AMNA NAWAZ: Over a 90-minute presidential debate last night, there was sparring over top policy issues.

There were personal attacks.

There was even an argument about golf.

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly made false claims, and President Biden repeatedly struggled to dispel concerns about his age.

It's opened new concerns over the stakes of a possible Trump presidency, and it's sparked some discussion about whether Biden should be his party's nominee.

White House correspondent Laura Barron-Lopez has our debate digest tonight.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Tonight, the fallout from a debate full of fumbles and falsehoods.

Both candidates holding rallies in key swing states today to dominate the post-debate airwaves.

Former President Donald Trump claimed a victory in Virginia.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: The question every voter should be asking themselves today is not whether Joe Biden can survive a 90-minute debate performance, but whether America can survive four more years of crooked Joe Biden in the White House.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Though praised by Republicans for his debate performance, Trump repeated lie after lie, including this one on abortion.

DONALD TRUMP: He's willing to, as we say, rip the baby out of the womb in the ninth month and kill the baby.

Nobody wants that to happen, Democrat or Republican.

Nobody wants it to happen.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: You're lying.

That is simply not true, that Roe v. Wade does not provide for that.

MAN: The president of the United States, Joe Biden.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: For President Biden, a rally today in North Carolina to convince his base that he can see it through.

JOE BIDEN: I don't walk as easy as I used to.

I don't speak as smoothly as I used to.

I don't debate as well as I used to.

But I know what I do know.

I know how to tell the truth.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOE BIDEN: I know how to get things done.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) JOE BIDEN: And I know, like millions of Americans know, when you get knocked down, you get back up.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE) LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: After his debate performance left many Democrats in a panic, no moment clearer than when the president appeared to lose his train of thought while talking about the national debt.

JOE BIDEN: Making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I have been able to do with the -- with the COVID -- excuse me -- with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if -- we finally beat Medicare.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Stumbles that happen so frequently that Republicans pounced.

Some in Congress introduced a resolution that would force consideration of the 25th Amendment to remove Biden from office.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): This is an alarming situation.

As I mentioned, our adversaries see the weakness in this White House, as we all do.

I take no pleasure in saying that.

I think this is a very dangerous situation.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Biden's sharpest attacks came when he took aim at one of Trump's biggest vulnerabilities with voters, his criminal cases.

JOE BIDEN: The only person on this stage that is a convicted felon is the man I'm looking at right now.

And the fact of the matter is, he is -- what he's telling you is simply not true.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And called out Trump's continued refusal to accept the results of this year's election.

DANA BASH, Moderator: President Trump, the question was, will you accept the results of the election regardless of who wins?

Yes or no, please?

DONALD TRUMP: If it's a fair and legal and good election, absolutely.

I would have much rather accepted these but the fraud and everything else was ridiculous.

JOE BIDEN: I doubt that you will accept it because you're such a whiner.

The idea, if you lose again, you accept it, and you can't stand the loss.

Something snapped in you when you lost the last time.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Democrats were divided on Biden's debate night, Vice President Kamala Harris hitting the airwaves to defend the president.

KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of the United States: It was a slow start, but it was a strong finish.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Other Biden supporters, like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, with more candor.

GOV.

JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): I acknowledge, now multiple times, Joe Biden had a bad debate night and he's got a burden on him to show people that he is still able to move forward in these debates and in prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Some opinion pages today, including The New York Times, urging Biden to bow out.

But Biden allies quickly called those discussions unhelpful.

GOV.

GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): You don't turn your back because of one performance.

What kind of party does that?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: And President Biden's campaign said that the president is committed to debating Mr. Trump in September -- Geoff.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Laura, as you reported, a sense of panic set in among Democrats after President Biden's debate performance last night.

What are they saying today?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Well, it's not good for Democrats right now, Geoff.

Most Democrats that I spoke to said that they're worried.

And lawmakers, party operatives as well as Democratic Party leaders spoke -- that I spoke to, that you spoke to told us panic is an understatement.

They said things like: "The guy that we're nominating is just not capable of getting elected any longer."

Some also said: "It's going to require a ton of work to come back from this."

But then there were other Democrats, big leaders in the party, like former President Barack Obama, who posted on X: "Bad debate nights happen.

Trust me, I know, but this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself."

Obama ultimately saying that last night didn't change that.

But to put this panic in context, Geoff, I have never heard this level of panic before from Democrats across the board on and off the Hill about whether or not they think President Biden can win in November.

But no one is saying this on the record, Geoff.

No one is saying that they conceivably think that they can replace President Biden on the ticket.

And other major party leaders, like Majority Leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries, as well as Representative Jim Clyburn, are sticking by President Biden.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, how are Biden campaign officials addressing all of this?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Biden campaign officials are essentially saying, look, we understand that it was not a good night for the president, but that it was one night, and that they said that any asks of him to step aside are ridiculous.

They also said that he absolutely will not be stepping aside from this race.

I also spoke to one of President Biden's campaign pollsters, Jef Pollock, who said that in their monitoring of voters in the aftermath of the debate, they saw no real movement based on the debate, that voters were in their partisan corners, and that, amongst undecideds, they saw that some undecided voters in focus groups did not respond well to Donald Trump's personal impacts, didn't respond well when Donald Trump was talking about January 6, and that also it was effective for President Biden when he was attacking Donald Trump specifically on the criminal cases that Donald Trump is facing.

The campaign also pointed to their fund-raising yesterday.

They raised $14 million from small-dollar donors on debate day, and they said that their best hour of fund-raising ever since Biden launched his campaign was in the hour right after the debate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Really?

Well, is replacing President Biden on the ticket, is that even a viable option?

Because he would have to make that decision and he would have to release his delegates.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Geoff, it's possible, but it's highly unlikely.

And if Democrats pursue this, here are the steps that it would take.

It's a difficult process that hasn't been used in decades.

The clearest path is if President Biden declines the nomination.

And at the convention, more than half of pledged delegates would have to reject Biden during the roll call.

So it's something that is certainly possible, but a lot of -- a number of Democrats that I spoke to said that they don't think that the party is at that point right now.

GEOFF BENNETT: As quickly as news cycles move these days, how much impact might one debate have on the race, based on your reporting?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Again, the reaction from Democrats is notable.

It's stark.

And one concern that Democrats have looking forward is downballot.

Is this debate performance from President Joe Biden going to impact Democrats downballot?

So far, they have been polling ahead of President Biden.

They have been running effectively on his record during his first term.

But will this hurt them as they continue running their races in difficult battleground states?

But President Biden today really sought to strike a contrast again and really tried to refocus the race on the stakes.

He called Donald Trump a genuine threat to democracy.

He pointed out that Donald Trump lied over and over during the debate, which as we all know that he did on immigration, on abortion.

And President Biden also said that what's at stake this election cycle is freedom, is democracy.

And so that's what we're going to see the campaign focus on in the weeks ahead, which is that extremism argument that they believe is very effective with not just their base, but also with undecided voters.

GEOFF BENNETT: Laura Barron-Lopez, our thanks to you, as always.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.