future. But she also has to own the past. So how does she do this? It's quite easy because I do
believe that in talking about the future, you draw from your past. You draw from your past
experiences. She draws from how she was raised. The values that was instilled in her as a young lady.
Look, she is steady on her feet, still in her resolve, and tonight she should talk to the American
people, sitting there living rooms. Go to their kitchen table and say, look, I have some ideas
that I want to share with you. There's so much that we have done together over the last four years.
But here's what I think we can do together over the next four years. Be positive in her approach
and really remind the American people that we don't want to go back to the chaos and the confusion,
the disaster that made, of course, the American people go out in droves in 2020 to fire the former
president. Say, I want to be a president that lead all Americans. I want to keep a strong and
secure. And here's the plan that I want to share with you tonight. And, Donna, I, of course, meant
Biden. She has to own up to the Biden administration's any mistakes they made too, and Donald Trump
is going to go after her on that. You know, Martha, they made mistakes. Donald Trump and Mr.
Pence made mistakes. But you know what, we focus on our mistakes. We won't focus on all of the good
things that we could do together as Americans. I do believe there's something to say about people
who are now able to work. The people who can buy their insulin without paying over $1,000, $35,
there's so much good that she can talk about from the visit that she's made to small towns
across this country, large cities across the country, bring us together. The American people
want to be led into the future, not dragged back to another era.
And, Rince, I want your thoughts on you've also prepped Donald Trump for debates back in 2016.
I believe what Donald Trump do you think we'll see tonight? Can he be disciplined about talking
about policies and what kind of president he will be? Well, he certainly can be. I mean,
the reality is Donald Trump doesn't have a lot to lose tonight. I mean, his support has always been
almost unmovable. So the second piece is the honeymoon, I think, is over for Kamala Harris.
And you all kind of touched on it with Donna. Kamala Harris has the answer for the state of the
economy that she took a role in in the Biden administration, the border. You know, her past
positions on decriminalizing the border, decriminalizing certain drugs, what her role was in Afghanistan.
So really, the spotlight is on Kamala Harris tonight because she played a role in the Biden
administration. She wants to act like she's not an incumbent. So this is where the focus is going
to be. And she's got a lot to answer for tonight. And I think that's where Donald Trump's focus
will be and where it actually should be tonight. Well, one of the things he wants to do is have
female voters look at him. How does he attract female voters after saying things about Kamala
Harris? And we'll see how he pronounces that tonight. Things he said about Kamala Harris,
that she's dumb as a rock. That's not really going to attract female voters, is it?
Yeah, no, no, it won't. But I also think that just like he did in the first debate against Joe
Biden, I think the formula here is to constantly tie Kamala Harris to the Biden administration,
which is where Trump is winning against her on the economy inflation and all these other problems
that we're having. And then sit back and let her talk, let her explain herself her past positions,
current positions. How does she feel about how Biden has done on the economy? How does she feel
about the border? We'll then turn it over and let her talk.
Okay, thanks so much for joining us tonight. Don and Ryan Swell staying tuned. Can't wait.
And I have to say, as we are just a couple of less than two minutes away, this such an
extraordinary moment, and especially Rachel, when you consider that these two people that have been
the center of our lives for the last two months have never met each other. Never even met each
other. And Harris said, if you got something to say, say it to my face, the question tonight,
does Donald Trump actually go there? He's questioned her racial identity. He's questioned her
intelligence as well, or does he stick to the issues? Look, this is the largest audience they're likely
going to have in this race. It will be interesting to see if Harris can make clear the stark choice
before voters. And where does she decide to land her punches? She can punch hard. Can she do that
while rising above the needle and coming her way? But first and foremost, are we going to see a
handshake when the two of them meet for the first time? We didn't back in 2016 when I did that debate,
we'll stand by to see that tonight, but the first time side to side together.
And I have my doubts that we're going to see that handshake, but what you are going to see
is a spirited debate, and perhaps the most consequential general election debate we have ever seen,
because almost certainly going to be the last one. So with the stakes so high, the presidential
debate just moments away, we have the entire news division keeping an eye on everything.
We're going to be fact checking on our live blog. It's all going to be happening
right here. The debate now just 10 seconds away, and we will be back with our post-game show
as soon as we go over. We are going to toss it right now to David Miller.
