WASHINGTON (AP) — The first sign of trouble came before the debate even started.
“Folks, how are you?” President Joe Biden said as he shuffled onto the stage. His voice was raspy and thin, his movements stiff. “Good to be here. Thank you.”
It was an inauspicious glimpse of what would become a historic night. The first and last debate between Biden and Donald Trump started a chain reaction leading to Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket. She'll have her own chance in the spotlight Tuesday as she meets Trump in another debate. She's been hunkered down to prepare with her team, intent on maintaining the momentum that's breathed new life into Democrats' chances this year.
Trump, in a recent interview with a New Hampshire radio host, said he was prepared to face Harris after his encounter with Biden.
“He was not good,” Trump said. “I hope she’s not going to be good, too.”
A look back at the June 27 debate holds lessons for Harris and warnings for Trump, whose rambling and occasional incoherence was overshadowed by Biden's stumbles.
The first hurdle is understanding the optics of the event.
Ever since Richard Nixon lost the first televised presidential debate to John F. Kennedy in 1960, political experts have treated them like visual spectacles. Biden looked pale onstage and he appeared dazed, his mouth slightly agape, when Trump was talking.
“This is an Instagram, Facebook, TikTok society," said Michael LaRosa, a former spokesperson for first lady Jill Biden. "Visuals matter."
LaRosa said Harris needs to be poised at all times because images of her reacting to Trump's comments can be as potent as when it's her turn to talk. Her presentation will be closely scrutinized because she's less well-known than Trump's, meaning that Americans are still making up their minds about her.
Biden also struggled to make a lucid case for his platform or land solid attacks on Trump.
For example, during a question about the economy, Biden started talking about how the country could invest in education and social services if there were higher taxes on the wealthy. But he lost his train of thought and glanced down at his lectern. When he looked up, he inexplicably said, “Look, we finally beat Medicare.”
He was out of time. “Thank you, President Biden,” said Jake Tapper, one of the moderators.
As the camera caught Biden looking confused by his own answer, Trump pounced. "He beat it to death. And he’s destroying Medicare.”
The next topic was abortion, a galvanizing issue for Democrats after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
Trump spoke first, claiming that eliminating the national right to abortion was “something that everybody wanted.”
“Every legal scholar, throughout the world, the most respected, wanted it brought back to the states. I did that," he said. “Now the states are working it out.”
The answer was false and evasive, as Trump tried to simultaneously take credit for the anti-abortion movement's historic victory and dodge anger over the result.
Biden's response started succinctly.
“It’s been a terrible thing what you’ve done,” he said, adding that it was “ridiculous” to suggest there was a consensus around getting rid of Roe v. Wade. Biden said Trump's view was like saying that “we’re going to turn civil rights back to the states, let each state have a different rule.”
Then Biden veered off in an unexpected direction, perhaps prompted by Trump's support for exceptions to abortion bans if a woman is raped. He brought up Trump's concern about crimes committed by migrants, then said that "there’s a lot of young women who are being raped by their in-laws, by their spouses, brothers and sisters.”
“And when those women get pregnant, they can do nothing about it," Biden said. “And they try to arrest them when they cross state lines.”
Paul Begala, a veteran Democratic strategist, described Biden's answer as bizarre.
“He took his strongest issue," meaning abortion, “and talked about his weakest issue,” border security.
They were 15 minutes into a 90-minute debate and, Begala said, "My phone was exploding with texts from other Democratic strategists who were saying, 'Oh my God, it’s over.’”
After Biden tripped over an answer on immigration, Trump responded with mockery.
“I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence,” he said. “I don’t think he knows what he said either.”
While the debate was still underway, the White House said Biden was suffering from a cold. And in the days afterward, Biden said he had been dealing with jet lag from overseas travel.
But the damage was done. Biden had already been struggling to convince voters that he could serve as president until he was 86, which was how old he would be at the end of a second term. Now he had seemingly confirmed the country's worst fears about his fitness for office.
Begala said Harris' relative youth — she turns 60 next month — is an enormous benefit, particularly when Trump is 78.
“Every day that she wakes up and she’s not 81, she’s a break with Biden," he said.
Trump provides no shortage of vulnerabilities in debates. He's forceful but hyperbolic and frequently dishonest. Sometimes he rambles about his grievances, which might entertain his faithful fans at political rallies but is a poor fit for a one-on-one debate.
Former President Bill Clinton had his own advice for facing off with Trump — show that he's only out for himself.
“The next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s,” he said at the Democratic National Convention.
FILE - President Joe Biden, left, and first lady Jill Biden depart following a presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a presidential debate hosted by CNN with President Joe Biden, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
The FBI said former President Donald Trump was the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination ” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life.
Trump was shot during an assassination attempt at a July rally in Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear.
U.S. Secret Service agents opened fire on Sunday after seeing a person with a firearm near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club in Florida while he was golfing. No injuries were reported. Officials say the person fled in an SUV and was later apprehended by local law enforcement.
