Fact check: Biden and Trump comments at the first debate

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 9/29/2020, 9:26 p.m.
President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will face off in the first 2020 presidential debate Tuesday night …
Joe Biden and Donald Trump take the stage for the first presidential debate of 2020./Credit: Pool

(CNN) -- President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will face off in the first 2020 presidential debate Tuesday night live from Cleveland.

Fox News's Chris Wallace will moderate the debate, which will cover both candidates' records as well as the Supreme Court vacancy, Covid-19, the economy, the recent racial justice protests across the country and questions about the integrity of the upcoming election, according to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Reporting from The New York Times about the President's taxes will almost certainly come up. Trump could also bring up the unfounded and false allegations he and his allies have made in the past that the former vice president and his son acted corruptly in Ukraine.

CNN will hold the two candidates accountable by pointing out what's true and what's not. Follow our live fact check here throughout the night.

Coronavirus and the economy

Trump claimed several times that Biden wants to shut down the country to address the coronavirus.

"He wants to shut down this country and I want to keep it open," Trump said.

Facts First: This is false. Biden said in an August interview with ABC that he would shut down the country if scientists told him it was necessary -- but he has not himself advocated a shutdown or introduced a shutdown plan.

Additionally, he clarified his comments after the interview, saying in September, "There is going to be no need, in my view, to be able to shut down the whole economy."

It's also worth noting that presidents themselves cannot shut down the country. The pandemic restrictions governing people's movements and the operations of businesses and other entities have been imposed by state and local officials, not Trump.

You can read a longer fact check here.

-- Tara Subramaniam