Tonight, the high stakes showdown here in Philadelphia between Vice President Kamala Harris and former
President Donald Trump, their first face-to-face meeting in this presidential election, their first
face-to-face meeting ever. A historic race for President Upended just weeks ago, President Biden
withdrawing after his last debate, Donald Trump now up against a new opponent. The candidates
separated by the smallest of margins, essentially tied in the polls nationally and in the key
battlegrounds, including right here in Pennsylvania, all still very much in play. The ABC News presidential
debate starts right now. This is an ABC News special, the most consequential moment of this
campaign, Kamala Harris. Together, we will chart a new way forward. Donald Trump. We will soon be
a great nation again. Face-to-face, historic. The ABC News presidential debate. Here now,
David Muir and Lindsey Davis. Good evening, I'm David Muir, and thank you for joining us for tonight's
ABC News presidential debate. We want to welcome viewers watching on ABC and around the world
tonight. Vice President Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump are just moments away from taking
the stage in this unprecedented race for president. And I'm Lindsey Davis. Tonight's meeting could
be the most consequential event of their campaigns with Election Day, now less than two months away.
For Vice President Kamala Harris, this is her first debate since President Biden withdrew from
the race on July 21st. Of course, that decision followed his debate against President Donald Trump
since then, this race has taken on an entirely new dynamic. And that brings us to the rules of
tonight's debate. 90 minutes with two commercial breaks, no topics or questions have been shared
with the campaigns. The candidates will have two minutes to answer questions, and this is the clock.
That's what they'll be seeing, two minutes for rebuttals, and one minute for follow-ups,
clarifications, or responses. Their microphones will only be turned on when it's their turn to
speak, no pre-written notes allowed. There is no audience here tonight in this hall at the
National Constitution Center. This is an intimate setting for two candidates who have never met.
President Trump won the coin toss. He chose to deliver the final closing statement of the evening.
Vice President Harris selected the podium to the right.
So let's now welcome the candidates to the stage. Vice President Kamala Harris and President Donald
Trump.
Kamala Harris.
Is that a good debate?
Yes, you see. Have fun.
Thank you.
Welcome to you both. It's wonderful to have you. It's an honor to have you both here tonight.
Good evening. We are looking forward to a spirited and thoughtful debate.
So let's get started. I want to begin tonight with the issue that voters repeatedly say
is their number one issue, and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country.
Vice President Harris, you and President Trump were elected four years ago, and your
opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters, are you better off than you were
four years ago? When it comes to the economy, do you believe Americans are better off than they
were four years ago? So I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this
stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America.
I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people,
and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy.
Because here's the thing. We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing,
and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people. We know that young families
need support to raise their children, and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of
$6,000, which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time,
so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their
children. My passion, one of them, is small businesses. I was actually my mother raised my
sister and me, but there was a woman who helped raise us. We call her our second mother. She was
a small business owner. I love our small businesses. My plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to
start up small businesses, knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy.
My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before,
which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, which will result in $5
trillion to America's deficit. My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump's sales tax,
which would be a 20 percent tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month.
Economists have said that Trump's sales tax would actually result for middle-class families
in about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be
the backs of middle-class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires.
President Trump, I'll give you two minutes. First of all, I have no sales tax. That's
an incorrect statement. She knows that we're doing tariffs on other countries. Other countries
are going to finally, after 75 years, pay us back for all that we've done for the world.
And the tariff will be substantial in some cases. I took in billions and billions of dollars,
as you know from China. In fact, they never took the tariff off because it was so much money they
can't. It would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do. They're taken in
billions of dollars from China and other places. They've left the tariff zone. When I had it,
I had tariffs, and yet I had no inflation. Look, we've had a terrible economy because
inflation has, which is really known as a country buster. It breaks up countries.
We have inflation, like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in our
nation's history. We were at 21 percent, but that's being generous because many things are 50, 60,
70, and 80 percent higher than they were just a few years ago. This has been a disaster for
people for the middle class, but for every class. On top of that, we have millions of people
pouring into our country from prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums.
And they're coming in and they're taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans
and Hispanics and also unions. Unions are going to be affected very soon. And you see what's
happening. You see what's happening with towns throughout the United States. You look at
Springfield, Ohio. You look at Aurora in Colorado. They are taking over the towns. They're taking
over buildings. They're going in violently. These are the people that she and Biden led into our
country and they're destroying our country. They're dangerous. They're at the highest level of
criminality. And we have to get them out. We have to get them out fast. I created one of the greatest
economies in the history of our country. I'll do it again and even better.
