Key quotes and moments from the Trump and Biden town halls

By Josh Herman, Countable News

Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump participated in competing town halls in the evening on Thursday, October 15. Both were originally slated to face off against each other, but the president dropped out after the Commission on Presidential Debates decided to go virtual after Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis. 

Here are some key moments from the two events:

• Trump refused to denounce the conspiracy theory QAnon, saying he knows nothing about them - or whether there is a secret government cabal of satanic child molesters - but “I do know that they are very much against pedophilia. I agree with that.” 
• Coming down with coronavirus didn't change Trump's view of masks. Trump said there are "two stories" about whether you should wear them: 

“You have a story where they want, a story where they don't want."

• Biden said his 1994 crime bill was a mistake in hindsight.  “The crime bill itself did not have mandatory sentences, except for two things. It had three strikes and you’re out, which I voted against in the crime bill, but it had a lot of things in it that turned out to be both bad and good."

“Yes, it was mistake. But the mistake came in terms of what the states did locally.”

• Biden's "not a fan" of "court-packing" but if the Senate rushes Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, he's "open to considering what happens from that point on."
• Trump's smile is praised. “I have to say, Mr. President, you have a great smile,” said a voter identified as Paulette Dale. "You’re so handsome when you smile."