he said out there that was true," said Biden, whose advisers said was suffering from a cold.
Elsewhere in the debate, Trump also slammed Biden for failing to gain the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been in Russian detention for more than a year on espionage charges that he, his employer, and the U.S. government have rejected as politically motivated.
The former president said Biden should have had Gershkovich, whose trial began on June 26 and is being held behind closed doors, "out a long time ago" and that Putin is "probably asking for billions and billions of dollars" for the reporter’s release.
Trump didn’t elaborate or substantiate his assertion, but it appeared to be a reference to a 2023 deal that saw the release of five detained Americans in Iran in exchange for the transfer of billions of dollars worth of frozen Iranian assets from banks in South Korea to Qatar.
Washington has said several times the funds are being held in special accounts with restricted access that allow for them to be used by Iran solely for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food.
Trump also accused Biden of being responsible for the "most embarrassing moment in the history of our country" for the U.S.-led withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan in August 2021.
While Trump himself had agreed to the withdrawal of international troops with the Taliban leadership a year before he left office, he did not finalize the plan and it fell to Biden to oversee the operation several years later.
Biden said that when Trump left office after losing the November 2020 election, "things were in chaos."
Trump is scheduled to speak in Virginia later on June 28, while Biden has remained in Atlanta, where the debate took place, and will speak at a campaign event.