They didn’t shake hands and it got worse from there. Key moments in Biden-Trump debate
U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. president Donald Trump spent an hour and a half Thursday trying to convince American voters that they’re the best choice to be president for the next four years, but they also demonstrated that they don’t respect one another.
The debate was a chance for voters to see how the presumptive nominees for America’s two major political parties — 81-year-old Biden for the Democrats and 78-year-old Trump for the Republicans — would fare when squaring off against each other. And they didn’t have to wait long for that.
A coin toss decided where the two men would stand, and when they emerged on the stage, they went to their respective podiums without shaking hands, a move that set the tone for the evening.
Here’s a look at some of the other key moments during the audience-free debate, hosted by CNN.
Biden sounds strained
Biden sounded noticeably hoarse from the start of the debate. That did not change for the remainder of the 90-minute event.
To account for the president’s strained voice, the White House said during the debate that Biden had a cold.
‘Beat Medicare’
Early on, Biden spoke about his administration’s actions on the economy and addressed how much tax wealthy people are paying in America — but also appeared to freeze mid-sentence in what could be the defining moment of the debate.
Making reference to America’s wealthiest individuals, Biden referred to the country’s many “trillionaires,” before correcting the reference to “billionaires.”
U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to lose his train of thought during a debate in Atlanta that aired on CNN with former president Donald Trump, saying, ‘Look, we finally beat Medicare.’ Trump responded by saying, ‘He beat it to death.’
He then talked about how boosting the amount of taxes the wealthy pay could be put toward various investments — including in health care, finishing his comments with the words “if we finally beat Medicare.”
In response, Trump pounced, saying, “Well, he’s right, he did beat Medicare — he beat it to death.”
‘You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.’
An infamous quote about America’s war dead resurfaced during the debate, in which Trump was reported to have made reference to “suckers” and “losers.”
On stage, Trump denied having made the comments — as he has in the past.
But the topic came up after Trump accused Biden of mistreating U.S. veterans and suggested his opponent apologize on this point.
Instead, Biden got personal, evoking his son, Beau, who served in Iraq before dying of brain cancer.
He told Trump, “My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”
Ukraine, Putin and U.S. support for Kyiv
Trump was asked by CNN’s Dana Bash whether he agreed with terms Russian President Vladimir Putin has set for ending the war in Ukraine — including having Moscow keep control of any land it has captured during the war.
Instead of answering the question, Trump responded with attacks on Biden and soon turned to the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
After former president Donald Trump accused U.S. President Joe Biden of ‘driving us’ to a third World War, Biden responded by saying a Trump election win would see Vladimir Putin’s Russia overrun Ukraine. ‘Right now, we’re needed, we’re needed to protect the world,’ Biden said after referencing Article 5 of the NATO treaty.
“I have never heard so much malarkey in my whole life,” Biden said in response.
But Bash returned to the question and Trump eventually said Putin’s terms were “not acceptable.”
Trump expressed criticism of the support the U.S. has provided for Kyiv and described Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman ever.”
Trump then claimed that if re-elected he would have the Ukraine conflict settled “before I take office.”
Biden responded by saying Putin is “a war criminal,” and that his aggression won’t end at the Ukrainian border.
“Do you think he’ll stop if he takes Ukraine?” Biden asked.
Oval Office octogenarians
Biden and Trump are also the two oldest people to seek a second term in the Oval Office and many voters have concerns about their ages.
Biden is already the oldest president in U.S. history. If victorious in November, he would head into a second term that would put him in his mid-80s by the end of those four years.
Trump, meanwhile, would be 82 at the end of a potential second term.
Both candidates were asked about their ability to handle the job of president as octogenarians.
“First of all, I spent half my career being criticized being the youngest person in politics … and now I’m the oldest,” said Biden.
“This guy’s three years younger and a lot less competent,” he said before going on to defend his record as president.
When asked about his own age, Trump mentioned having taken both cognitive and physical exams when serving as president.
“I think I’m in very good shape,” said Trump. “I feel that I’m in as good of shape as I was 25, 30 years ago.”
Interruptions not a factor
Concerns about interruptions saw CNN set rules that included muting the microphones of the person who wasn’t supposed to be speaking.
The two men mostly avoided interruptions Thursday — unlike their previous debate back in 2020.
