Trump town hall: President rages against Savannah Guthrie and protesters arrested as Biden holds rival event

Next question: After contracting Covid, has Trump’s opinion on masks change?

“No,” Trump says.

'So cute': Trump shouts over Savannah Guthrie as she asks about coronavirus, white supremacy and QAnon

Donald Trump shouted over town hall host Savannah Guthrie as she grilled him about coronavirus, white supremacy and QAnon.

The president and the Ms Guthrie exchanged barbs during a heated opening to the NBC event.

Mr Trump even sarcastically told the TV host “so cute” when she pressed him to denounce QAnon’s wild conspiracy theories.

The Independent’s Graeme Massie is taking a closer look at this angle.

Biden asked about what he would say to young black voters

After a brief break we are back and Biden is asked why young Black voters should vote for him and participate in a system that does not treat them fairly. 

Biden references John Lewis and talks about education and creating opportunity through all 12 years of school and through HBCUs.

Answer is very focussed on creating young Black entrepreneurs and Biden is reeling off facts and figures.

Biden says he wants to talk more with the young Black man who asked the question after the town hall.

References his own family’s story and stresses importance of building up wealth.

What is the plan to make healthcare affordable?

Get rid of Obamacare, Trump says.

“The problem with Obamacare is it’s not good, we’d like to terminate it, we’d like a much less expensive healthcare, that is a lot better healthcare,” Trump says.

‘We’re negotiating, ok’ Trump says of second Covid relief stimulus  

Joe White, registered Democrat leaning towards Joe Biden, asks why Trump hasn’t done more to ensure second Covid relief payment.

“The problem you have is Nancy Pelosi, she couldn’t care less about out people,” Trump says.

“Did you ever hear a word negotiating? We’re negotiating, ok?” he continued.

Biden asked what his view on the 1994 Crime Bill is now

The questioner refers to the bill’s unfair treatment of minorities.

Biden splits up the different elements of the bill saying what he did and what he didn’t approve of and acknowledges the problems and how they arose. Says it was a mistake to support the crime bill, but support was unanimous at the time and included the Violence Against Women Act.

Wants to change the system and move from punishment to rehabilitation in drugs - “I don’t think anybody should be going to jail for drug use.”

Trump taxes: Who does the president owe $421m in debts coming due?

Asked about The New York Times reporting of his tax returns, Trump danced around the question of who he owes money to, without denying the reporting.

“What they did is illegal, number one, also the numbers are all wrong,” Trump says

“No, I don’t owe Russia money. I owe very, very small, it’s called mortgages…” he added before getting cut off.

“Number one, its’ a very small amount of money… it’s a tiny percent of what I’m worth. I’m very under leveraged."

Biden on policing

Asked by Stephanopoulos how to reform policing, he says he wants to sit all interested parties and communities down in the White House and discuss what needs to be done.

He wants to change how problems with policing are solved at the local level and take them out of the same jurisdiction. 

Acknowledges the problems faced by police in terms of dealing with mental health issues on call outs. 

Says that they shouldn’t be defunded but government should be mandating what should be done within police departments and demand complete transparency.

‘I don’t owe money to any of these sinister people’ Trump says

Continuing to dodge questions on his finances, Trump says the New York Times’ reporters should go to jail if they have his tax returns. But if they did, they got it all wrong.

“If they have my tax returns, as you know, they have to go to jail it’s illegal. But their numbers are wrong,” Trump says.

“I don’t owe money to any of these sinister people. This has been going on for years, Russia Russia Russia.”

As the Trump town hall takes a commercial break, here’s a look at his staging