We are going to get to immigration and border security during this debate, but I would like to
let Vice President Harris respond on the economy here. Well, I would love to. Let's talk about what
Donald Trump left us. Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.
Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century. Donald Trump left us the
worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. And what we have done is clean up Donald
Trump's mess. What we have done and what I intend to do is build on what we know are the aspirations
and the hopes of the American people. But I'm going to tell you on this debate tonight,
you're going to hear from the same old tired playbook, a bunch of lies, grievances, and name
calling. What you're going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025
that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected to again. I believe very strongly
that the American people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together
know we have so much more in common than what separates us. And I pledge to you to be a president
for all Americans. President Trump will give you a minute here to respond.
Number one, I have nothing to do. As you know, and as she knows better than anyone, I have nothing
to do with Project 2025. That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it purposely. I'm
not going to read it. This was a group of people that got together. They came up with some ideas.
I guess some good, some bad, but it makes no difference. I have nothing to do. Everybody knows
I'm an open book. Everybody knows what I'm going to do. Cut taxes very substantially
and create a great economy like I did before. We had the greatest economy. We got hit with a
pandemic. And the pandemic was not since 1917, where 100 million people died. Has there been
anything like it? We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic. We handed them over a country where
the economy and where the stock market was higher than it was before the pandemic came in. Nobody's
ever seen anything like it. We made ventilators for the entire world. We got gowns. We got masks.
We did things that nobody thought possible. And people give me credit for rebuilding the military.
They give me credit for a lot of things, but not enough credit for the great job we did with
the pandemic. But the only jobs they got were bounce back jobs. These were jobs bounce back.
And it bounced back and it went to their benefit. But I was the one that created them. They know it.
And so does everybody else. Vice President Harris, I'll let you respond.
So Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it's all about tax
breaks for the richest people. I am offering what I describe as an opportunity economy.
And the best economist in our country, if not the world, have reviewed our relative plans for
the future of America. What Goldman Sachs has said is that Donald Trump's plan would make the
economy worse. Mine would strengthen the economy. What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump's
plan would actually explode the deficit. 16 Nobel laureates have described his economic plan as
something that would increase inflation and by the middle of next year would invite a recession.
You just have to look at where we are and where we stand on the issues. And I'd invite you to know
that Donald Trump actually has no plan for you because he is more interested in defending himself
than he is in looking out for you. That's just a sound but thank you for that to say. Look,
I went to the Wharton School of Finance and many of those professors, the top professors,
think my plan is a brilliant plan. It's a great plan. It's a plan that's going to
bring up our worth, our value as a country. It's going to make people want to be able to go and work
and create jobs and create a lot of good, solid money for our country. And just to finish off,
she doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan and it's like four sentences, like run spot,
run, four sentences that are just, oh, we'll try and lower taxes. She doesn't have a plan. Take a
look at her plan. She doesn't have a plan. Mr. President, I do want to drill down on something
you both brought up. The vice president brought up your tariffs. You responded and let's drill
down on this because your plan is what she calls as essentially a national sales tax. Your proposal
calls for tariffs, as you pointed out here, on foreign imports across the board. You recently
said that you might double your plan, imposing tariffs up to 20 percent on goods coming into
this country. As you know, many economists say that tariffs at that level cost are then passed
on to the consumer. Vice President Harris has argued it will mean higher prices on gas,
food, clothing, medication, arguing it costs the typical family nearly $4,000 a year.
Do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs?
They're not going to have higher prices. What's going to have and who's going to have higher
prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years.
I charged. I was the only president ever. China was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars and so
were other countries. And, you know, if she doesn't like them, they should have gone out and they
should have immediately cut the tariffs. But those tariffs are there three and a half years now
under their administration. We are going to take in billions of dollars, hundreds of billions of
dollars. I had no inflation, virtually no inflation. They had the highest inflation perhaps in the
history of our country because I've never seen a worse period of time. People can't go out and buy
cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. These, the people of our country are absolutely dying
with what they've done. They've destroyed the economy. And all you have to do is look at a poll.
The polls say 80 and 85 and even 90 percent that the Trump economy was great, that their economy
was terrible. Vice President Harris, I do want to ask for your response. And you heard what the
president said there because the Biden administration did keep a number of the Trump tariffs in place.
