ATLANTA – President Joe Biden and his Republican rival, Donald Trump, took the stage Thursday evening for a debate that offered an unparalleled opportunity to define their unpopular presidential rematch.

Moderators question both Biden and Trump on their ability to be president at their age

More than 80 minutes into the debate, President Joe Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 78, were asked about their age and ability to serve well into his 80s.

Biden, answering with the hoarse voice he’s had all night, launched on a litany of policy achievements and noted that Trump is only “three years younger.”

Biden also used the answer to slap at Trump for bad-mouthing the U.S. “The idea that we are some kind of failing country? I’ve never heard a president talk like that before,” Biden said.

In his retort, Trump bragged on his golf game and said he’s in as good a shape as he was 25 years ago and perhaps “even a little bit lighter.”

FACT CHECK: Biden cites wrong numbers on a survey of presidential historians

At two different moments in the debate, Joe Biden said either 159 or 158 presidential historians voted Donald Trump the worst president in U.S. history.

He admitted he didn’t have the exact number, and he was right, though he wasn’t far off.

The survey in question, a project from professors at the University of Houston and Coastal Carolina University, included 154 usable responses, from 525 respondents invited to participate.

Candidates discuss climate change

More than an hour into the debate, the candidates finally talked about climate change, which Joe Biden has called an existential crisis and a top priority of his presidency.

Trump, after initially declining to answer on climate, said he wants “absolutely immaculate, clean water and I want absolutely clean air.’’

He said that during his administration, “we were using all forms of energy, all forms, everything’’ and claimed he “had the best environmental numbers ever.’’

It was unclear what he was referring to.

Biden called climate change the greatest threat to humanity, adding that Trump “didn’t do a darn thing about it.’’

Biden cited the 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is authorizes billions for clean energy. Biden called it the most significant climate legislation ever passed.

Trump brags about ‘immaculate, clean water’ during his presidency

When former President Donald Trump was asked what he would do about climate change, he said that the U.S. had “absolutely immaculate, clean water” and air when he was president.

Joe Biden retorted: “He hasn’t done a damn thing” for the environment.

Climate change isn’t an area where Americans think Trump performed especially well as president. Nearly half of Americans said Trump hurt the country on climate change while he was president, while relatively few Americans — only about 1 in 10 — said Trump’s presidency helped the country. About 4 in 10 say he neither helped nor hurt.

They’re more likely to see a positive effect from Biden’s presidency, but it’s not an overwhelming endorsement. Nearly half say Biden neither helped nor hurt the country on climate change, while about 3 in 10 say he helped a lot or a little and roughly 2 in 10 say he hurt the country.

FACT CHECK: Trump’s claim Pelosi turned down his offer to send National Guard members on Jan. 6, 2021

Trump falsely claimed that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “turned down” his offer to send “10,000 soldiers or National Guard” to the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Pelosi does not direct the National Guard. Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

The Capitol Police Board decides on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol. The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand.

Trump’s hush money conviction mentioned for the first time

Almost 45 minutes into the debate, President Joe Biden finally referenced former President Donald Trump’s recent felony conviction in New York.

During a discussion about the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, Biden said: “The only person on this stage that’s a convicted felon is the man I’m looking at right now,” referring to Trump.

Trump then sought to pivot from his own legal troubles by referring to Biden’s son, Hunter, as a “convicted felon.”

He was referencing the younger Biden’s felony conviction this month on three firearms charges. Trump also repeated long-running claims related to the Bidens and Ukraine, a frequent attack point for Republicans.

Questioning turns to the events of Jan. 6, 2021

Debate questions are turning to Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol during the certification of the Electoral College vote count.

Trump was asked by host Jake Tapper whether he violated his oath to protect and defend the Constitution.

Asked about the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump quickly pivoted to immigration and taxes. Pressed on his role, he said he encouraged people to act “peacefully and patriotically,” then attacked former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The rioters on Jan. 6 engaged in hand-to-hand combat with police and used makeshift weapons, including flagpoles, a table leg, hockey stick and crutch, to attack officers. Police officers were bruised and bloodied as they were dragged into the crowd and beaten. One officer was crushed in a doorframe and another suffered a heart attack after a rioter pressed a stun gun against his neck and repeatedly shocked him.

More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal offenses stemming from the riot. Of those, more than 850 have guilty people have pleaded guilty to crimes, including seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers. About 200 others have been convicted at trial.

Biden pushes back on Trump’s NATO comments

Joe Biden pushed back at Donald Trump bragging about pushing European allies to put more money into defense. “This is a guy who wants to pull out of NATO,” Biden said, adding that he “got 50 other nations” to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Biden forcefully responded to Trump’s NATO comments, saying: “He has no idea what the hell he’s talking about.”

About 6 in 10 Americans see NATO membership as a very or somewhat good thing for the U.S., while about one-quarter say it’s neither good nor bad and only about 1 in 10 say it’s very or somewhat bad, according to an AP-NORC poll conducted in February.

Trump claims Russia’s attack on Ukraine would not have happened with him as president

The questioning during Thursday’s debate turned to foreign policy beginning with the Russian war in Ukraine, which is now in its third year.

Former President Donald Trump suggested Russia never would have attacked Ukraine if he had been in office.

“If we had a real president, a president that knew that was respected by Putin, he would have never he would have never invaded Ukraine,” he said.

