- Candidates offer dramatically different visions at dueling town halls
- Trump refuses to disavow QAnon conspiracy theory
- McConnell says he has votes to confirm Amy Coney Barrett
- Sign up for Fight to Vote – our weekly US election newsletter
8.49am BST
Here’s what Aaron Blake and Eugene Scott at the Washington Post pulled out as their five key takeaways from last night:
8.38am BST
It was this exchange between NBC host Savannah Guthrie and Donald Trump that prompted what was probably the most cutting social media interjection of the night. As Adam Gabbatt noted for us:
Guthrie challenged Trump over QAnon, a baseless online conspiracy theory that the FBI believes is a potential domestic terror threat. Asked by Guthrie if he would denounce the QAnon theory and “just say it’s crazy and not true”, Trump responded: “I don’t know about QAnon.”
“What I do hear about it, they are very strongly against pedophilia,” Trump said.
Actually . . . https://t.co/tdmNIjBP4j
Related: Moderator Savannah Guthrie hailed for keeping Trump in check at town hall
8.28am BST
America is often described as a “split screen nation”, bitterly divided between two political tribes dwelling in echo chambers. But Thursday night at 8pm was a bit too on the nose.
The NBC network hosted a town hall event with Donald Trump. ABC hosted a simultaneous town hall event with his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. It was a fitting battle for a ratings-obsessed US president who made himself a reality TV star on The Apprentice.
Related: Trump and Biden town halls: two channels, two candidates, two planets
8.21am BST
Here are some quick clips of the two performances last night. US president Donald Trump refused to denounce right wing conspiracy theory QAnon during a town hall-style event, claiming he didn’t know about it, despite retweeting QAnon accounts.
In heated exchanges with NBC host Savannah Guthrie, Trump was pressed to denounce white supremacy before being asked about QAnon and a baseless conspiracy theory about Joe Biden.
8.13am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics for Friday. Debates are usually seen as a chance to potentially sway the minds of a few undecided voters. Whether anybody was persuaded to change their view by yesterday’s competing presidential town halls on different networks remains to be seen.
The day is sure to be dominated by the fall-out from the events. Here’s a catch up on where we are, and a little of what we might expect today…
Related: Town hall takeaways: Biden at ease while Trump struggles under pressure