So how do you respond? Well, let's be clear that the Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit,
one of the highest we've ever seen in the history of America. He invited trade wars. You want to
talk about his deal with China. What he ended up doing is under Donald Trump's presidency.
He ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military,
basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of
America wins the competition for the 21st century, which means focusing on the details of what that
requires, focusing on relationships with our allies, focusing on investing in American-based
technology so that we win the race on AI, on quantum computing, focusing on what we need to do
to support America's workforce so that we don't end up having the on this short end of the stick
in terms of workers' rights. But what Donald Trump did, let's talk about this with COVID,
is he actually thanked President Xi for what he did during COVID. Look at his tweet.
Thank you, President Xi, exclamation point, when we know that Xi was responsible for lacking
and not giving us transparency about the origins of COVID. President Trump, I'll let you respond.
First of all, they bought their chips from Taiwan. We hardly make chips anymore because of
philosophies like they have and policies like they have. I don't say her because she has no policy.
Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window.
She's going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.
She's gone to my philosophy. But if she ever got elected, she'd change it. And it will be the end
of our country. She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist. Her father's a Marxist professor
in economics, and he taught her well. But when you look at what she's done to our country,
and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country
monthly, where it's, I believe, 21 million people, not the 15 that people say.
And I think it's a lot higher than the 21. That's bigger than New York State pouring in,
and just look at what they're doing to our country. They're criminals. Many of these people coming in
are criminals. And that's bad for our economy, too. You know, you mentioned before, we'll talk
about immigration later. Well, bad immigration is the worst thing that can happen to our economy.
They have, and she has destroyed our country with policy that's insane. Almost policy that you say
they have to hate our country. President Trump, thank you. Lindsay.
I want to turn to the issue of abortion. President Trump, you've often touted that you were able
to kill Roe v. Wade last year. You said that you were proud to be the most pro-life president in
American history. Then last month, you said that your administration would be great for women
and their reproductive rights. In your homestead of Florida, you surprised many
with regard to your six-week abortion ban, because you initially had said that it was too short.
And you said, quote, I'm going to be voting that we need more than six weeks. But then,
the very next day, your reverse course, and said you would vote to support the six-week ban.
Vice President Harris says that women shouldn't trust you on the issue of abortion, because
you've changed your position so many times. Therefore, why should they trust you?
The reason I'm doing that vote is because the plan is, as you know, the vote is,
they have abortion in the ninth month. They even have, and you can look at the governor of
West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, is doing an
excellent job. But the governor before, he said, the baby will be born, and we will decide what to
do with the baby. In other words, we'll execute the baby. And that's why I did that, because that
predominates, because they're radical. The Democrats are radical in that. And her vice
presidential pick, which I think is a horrible pick, by the way, for our country, because he is
really out of it. But her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely
fine. He also says, execution after birth. It's an execution, no longer abortion, because the
baby is born, is okay. And that's not okay with me, hence the vote. But what I did is something
for 52 years, they've been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states. And through the
genius and heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we were able to do that. Now,
I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest, and life of the mother. I believe strongly,
and Ronald Reagan did also 85% of Republicans do exceptions. Very important. But we were able to
get it. And now states are voting on it. And for the first time, you're going to see, look,
this is an issue that's torn our country apart for 52 years. Every legal scholar,
every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative, they all wanted this issue to be
brought back to the states where the people could vote. And that's what happened. Happened. Now,
Ohio, the vote was somewhat liberal. Kansas, the vote was somewhat liberal, much more liberal
than people would have thought. But each individual state is voting. It's the vote of the people
now. It's not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage
to do it. And the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it. And I give tremendous credit to those
six justices. There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born.
Madam Vice President, I want to get your response to President Trump.
Well, as I said, you're going to hear a bunch of lies. And that's not actually a surprising fact.
Let's understand how we got here. Donald Trump
hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention
that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. And they did exactly as he intended.
And now in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal
for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state. It provides prison for life.
Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest, which understand what that means.
A survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about
what happens to their body next. That is immoral. And one does not have to abandon their faith
or deeply held beliefs to agree. The government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling
a woman what to do with her body. I have talked with women around our country.
You want to talk about this is what people wanted?
Pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage, being denied
care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail.
