A halting Biden tries to confront Trump at debate but sparks Democratic anxiety about his candidacy

ATLANTA (AP) — A raspy and sometimes halting President Joe Biden tried repeatedly to confront Donald Trump in their first debate ahead of the November election, as his Republican rival countered Biden's criticism by leaning into falsehoods about the economy, illegal immigration and his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

Biden’s uneven performance, particularly early in the debate, crystallized the concerns of many Americans that, at 81, he is too old to serve as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to consider stepping aside as the party's nominee as members of his party fear a return of Trump to the White House.

Biden repeatedly tore into Trump in an apparent effort to provoke him, bringing up everything from the former president's recent felony conviction to his alleged insult of World War I veterans to his weight. The 78-year-old Trump declined to clearly state he would accept the results of the November election, four years after he promoted conspiracy theories about his loss that culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and repeatedly misstated the record from his time in office.

But Biden's delivery from the beginning of the debate drew the most attention afterward. Trump's allies immediately declared victory while prominent Democrats publicly questioned whether Biden could move forward.

"I think the panic had set in,” said David Axelrod, a longtime advisor to former President Barack Obama on CNN, immediately after the debate about Biden's performance. “And I think you’re going to hear discussions that, I don’t know will lead to anything, but there are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”

Said Van Jones, another Democratic strategist, on CNN: “He did not do well at all.”

Rosemarie DeAngelis, a Democrat who watched the debate at a party in South Portland, Maine, said she felt Biden gave the right answers to Trump but “didn’t have the spark that we needed tonight.”

“That’s going to be the challenge going forward. This is only June, this is the first, but can he sustain?” she said. "That is going to be the challenge.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, speaking on CNN afterward, sought to defend the president's performance while acknowledging the criticism.

“There was a slow start, but there was a strong finish,” she said.

Asked about his performance in the debate, Biden told reporters early Friday that “I think we did well,” but said he has a “sore throat.” Pressed about Democratic concerns with his showing that he should consider stepping aside, Biden said, "No, it's hard to debate a liar.”

Biden began the night with a hoarse voice as he tried to defend his economic record and criticize Trump. A person familiar with the matter said Biden was suffering from a cold during the debate, adding that he tested negative for COVID-19.

Biden appeared to lose his train of thought while giving one answer, drifting from an answer on tax policy to health policy, at one point using the word “COVID,” and then saying, “excuse me, with, dealing with,” and he trailed off again.

“Look, we finally beat Medicare,” Biden said, as his time ran out on his answer.

He also fumbled on abortion rights, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this year’s election. He was unable to explain Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. A conservative Supreme Court with three justices nominated by Trump overturned Roe two years ago.

When asked if he supports some restrictions on abortion, Biden said he “supports Roe v. Wade, which had three trimesters. The first time is between a woman and a doctor. Second time is between a doctor and an extreme situation. A third time is between the doctor, I mean, between the women and the state.”

He added that he thought doctors, not politicians, should make decisions about “women’s health.”

Biden began to give clearer answers as the debate progressed, still with a rasp, and attacked Trump’s record on issues like fighting climate change.

“The only existential threat to humanity is climate change, and he didn’t do a damn thing about it,” he said.

The current president and his predecessor hadn’t spoken since their last debate weeks before the 2020 presidential election. Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration after leading an unprecedented and unsuccessful effort to overturn his loss that culminated in the Capitol riot by his supporters.

Trump equivocated on whether he would accept the results of the November election, saying he would accept them if the vote was “fair” and “legal,” repeating his baseless claims of widespread fraud and misconduct in his 2020 loss to Biden that he still denies.

Pressed on his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump was unapologetic.

“On Jan. 6, we were respected all over the world, all over the world we were respected. And then he comes in and we’re now laughed at,” Trump said.

After he was prompted by a moderator to answer whether he violated his oath of office that day by rallying his supporters seeking to block the certification of Biden's Electoral College victory and not acting for hours to call them off as they raided the Capitol, Trump sought to blame then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Biden said Trump encouraged the supporters to go to the Capitol and sat in the White House without taking action as they fought with police officers.

“He didn’t do a damn thing and these people should be in jail,” Biden said. “They should be the ones that are being held accountable. And he wants to let them all out. And now he says that if he loses again, such a whiner that he is, that this could be a ‘bloodbath’?”

