Fact-checking the final Trump-Biden debate
Sonam Sheth
This debate is Trump and Biden's last chance to appeal to a broad base of viewers days before the general election.
- President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden will take the debate stage for the final time Thursday night ahead of the 2020 general election.
- The debate will be moderated by NBC News' Kristen Welker and will focus on six main topics: COVID-19, race, climate change, national security, leadership, and American families.
- The debate comes as Biden holds a hefty lead over Trump in a number of national and state polls, and as the Trump campaign levels new allegations of corruption against Biden based on unverified and unsubstantiated information that Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has circulated in conservative media.
- Scroll down to follow Business Insider's live fact-check of the debate.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .
President Donald Trump and the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will take the stage for the final time Thursday night in what will likely be a contentious and fiery debate ahead of the November general election.
NBC's Kristen Welker will moderate the debate, and the evening will focus on six key topics: COVID-19, race, climate change, national security, leadership, and American families. The debate will begin at 9 p.m. ET, and Welker will allot 15 minutes of discussion for each topic.
Thursday's event comes just weeks after the first Trump-Biden debate, in which the president drew widespread backlash for repeatedly interrupting Biden. In the wake of that debate, the Commission on Presidential Debates decided to allow a third party to mute the candidates' microphones to allow each contender two minutes of uninterrupted speaking time at the start of each topic. The commission said it was implementing the rule change to "ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues."
With fewer than two weeks left to go until Election Day on November 3, Thursday is Trump and Biden's last chance to appeal to a broad group of potential voters. Biden currently holds a hefty lead over Trump; according to FiveThirtyEight's latest forecast, the president currently has a 12% chance of winning a second term, while Biden has a 88% chance. The data website's national poll tracker also shows that Biden has nearly a 10-point lead over Trump.
Refresh this page to follow along as Business Insider fact-checks Thursday's debate.
Via PakApNews