And she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot. She didn't want that. Her husband didn't want that.
A 12 or 13 year old survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term.
They don't want that. And I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the
protections of Roe v. Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.
But understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban.
Understand, in his project 2025, there would be a national abortion, a monitor that would
be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages. I think the American people believe
that certain freedoms, in particular, the freedom to make decisions about one's own body,
should not be made by the government.
Thank you, Vice President Harris.
Well, there she goes again. It's a lie. I'm not signing a ban, and there's no reason to sign a
ban, because we've gotten what everybody wanted. Democrats, Republicans, and everybody else,
and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states. And the states are voting,
and it may take a little time. But for 52 years, this issue has torn our country apart,
and they've wanted it back in the states. And I did something that nobody thought was possible.
The states are now voting. What she says is an absolute lie.
And as far as the abortion ban, no, I'm not in favor of abortion ban, but it doesn't matter,
because this issue has now been taken over by the states.
Would you veto a national abortion ban if it continues?
Well, I won't have to, because, again, and two things. Number one, she said she'll go back to
Congress. She'll never get the vote. There's impossible for her to get the vote, especially
now with the 50-50, and essentially 50-50 in both Senate and the House.
She's not going to get the vote. She can't get the vote. She won't even come close to it.
So it's just talk. You know what? It reminds me of when they said they're going to get student
loans terminated, and it ended up being a total catastrophe. The student loans, and then her,
I think probably her boss, if you call him a boss, he spends all his time in the beach.
But look, her boss went out and said, we'll do it again. We'll do it a different way. He went out,
got rejected again by the Supreme Court. So all these students got taunted with this whole
thing about this whole idea, and how unfair that would have been, part of the reason they lost,
to the millions and millions of people that had to pay off their student loans. They didn't get
it for free. But they were saying, it's the same way that they talked about that, that they talk
about abortion. But if I could just get a yes or no, because your running mate, Janet,
JD Vance, has said that you would veto if you did come to your desk.
Well, I didn't discuss it with JD in all fairness. JD, and I don't mind if he has a certain view,
but I think you speak of him, but I really didn't. Look, we don't have to discuss it,
because she'd never be able to get it, just like she couldn't get student loans. They couldn't get
student loans. They didn't even come close to getting student loans. They taunted young people,
and a lot of other people that had loans. They can never get this approved. So it doesn't matter
what she says about going to Congress. So wonderful. Let's go to Congress, do it.
But the fact is that for years, they wanted to get it out of Congress and out of the federal
government. And we did something that everybody said couldn't be done. And now you have a vote
of the people on abortion. Vice President Harris, I want to give you your time to respond. But I
do want to ask, would you support any restrictions on a woman's right to an abortion?
I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade. And as you rightly mentioned,
nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not
happening. It's insulting to the women of America. And understand what has been happening under
Donald Trump's abortion bans. Couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied
IVF treatments. What is happening in our country? Working people, working women
who are working one or two jobs, who can barely afford child care as it is,
have to travel to another state, to get on a plane sitting next to strangers,
to go and get the health care she needs. Barely can't afford to do it. And what you are putting
her through is unconscionable. And the people of America have not, the majority of Americans
believe in a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. And that is why in every state
where this issue has been on the ballot in red and blue states, both, the people of America have
voted for freedom. Vice President, I have to respond to another lie. It's another lie.
I have been a leader on IVF, which is fertilization. The IVF, I have been a leader. In fact,
when they got a very negative decision on IVF from the Alabama courts,
I saw the people of Alabama and the legislature two days later voted it in. I've been a leader
on it. They know that and everybody else knows it. I have been a leader on fertilization IVF.
And the other thing, they, you should ask, will she allow abortion in the eighth month,
ninth month, seventh month? Okay, would you do that? Why don't you ask that question? That's the
problem. Because under Roe v. Wade, you could do abortions in the seventh month, the eighth month,
the ninth month, and probably after birth. Just look at the governor, former governor of Virginia.
The governor of Virginia said we put the baby aside and then we determine what we
want to do with the baby. President Trump, thank you. We're going to turn now to immigration and
border security. We know it's an issue that's important to Republicans, Democrats, voters across
the board in this country. Vice President Harris, you were tasked by President Biden with getting
to the root causes of migration from Central America. We know that illegal border crossings
reached a record high in the Biden administration. This past June, President Biden imposed tough
new asylum restrictions. We know the numbers since then have dropped significantly.