Trump then defended the people convicted and imprisoned for their role in the insurrection, saying to Biden, “What they’ve done to some people that are so innocent, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

Trump and Biden entered the night facing stiff headwinds, including a public weary of the tumult of partisan politics and broadly dissatisfied with both, according to polling. But the debate was highlighting how they have sharply different visions on virtually every core issue — abortion, the economy and foreign policy — and deep hostility toward each other.

Their personal animus quickly came to the surface. Biden got personal in evoking his son, Beau, who served in Iraq before dying of brain cancer. The president criticized Trump for reportedly calling Americans killed in battle “suckers and losers.” Biden told Trump, “My son was not a loser, was not a sucker. You’re the sucker. You’re the loser.”

Trump said he never said that — a line attributed to Trump by his former chief of staff — and slammed Biden for the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, calling it “the most embarrassing day in the history of our country’s life.”

Trump himself agreed to the withdrawal with the Taliban a year before he left office.

Biden directly mentioned Trump’s conviction in the New York hush money trial, saying, “You have the morals of an alley cat," and referencing the allegations in the case that Trump had sex with a porn actress.

“I did not have sex with a porn star," replied Trump, who chose not to testify at his trial.

Pressed to defend rising inflation since he took office, Biden pinned it on the situation he inherited from Trump amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden said that when Trump left office, “things were in chaos.” Trump disagreed, declaring that during his term in the White House, “Everything was rocking good.”

By the time Trump left office, America was still grappling with the pandemic and during his final hours in office, the death toll eclipsed 400,000. The virus continued to ravage the country and the death toll hit 1 million over a year later.

Trump was asked what he would do to make childcare more affordable. He used his answer to instead boast about how many people he fired during his term, including former FBI Director James Comey, and criticized Biden for not firing people from his administration.

Prior to the debate, about 6 in 10 U.S. adults (59%) said they were “very concerned” that Biden is too old to be president, according to Gallup data collected in June. Only 18% had the same level of concern about Trump. The poll found Biden’s age was also causing alarm among some Democrats: 31% said they were very concerned.

Trump allies entered the post-debate spin room triumphant. Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita called it “the most lopsided win in debate history” and mocked the Biden campaign for saying the president had a cold.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a high-profile Democratic supporter of Biden, was pressed on whether he would consider stepping in for Biden. He dismissed the questions, saying, “I will never turn my back on him.”

He said he knows Biden and what he’s capable of and said, “I have no trepidation.”

Biden spent nearly a week at the Camp David presidential retreat preparing for the debate. Shortly before the debate, Biden started selling cans of water labeled, “Dark Brandon’s Secret Sauce,” on his campaign website, mocking the suggestions from Trump and his advisors that he would use drugs to enhance his performance.

Addressing supporters briefly at a watch party near the debate venue, Biden didn’t address his performance directly, but said, “let’s keep going,” and indicated he has no plans to leave the race.

“See you at the next one,” he said.

Miller, Price and Weissert reported from Washington.

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, participate in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, on stage at right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, participate in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. At far right is CNN moderator Dana Bash. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, speaks to reporters in the spin room after a presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

A patron watches President Joe Biden debate Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump during a debate watch party Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, stand during break in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Roger Strassburg, of Scottsdale, Ariz., wears a cowboy hat as he watches the presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a debate watch party Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

President Joe Biden visits a Waffle House in Marietta, Ga., Friday, June 28, 2024, following a presidential debate in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden, center, and first lady Jill Biden, right, pay for a purchase as they greet supporters at a Waffle House in Marietta, Ga., Friday, June 28, 2024, following a presidential debate in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden, right, walks off stage as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump stands at the conclusion of a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Photographers take photos of President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, during a break in a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden, right, speak simultaneously during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump walks off stage during the break of a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden walks off stage during the break of a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. On the far right is CNN moderator Dana Bash. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures during a presidential debate with President Joe Biden, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden gestures during a presidential debate with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, right, listens as Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Joe Biden, right, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump stand during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during an interview in the spin room before a presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Corey Lewandowski speaks with reporters in the spin room before a presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., speaks with reporters in the spin room before a presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, from fourth left, and current Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, greet President Joe Biden as Biden arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Marietta, Ga., en route to Atlanta to attend the presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks in the spin room before a presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Nathan Ellgren)

Stacey Abrams, former State House of Representatives Minority Leader, former State House of Representatives Minority Leader, center, greets President Joe Biden, right, as he arrives at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Marietta, Ga., en route to Atlanta to attend the presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

First lady Jill Biden poses for photos with campaign volunteers and supporters at the Virginia Beach Democratic Coordinated Campaign Office on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Virginia Beach, Va. (AP Photo/John C. Clark)

President Joe Biden, second right, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden, second right, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden takes a photo with a child as he greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden, left, greets supporters, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta, Ga., before a presidential debate. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

FILE - This combination of photos taken in Columbia, S.C. shows former President Donald Trump, left, on Feb. 24, 2024, and President Joe Biden on Jan. 27, 2024. (AP Photo)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday. He was 80.

