The first general election debate of the 2024 US Presidential Election season began in Atlanta. US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump were face to face in this. A new record has also been set in this debate.

In fact, never before have two contenders for the White House at such an old age come face to face.

What happened in the debate

• During the debate, Trump was questioned by host Jake Tapper about the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol Hill incident. 
• Trump was asked if he had violated his oath to protect and defend the Constitution. Trump immediately focused on immigration and taxes. However, Trump then said he encouraged people to act in a "peaceful and patriotic" manner. 
• The first half hour of the debate saw Joe Biden give rambling answers that sometimes halted as he defended his policies and record.
• Donald Trump raised the issue of the falling economy, abortion and the defense spending of NATO members. Along with this, he gave many false answers on Capitol Hill. 
• Both have also made deeply personal attacks.
• Biden hit back at Trump's NATO comments, saying he was pushing European allies to put more money into defense. Biden said "this is a man who wants to pull out of NATO."

Biden hits back at Trump over NATO

Biden has responded forcefully to Trump's NATO comments, saying he has no idea what he's talking about. According to an AP-NORC poll conducted in February, 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.

Then the Russia-Ukraine war would not have happened...

Trump claimed during this time that Russia would not have attacked Ukraine if he was president. During Thursday's debate, the questions focused on foreign policy, which started with the Russian war in Ukraine. Former President Donald Trump said that if he were in office, Russia would never have attacked Ukraine. Targeting Biden, he said that if we had a right president, a president who knows that Putin respects him, he would never have attacked Ukraine.