But my question to you tonight is why did the administration wait until six months before
the election to act? And would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this?
So I'm the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations
for the trafficking of guns, drugs, and human beings. And let me say that the United States
Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate,
came up with a border security bill which I supported. And that bill would have put 1,500
more border agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now over time
trying to do their job. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the
United States. I know there are so many families watching tonight who have been personally affected
by the surge of fentanyl in our country. That bill would have put more resources to allow us
to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns, drugs, and human beings.
But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in
Congress, and said, killed the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem
instead of fixing a problem. And understand, this comes at a time where the people of our
country actually need a leader who engages in solutions, who actually addresses the problems
at hand. But what we have in the former president is someone who would prefer to run on a problem
instead of fixing a problem. And I'll tell you something. He's going to talk about immigration
a lot tonight, even when it's not the subject that is being raised. And I'm going to actually
do something really unusual, and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies,
because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his
rallies, he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about
windmills caused cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies
early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk
about is you. You will not hear him talk about your needs, your dreams, and your desires.
And I'll tell you, I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first,
and I pledge to you that I will. Vice President Harris, thank you. President Trump,
on that point, I want to get your responses. Well, I would like to respond. Let me just ask
though. Why did you try to kill that bill, and successfully so, that would have put thousands of
additional agents and officers on the board? First let me respond to the rallies. She said,
people start leaving. People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people
that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there, and then showing them in a different
light. So she can't talk about that. People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies,
the most incredible rallies in the history of politics. That's because people want to take
their country back. Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. And it happened three and
a half years ago. And what's going on here, you're going to end up in World War III just to go into
another subject. What they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people
to come into our country and look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States.
And a lot of towns don't want to talk. It's not going to be Aurora or Springfield.
A lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it. In Springfield,
they're eating the dogs, the people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating
they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country.
And it's a shame. As far as rallies are concerned, as far as the reason they go is they like what I
say. They want to bring our country back. They want to make America great against. Very simple
phrase, make America great again. She's destroying this country. And if she becomes president,
this country doesn't have a chance of success. Not only success will end up being Venezuela on
steroids. I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio, and ABC News did
reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific
claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.
All I see people on television say here, this is the people on television say my dog was taken
and used for food. So maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city
manager. I'm not taking this from television. I'm taking it from the city manager. I was eaten
by the people that went there. Again, the Springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that.
I'll let you respond to the rest of what you've heard.
Talk about extreme.
This is, I think, one of the reasons why in this election, I actually have the endorsement
of 200 Republicans who have formally worked with President Bush, Mitt Romney, and John McCain,
including the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congress member Liz Cheney.
And if you want to really know the inside track on who the former president is, if he didn't make
it clear already, just ask people who have worked with him. His former chief of staff of four-star
general has said he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States. His former national security
advisor has said he is dangerous and unfit. His former secretary of defense has said the nation,
the republic would never survive another Trump term. And when we listen to this kind of rhetoric,
when the issues that affect the American people are not being addressed, I think the choice is
clear in this election. President Trump will give you a quick minute to respond here.
Thank you, because when I hear that, see, I'm a different kind of a person. I fired most of
those people. Not so graciously. They did bad things or bad job. I fired them. They never fired
one person. They didn't fire anybody having to do with Afghanistan and the Taliban and the 13
people who's were just killed, viciously and violently killed. And I get to know the parents
and the family. They didn't fire. They should have fired all those generals, all those top
people, because that was one of the most incompetently handled situations anybody has ever seen.
So when somebody does a bad job, I fire them. And you take a guy like Esper. He was no good.
I fired him. So he writes a book. Another one writes a book, because with me, they can write
books with nobody else, can they? But they have done such a poor job, and they never fire anybody.
Look at the economy. Look at the inflation. They didn't fire any of their economists.
They have the same people. That's a good way not to have books written about you,
but just to finish, I got more votes than any Republican in history by far. In fact,
I got more votes than any president sitting president in history by far.
Let me continue on immigration. It was what you wanted to talk about earlier. So let's get back
to your deportation proposal that the vice president has reacted to as well. President
Trump, you call this the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country. You say
you would use the National Guard. You say if things get out of control, you'd have
no problem using the US military. You also said you would use local police.