He was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Here is the Latest:
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House will be demanding more Secret Service protection for Trump, saying he needs more attention than any other protectee.
“He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office,” Johnson, R-La., said on “Fox & Friends.” “We are demanding in the House that he have every asset available.”
The Republican speaker was on his way to visit Trump on Sunday when the former president was targeted while golfing. The suspect is now in custody.
Johnson and his wife, Kelly, visited with Trump afterward for about three hours, and the speaker said he was in “good spirits.”
The House’s bipartisan task force on the July assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania is monitoring the situation and has requested a briefing. Johnson said the panel was scheduled to hold a hearing later this month as it investigates the political violence.
“There’s going to be reports and recommendations coming forward, and Congress will act swiftly,” Johnson said. “We need accountability.”
Johnson said he has “no faith” in Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The House impeached Mayorkas earlier this year over the department’s handling of immigration, but the Senate declined to consider the charges in a trial.
Ryan Wesley Routh briefly entered a Florida courtroom Monday morning for his initial appearance, wearing a dark blue jail jumpsuit and his arms and legs shackled. He sat quietly for about five minutes with no visible signs of nervousness before marshals led him back out to await his hearing.
The Associated Press filmed Ryan Wesley Routh in April 2022 at a demonstration in Kyiv’s Independence Square two months after Russia invaded Ukraine.
A placard he was holding said: “We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our kids.” He wore a blue vest with the American flag on the back, along with a scarf and T-shirt in the colors of his national flag, while participating in a small rally.
Other participants held posters drawing attention to Mariupol, which was under siege at the time and is now occupied by Russia. That same day, Routh also paid tribute to foreign citizens killed during the war near a makeshift memorial sign reading “Foreigners killed by Putin.”
Ryan Wesley Routh has never served in the Ukrainian army nor collaborated with the military in any capacity, according to Oleksandr Shahuri, a representative officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.
Over the past two-and-a-half years, Routh has periodically contacted the international legion with what Shahuri described as “nonsensical ideas.” His plans and ideas can best be described as delusional.”
Shahuri, speaking to The Associated Press, firmly denied any connection to Routh. The International Legion of Ukraine was created shortly after the outbreak of the war by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It consists of foreign citizens “wishing to join the resistance against the Russian occupants and fight for global security,” according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.
Zelenskyy released a statement on X regarding the apparent assassination attempt: “I am glad to hear that Donald Trump is safe and unharmed. My best wishes to him and his family. It’s good that the suspect in the assassination attempt was apprehended quickly. This is our principle: the rule of law is paramount and political violence has no place anywhere in the world. We sincerely hope that everyone remains safe.”
Trump campaign leaders are crediting the Secret Service with keeping the former president safe following an apparent assassination attempt in Florida.
In an email sent to staff Sunday evening, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles wrote, “Today, for the second time in two months, an evil monster attempted to take the life of President Trump.”
“Thankfully, no one was injured at the Golf Course. President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,” they wrote.
They added that campaign staffers’ safety is “always our top priority” and asked those receiving the email to “remain vigilant” and “observant and maintain a constant level of situational awareness."
The leaders of a bipartisan task force in Congress that has been investigating the assassination attempt on Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July said it is monitoring the Florida situation and has requested a briefing by the Secret Service.
“We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” said Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa. and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo. “The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.”
It was not immediately clear whether the incident would affect Trump's campaign schedule.
On Monday night, he was set to speak from Florida about cryptocurrency live on the social media site X for the launch of his sons’ crypto platform. Trump planned a town hall Tuesday in Flint, Michigan, with his former press secretary, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, followed by a rally Wednesday on New York’s Long Island.
Trump had returned to Florida this weekend from a West Coast swing that included a Friday night rally in Las Vegas and a Utah fundraiser. His campaign had not advised about any public plans for Trump on Sunday. He often spends the morning playing golf, before having lunch at the club, one of three he owns in the state.
The man who authorities say pointed a rifle with a scope into former President Donald Trump’s golf club and was arrested is Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The officials identified the suspect to the AP but spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Secret Service agents shot at the suspect, who was taken into custody after fleeing the scene of what the FBI is calling an apparent attempted assassination of the Republican presidential nominee. Authorities are working to determine a motive.
— By Associated Press reporters Colleen Long, Eric Tucker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Mike Balsamo and Michael R. Sisak
Police officers direct traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he boards a plane at Harry Reid International Airport after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
FILE - Security agents talk at the entrance to former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, March 31, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
A police officer directs traffic near Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)
This photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Sheriff's vehicles surrounding an SUV on the northbound I-95 in Martin County on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
This photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff's Office shows Sheriff's vehicles surrounding an SUV on the northbound I-95 in Martin County on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office via AP)
FILE - The motorcade for President Donald Trump arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Feb. 15, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephany Matat)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at Harry Reid International Airport to board a plane after a campaign trip, Saturday, Sept.14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Ryan Wesley Routh pays tribute to foreign citizens killed during Russia-Ukraine war in a central square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
