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"Will you shut up man!: Biden, Trump spar in first debate

September 30, 2020 08:25 IST

Joe Biden asked Donald Trump to shut up and called him a clown during their contentious first presidential debate, slapping him down as the US president repeatedly interrupted his answers.

IMAGE: US President Donald Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden participate in their first 2020 presidential campaign debate held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/Pool/Reuters

'Would you shut up, man?,' a visibly exasperated Biden said about 20 minutes into the debate after Trump interrupted him again as he tried to talk about the Supreme Court.

And, about 15 minutes later during a discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic, he told Trump again: 'Would you just shush for a minute?'

It happened so many times that moderate Chris Wallace stepped in, asking the US president to let Biden finish his answer and chided.

'I'm the moderator of this debate and I would like you to let me ask my question and then you can answer," Wallace said told Trump.

"Go ahead then," Trump said and then later adding to Wallace: "I guess I'm debating you, not him. No surprise."

The 90-minute show down between the US presidential contenders proved early on that it would a be a knock-out, drag-down match.

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