How would you deport 11 million undocumented immigrants? I know you believe that number is
much higher. Take us through this. What does this look like? Will authorities be going door to door
in this country? Yeah. It is much higher because of them. They allowed criminals, many, many,
millions of criminals. They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed
people to come in drug dealers, to come into our country. And they're now in the United States
and told by their countries, like Venezuela, don't ever come back or we're going to kill you.
Do you know the crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world
is way down. You know why? Because they've taken their criminals off the street and they've given
them to her to put into our country. And this will be one of the greatest mistakes in history for
them to allow. And I think they probably did it because they think they're going to get votes,
but it's not worth it because they're destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done.
There's never been anything done like this at all. They've destroyed the fabric of our country.
Millions of people let in. And all over the world, crime is down all over the world except here.
Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made,
crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called
migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible.
President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down
in this country. But excuse me, the FBI defraud, they were defrauding statements.
They didn't include the worst cities. They didn't include the cities with the worst crime.
It was a fraud, just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created
turned out to be a fraud. President Trump, thank you. I'll let you respond by his President Harry.
Well, I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted
for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference has been found liable
for sexual assault. And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal
sentencing. And let's be clear, where each person stands on the issue of what is important
about respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement, the former vice president
called for defunding federal law enforcement. 45,000 agents get this on the day after he was
arraigned on 34 felony counts. So let's talk about what is important in this race. It is
important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address
the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage,
which I have a plan for, address what we must do to support our small businesses, address
bringing down the price of groceries. But frankly, the American people are exhausted
with the same old tired playbook. Vice President Harris, thank you. Excuse me,
every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And I'm winning
most of them and I will win the rest on appeal. And you saw that with the decision that came down
just recently from the Supreme Court, I'm winning most of them. But those are cases,
it's called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the Justice Department.
Every one of those cases was involved with the DOJ from Atlanta and Fawnee Willis to the
Attorney General of New York and the DA in New York. Every one of those cases. And then they say,
oh, he was, he's a criminal. They're the ones that made them go after me. By the way, Joe Biden
was found essentially guilty on the documents case. And what happened in my documents case?
They said, oh, that's the toughest of them all. A complete and total victory. Two months ago,
it was thrown out. It's weaponization and they used it and it's never happened in this country.
They used it to try and win an election. They're fake cases. President Trump,
thank you. A really quick response here, Vice President Harris, on this notion of weaponization
of the Justice Department. Well, let's talk about extreme and understand the context in which this
election in 2024 is taking place. The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the
former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he were to enter the White House
again. Understand, this is someone who has openly said he would terminate, I'm quoting,
terminate the Constitution of the United States, that he would weaponize the Department of Justice
against his political enemies. Someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our
military. Understand what it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the White House with no guard
rails. Because certainly we know now the court won't stop him. We know J.D. Vance is not going
to stop him. It's up to the American people to stop him. Vice President Harris, thank you.
Vice President Harris, in your last run for president. This is the one that weaponized, not me.
She weaponized. I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me.
They talk about democracy. I'm a threat to democracy. They're the threat to democracy.
President Trump. It was a fake Russia, Russia, Russia investigation. That went nowhere.
We have a lot to get to. Lindsey. Vice President Harris, in your last run for president,
you said you wanted to ban fracking. Now you don't. You wanted mandatory government buyback
programs for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don't. You supported decriminalizing
border crossings. Now you're taking a harder line. I know you say that your values have not changed.
So then why have so many of your policy positions changed? So my values have not changed. And I'm
going to discuss every one of the, at least every point that you've made. But in particular,
let's talk about fracking because we're here in Pennsylvania. I made that very clear in 2020.
I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as Vice President of the United States. And in
fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.
My position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy. So we reduce our
reliance on foreign oil. We have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history
because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil. As it relates
to my values, let me tell you, I grew up a middle-class kid raised by a hardworking mother who worked
and saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager. The values I bring to the
importance of homeownership, knowing not everybody got handed, $400 million on a silver platter and
then file bankruptcy six times, is a value that I bring to my work to say we are going to work
with the private sector and home builders to increase three million homes, increase by three
million homes by the end of my first term. My work that is related to having a friend when I was
in high school who was sexually assaulted by her stepfather. And my focus then on protecting women
and children from violent crime is based on a value that is deeply grounded in the importance
of standing up for those who are most vulnerable. My work that is about protecting social security
and Medicare is based on longstanding work that I have done, protecting seniors from scams.
