Trump-Biden presidential debate: Live updates, fact-checking and analysis

June 27, 2024, 9:20 p.m. ET

June 27, 2024, 9:20 p.m. ET

In case you’re just following along, Biden and Trump began with a series of questions about the economy.

Biden claimed Trump left him with an economy in ruins, while Trump said the economy was the “best in the world” before Covid. The two men clashed over who handled the pandemic better.

Trump defended his tax cuts, saying they boosted economic growth and that the U.S. was about to start paying down its debt before being forced to pass trillions of dollars in COVID-19 relief. Biden countered by saying Trump simply wanted to give more tax cuts to the wealthy, trying to undermine his populist message.

Biden had some early stumbles, misrepresenting the number of jobs created under his watch and claiming, incongruously, that he “finally beat Medicare.”