Published at Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:54:14 +0000
U.S. Supreme Court decision rejects Purdue Pharma opioid settlement, leaving victims in limbo
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a nationwide settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would have shielded members of the Sackler family who own the company from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids but also would have provided billions of dollars to combat the opioid epidemic.
After deliberating more than six months, the justices in a 5-4 vote blocked an agreement hammered out with state and local governments and victims. The Sacklers would have contributed up to $6 billion US and given up ownership of the company but retained billions more. The agreement provided that the company would emerge from bankruptcy as a different entity, with its profits used for treatment and prevention.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, said “nothing in present law authorizes the Sackler discharge.”
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.
“Today’s decision is wrong on the law and devastating for more than 100,000 opioid victims and their families,” Kavanaugh wrote.
“Opioid victims and other future victims of mass torts will suffer greatly in the wake of today’s unfortunate and destabilizing decision.”
The U.S. Supreme Court debates Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy settlement and whether company owners, the Sackler family — who have not filed for personal bankruptcy, can be held liable for the opioid epidemic.
‘A mockery of the justice system’
The Purdue Pharma settlement would have ranked among the largest reached by drug companies, wholesalers and pharmacies to resolve epidemic-related lawsuits filed by state, local and Native American tribal governments and others.
Those settlements have totalled more than $50 billion. But the Purdue Pharma settlement would have been only the second so far to include direct payments to victims from a $750 million pool. Payouts would have ranged from about $3,500 to $48,000.
Front Burner22:20Will Purdue’s opioid settlement be overturned?
The high court had put the settlement on hold last summer, in response to objections from the Biden administration.
It’s unclear what happens next.
“The Purdue plan was a victim-centred plan that would provide billions of dollars to the states to be used exclusively to abate the opioid crisis and $750 million for victims of the crisis, so that they could begin to rebuild their lives,” Edward Neiger, a lawyer representing more than 60,000 overdose victims, said in a statement. “As a result of the senseless three-year crusade by the government against the plan, thousands of people died of overdose, and today’s decision will lead to more needless overdose deaths.”
A relatively small but vocal group of victims and family members opposed the settlement, including Ed Bisch, whose teen son Eddie died from an overdose after taking OxyContin in Philadelphia in 2001.
“This is a step toward justice. It was outrageous what they were trying to get away with,” said Ed Bisch, a New Jersey resident. “[The Sacklers] have made a mockery of the justice system and then they tried to make a mockery of the bankruptcy system.”
Bisch called on the U.S. Department of Justice to seek criminal charges against Sackler family members.
Sacklers no longer on company board
Arguments in early December lasted nearly two hours in a packed courtroom as the justices seemed, by turns, unwilling to disrupt a carefully negotiated settlement and reluctant to reward the Sacklers.
The issue for the justices was whether the legal shield that bankruptcy provides can be extended to people such as the Sacklers, who have not declared bankruptcy themselves. Lower courts had issued conflicting decisions over that issue, which also has implications for other major product liability lawsuits settled through the bankruptcy system.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee, an arm of the Justice Department, argued that the bankruptcy law does not permit protecting the Sackler family from being sued.
During the Trump administration, the government supported the settlement. The Biden administration had argued to the court that negotiations could resume, and perhaps lead to a better deal, if the court were to stop the current agreement.
Proponents of the plan said third-party releases are sometimes necessary to forge an agreement, and federal law imposes no prohibition against them.
OxyContin first hit the market in 1996, and Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of it is often cited as a catalyst of the nationwide opioid epidemic, with doctors persuaded to prescribe painkillers with less regard for addiction dangers.
The drug and the Stamford, Ct.-based company became synonymous with the crisis, even though the majority of pills being prescribed and used were generic drugs.
Opioid-related overdose deaths have continued to climb, hitting 80,000 in recent years. Most of those are from fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.
Canada has also been hit hard by an opioid crisis, leaving to class-action suits across several provinces. B.C. in 2022 announced a $150 million Cdn settlement with Purdue Pharma Canada, on behalf of governments across Canada, to recover health-care costs related to the sale and marketing of opioid-based pain medication.
Purdue told CBC News at the time the settlement did not include an “admission of wrongdoing or liability on the part of Purdue Canada or any of its related parties.”
Sackler family members no longer are on the company’s board, and they have not received payouts from it since before Purdue Pharma entered bankruptcy. In the decade before that, though, they were paid more than $10 billion, about half of which family members said went to pay taxes.
Published at Thu, 27 Jun 2024 15:14:50 +0000