Mull's daughter, TV writer and comic artist Maggie Mull, said her father died at home on Thursday after “a valiant fight against a long illness.”

Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, came to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and the starring role in its spinoff, “Fernwood Tonight."

“He was known for excelling at every creative discipline imaginable and also for doing Red Roof Inn commercials,” Maggie Mull said in an Instagram post. “He would find that joke funny. He was never not funny. My dad will be deeply missed by his wife and daughter, by his friends and coworkers, by fellow artists and comedians and musicians, and—the sign of a truly exceptional person—by many, many dogs.”

Known for his blonde hair and well-trimmed mustache, Mull was born in Chicago, raised in Ohio and Connecticut and studied art in Rhode Island and Rome.

His first foray into show business was as a songwriter, penning the 1970 semi-hit “A Girl Named Johnny Cash” for singer Jane Morgan.

He would combine music and comedy in an act that he brought to hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s.

“In 1976 I was a guitar player and sit-down comic appearing at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip when Norman Lear walked in and heard me," Mull told The Associated Press in 1980. “He cast me as the wife beater on ‘Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.’ Four months later I was spun off on my own show.”

His time on the Strip was memorialized in the 1973 country rock classic “Lonesome L.A. Cowboy" where the Riders of the Purple Sage give him a shoutout along with music luminaries Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.

“I know Kris and Rita and Marty Mull are hangin' at the Troubadour,” the song says.

On “Fernwood Tonight” (sometimes styled as “Fernwood 2 Night”), he played Barth Gimble, the host of a local talk show in a midwestern town and twin to his “Mary Hartman” character. Fred Willard, a frequent collaborator with very similar comic sensibilities, played his sidekick. It was later revamped as “America 2 Night” and set in Southern California.

He would get to be a real talk show host as a substitute for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show."

Mull often played slightly sleazy, somewhat slimy and often smarmy characters as he did as Teri Garr's boss and Michael Keaton's foe in 1983's “Mr. Mom.” He played Colonel Mustard in the 1985 movie adaptation of the board game “Clue,” which, like many things Mull appeared in, has become a cult classic.

The 1980s also brought what many thought was his best work, “A History of White People in America,” a mockumentary that first aired on Cinemax. Mull co-created the show and starred as a “60 Minutes” style investigative reporter investigating all things milquetoast and mundane. Willard was again a co-star.

He wrote and starred in 1988's “Rented Lips" alongside Robert Downey Jr., whose father, Robert Sr., directed.

His co-star Jennifer Tilly said in an X post Friday that Mull was “such a witty charismatic and kind person.”

In the 1990s he was best known for his recurring role on several seasons on “Roseanne,” in which he played a warmer, less sleazy boss to the title character, an openly gay man whose partner was played by Willard, who died in 2020.

Mull would later play private eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development,” a cult-classic character on a cult-classic show, and would be nominated for an Emmy, his first, in 2016 for a guest run on “Veep.”

“What I did on ‘Veep’ I’m very proud of, but I’d like to think it’s probably more collective, at my age it’s more collective,” Mull told the AP after his nomination. “It might go all the way back to ‘Fernwood.’”

Other comedians and actors were often his biggest fans.

“Martin was the greatest,” “Bridesmaids” director Paul Feig said on X. “So funny, so talented, such a nice guy. Was lucky enough to act with him on The Jackie Thomas Show and treasured every moment being with a legend. Fernwood Tonight was so influential in my life.”

Mull is survived by his daughter and musician Wendy Haas, his wife since 1982.

FILE -Wendy Haas, left, and Martin Mull arrive at night one of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the Microsoft Theater on Saturday, Sept. 10, 2016, in Los Angeles. Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday, June 28, 2024. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

FILE -Actors Martin Mull, left, and Roseanne Barr arrive at the TV Land Awards on Sunday June 8, 2008 in Santa Monica, Calif. Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

FILE - Martin Mull participates in "The Cool Kids" panel during the Fox Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour at The Beverly Hilton hotel on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2018, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Martin Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” has died, his daughter said Friday, June 28, 2024. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)