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Trump defends coronavirus plan, refuses to denounce QAnon as he and Biden square off in separate town halls
- The rivals spoke at town halls on separate TV networks after a physical debate was called off following Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis
- The president dodged questions about his tax returns and refused to denounce the QAnon conspiracy that Democrats are part of a global paedophile ring
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US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Thursday criticised what he called President Donald Trump’s “panicked” response to the coronavirus pandemic, while Trump defended his handling of a crisis that has killed more than 216,000 Americans and refused to denounce the QAnon conspiracy theory.
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The rivals spoke in simultaneous town halls broadcast on separate television networks after a debate originally scheduled for Thursday was called off following Trump’s Covid-19 diagnosis.
The split-screen showdown offered a stark reminder of the many ways the campaign season has been changed by a pandemic that has prompted more than 18 million people to cast ballots more than two weeks before Election Day on November 3.
Biden, speaking to voters in Philadelphia on ABC, blamed the Republican president for concealing the deadliness of the virus.
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“He said he didn’t tell anybody because he was afraid Americans would panic,” Biden said. “Americans don’t panic. He panicked.”
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