Trump has a long history of positive comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s toughness, including calling Putin’s tactics in the 2022 invasion of Ukraine “genius” and “very savvy.”

Trump expresses no such warmth for Ukraine or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, most recently calling him a “salesman” this month for the Ukrainian leader’s military aid requests to the United States.

Candidates questioned on immigration and the country’s borders

Former President Donald Trump complained that migrants who arrive in the country illegally are housed in “luxury hotels” while veterans are on the street.

As expected, he also leaned heavily on discussing migrant crime. He also said migrants are coming into the U.S. illegally from “mental institutions” and “insane asylums.” He has not provided evidence for that claim, which he has frequently made at rallies.

Trump also said he had the “safest border border in history” — a highly questionably claim and a familiar talking point.

President Joe Biden has stuck to his talking points on immigration, highlighting 40% drop in arrests for illegal immigration since issuing an executive order suspending asylum.

He’s trying to gain ground on immigration, which has risen as a national priority, not just among Republicans.

Just 3 in 10 Americans approve of Biden’s handling of immigration, according to an AP-NORC poll from June. About 6 in 10 Democrats approve of Biden’s approach to the issue, but only about 2 in 10 Independents and fewer than 1 in 10 Republicans agree.

Rewind: Biden trails off

Joe Biden lost his train of thought during Thursday’s debate while trying to make a point about tax rates and the number of billionaires in America.

Biden trailed off and looked down before mumbling about COVID and saying something to the effect that “we finally beat Medicare.”

When he tried to come back to finish his point, moderator Jake Tapper cut him off because his time was up.

Trump quickly interjected: “He’s right he did beat Medicare. He beat it to death.”

Debate turns to subject of abortion access

President Joe Biden blamed Donald Trump during teh debate for the deluge of state abortion restrictions since the fall of Roe v. Wade.

As president, Trump appointed three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court who helped form the majority that overturned the constitutional right to abortion — and he has taken credit for that during his campaign.

Highlighting Trump’s connection to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and its impact on pregnant people across the U.S. has become a cornerstone of Biden’s campaign. Biden has also warned that a second Trump term could lead to nationwide abortion restrictions.

Trump said on the debate stage that he believes in abortion ban exceptions “for rape, incest and the life of the mother.”

Those exceptions are at the heart of a case the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on Thursday. Under Idaho’s abortion ban, women have been unable to get abortions in medical emergencies because the state only has an exception to save the life of the mother — not to save her health.

Trump repeated his catchall states-rights response when abortion rights came up, touting that he returned the abortion question to individual states after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which once granted a federal right to abortion.

It’s an attempt to find a more cautious stance on the issue, which has become a vulnerability for Republicans and driven turnout for Democrats.

While Trump has repeatedly claimed “the people” are now the ones deciding abortion access, that’s not true everywhere.

Voters don’t have a direct say through citizen-led ballot measures in about half the states. In those that do allow such measures, abortion rights coalitions in several states this year have faced intense efforts by anti-abortion groups to thwart citizen initiatives on reproductive rights.

Voters in seven states, including conservative ones such as Kentucky, Montana and Ohio, have either protected abortion rights or defeated attempts to curtail them in statewide votes over the past two years.

Trump and Biden make multiple factual missteps

Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump made multiple factual missteps as the debate began on Thursday.

Biden started out his debate with a gaffe, claiming he had created 15,000 jobs. The correct number is more than 15 million, a dramatic undercount by someone trying to renew voters’ confidence in his economic leadership.

Biden also said, “It’s $15 for an insulin shot, as opposed to $400.” But out-of-pocket insulin costs for older Americans on Medicare were capped at $35 in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law. The cap took effect last year, when many drugmakers announced they would lower the price of the drug to $35 for most users on private insurance.

Trump said the U.S. economy was ready to start paying down its national debt before the pandemic. That’s not true. Budget deficits were increasing under Trump because his 2017 tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves as he had promised they would. Trump inherited a budget deficit of $585 billion and it ballooned to $984 billion in 2019, only to climb above $3 trillion in 2020 after the pandemic hit, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

And Trump’s claim that “millions” were admitted to the country from prisons and mental institutions is unsubstantiated. There is no evidence of that.

Trump opens debate by bragging about the state of the economy while he was in office

Donald Trump opened Thursday’s debate by bragging about the state of the economy while he was in office as well as his handling of the pandemic.

He said: “Everything was rocking good.

He also said the U.S. economy was ready to start paying down its national debt before the pandemic.

But that’s not true. Budget deficits were increasing under Trump because his 2017 tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves as he had promised they would. Trump inherited a budget deficit of $585 billion and it ballooned to $984 billion in 2019, only to climb above $3 trillion in 2020 after the pandemic hit, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

First question covers state of the U.S. economy

With the economy as the first issue of the debate, Joe Biden detailed what he described as an American economy “in freefall,” while Trump bragged about the state of the economy while he was in office, as well as his handling of the pandemic.

About 3 in 10 Americans said the economy was the most important problem facing the country in a May Gallup poll, but that included a range of economic issues.

About 1 in 10 pointed specifically to the high cost of living or inflation. About 2 in 10 Americans said immigration was the top problem facing the country, and another 2 in 10 said the government/poor leadership were the most important problem.