Highlights From Biden's Town Hall

Biden does not rule out the idea of packing the Supreme Court with more justices

By Newser Editors, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 15, 2020 7:47 PM CDT
Updated Oct 15, 2020 8:51 PM CDT

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Highlights From Biden's Town Hall — Joe Biden participates in a town hall with moderator ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Thursday. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

The dueling debates are over. President Trump appeared on NBC News, and you can read highlights here. This file has highlights from Joe Biden's town hall on ABC News, via the AP, Politico, USA Today, and the Washington Post:

"He panicked," Biden said of Trump's coronavirus response. He added that Trump "missed enormous opportunities and kept saying things that weren’t true" on the virus.
Biden again said he is "not a fan" of packing the Supreme Court with more judges, but he didn't rule out the idea. "It depends on how this turns out," he said in reference to the Amy Coney Barrett nomination. "It depends on how much they rush this." If she is confirmed before Election Day, as now seems likely, Biden said he is "open to considering what happens from that point on." He said he would make his position clear before Nov. 3.
Biden suggested he would prefer to make a COVID vaccine mandatory. “It depends on the state of the nature of the vaccine, when it comes out and how it’s being distributed,” he said. “But I think we should think about making it mandatory.” However, when moderator George Stephanopoulos asked how he could enforce such a rule, Biden acknowledged he couldn't. "That's the problem."

Biden said he does not want get rid of all of Trump's tax cuts, only the ones for the nation's wealthiest, the 1%. "That’s what I’m talking about eliminating, not all the tax cuts that are out there."
The former VP said he stood by his statement from a quarter-century ago that "more cops mean less crime," but he added a qualifier. “Yes, if in fact they're involved in community policing not jump squads." On police brutality, he said, “You can ban chokeholds but beyond that you need to teach people how to de-escalate circumstances."
Biden said he regretted supporting the 1994 federal crime bill, which he was influential in getting passed. Was it a mistake? “Yes, it was,” he said. "But here’s where the mistake came. The mistake came in terms of what the states did locally."
A loss to Trump could say, "I'm a lousy candidate, and I didn't do a good job," said Biden. “I hope that it doesn't say that we are as racially, ethnically and religiously at odds with one another as it appears the president wants us to be."

(More Election 2020 stories.)

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