US Presidential Debate 2020: Debate finds angry opening as Trump, Biden lash out at each other

Cleveland, Sep 30: Democratic challenger Joe Biden branded US President Donald Trump a liar and told him to "shut up" as the pair clashed in a bad-tempered start to their first televised debate.

During the debate, the US President fired back hard at Biden, telling him, "There's nothing smart about you, Joe. Forty-seven years, you've done nothing."

It was seen that tension was palpable from the opening minutes, with the pair interrupting each other repeatedly, leading Biden to lash out at one point, "Will you shut up, man!"

"The fact is that everything he is saying so far is simply a lie. I'm not here to call out his lies. Everybody knows he's a liar," Biden said.

The debate, watched by a deeply divided nation, comes 35 days ahead of the most tense US election in recent memory.

The back-and-forth quickly degenerated after Trump answered the first question, about his nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Trump said he had the right to move swiftly to replace her, while Biden said US voters should weigh in first.

"We won the election," Trump said in answer to the first question, about his nominee Amy Coney Barrett. "Elections have consequences. We have the Senate, we have the White House and we have a phenomenal nominee."

Biden said that Trump and Barrett want to strike down the Affordable Care Act, costing 20 million people their health insurance.