My values have not changed and what is important is that there is a president who actually brings
values and a perspective that is about lifting people up and not beating people down and name
calling. The true measure of the leader is the leader who actually understands the strength is
not in beating people down. It's in lifting people up. I intend to be that president.
President Trump, your response. Well, first of all, I wasn't given $400 million. I wish I was.
My father was a Brooklyn builder, Brooklyn Queens, and a great father. And I learned a lot from
it. But I was given a fraction of that, a tiny fraction, and have built it into many, many billions
of dollars, many, many billions. And when people see it, they are even surprised.
So we don't have to talk about that. Fracking, she's been against it for 12 years.
Defund the police. She's been against that forever. She gave all that stuff up very wrongly, very
horribly. And everybody's laughing at it, okay? They're all laughing at it. She gave up at least
12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies, like she was big on Defund the police. In Minnesota,
she went out, wait a minute, I'm talking now. If you don't mind, please. Does that sound familiar?
She went out, she went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people,
that burned down Minneapolis. She went out and raised money to get them out of jail.
She did things that nobody would ever think of. Now she wants to do transgender operations on
illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this.
She wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania.
If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one. Just to finish one thing,
it's so important, in my opinion. So I got the oil business going like nobody has ever done before.
They took, when they took over, they got rid of it, started getting rid of it. And the prices were
going up the roof. They immediately let these guys go to where they were.
I would have been five times, four times, five times higher, because you're talking
about three and a half years ago. They got it up to where I was because they had no choice,
because the prices of energy were quadrupling and doubling. You saw what happened to gasoline.
So they said, let's go back to Trump. But if she won the election the day after that election,
they'll go back to destroying our country. And oil will be dead, fossil fuel will be dead.
We'll go back to windmills and we'll go back to solar, where they need a whole desert to get
some energy to come out. Do you ever see a solar plant? By the way, I'm a big fan of solar. But
they take 400, 500 acres of desert soil. These are not good things that we have to get to.
Thank you, Lindsey. Thank you. We have an election in just 56 days.
I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power, which, of course, we all know,
is a cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president in a moment of crisis.
Mr. President, on January 6, you told your supporters to march to the Capitol. You said
you would be right there with them. The country and the world saw what played out of the Capitol
that day. The officers coming under attack. AIDS in the West Wing say you watched it unfold on
television off the Oval Office. You did send out tweets, but it was more than two hours
before you sent out that video message telling your supporters to go home.
Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?
You just said a thing that is uncovered peacefully and patriotically. I said during my speech,
not later on, peacefully and patriotically. And nobody on the other side was killed.
Ashley Babbitt was shot by an out of control police officer that should have never, ever shot her.
It's a disgrace. But we didn't do this group of people that have been treated so badly.
I asked, what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people?
That she allowed to pour it in. She was the borders are. Remember that? She was the borders are.
She doesn't want to be called the borders are because she's embarrassed by the border. In fact,
she said at the beginning, oh, I'm surprised you're not talking about the border yet. That's because
she knows what a bad job they've done. What about those people? What are they going to be prosecuted?
One of these people from countries all over the world, not just South America,
they're coming in from all over the world, David, all over the world and crime rates are down all
over the world because of it. But let me just say, David, one of those people are going to be
prosecuted. One of the people that burned down Minneapolis is going to be prosecuted or in Seattle.
They went into Seattle. They took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle.
One of those people are going to be prosecuted. But let me just ask you,
you were the president. You were watching an unfold on television. It's a very simple
question as we move forward toward another election. Is there anything you regret about what you did
on that day? Yes, I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I
showed up for a speech. I said, I think it's going to be big. I went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor
of Washington, D.C. And the mayor put it back in writing, as you know, I said, you know, this is
going to be a very big rally or whatever you want to call it. And again, it wasn't done by me.
It was done by others. I said, I'd like to give you 10,000 national guard or soldiers.
They rejected me. Nancy Pelosi rejected me. It was just two weeks ago, her daughter has a tape
of her saying she is fully responsible for what happened. They want to get rid of that tape.
It would have never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington did their jobs.
I wasn't responsible for security. Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn't do her job.
The question was about you as president, not about former speaker Pelosi, but I do want Vice
President Harris to respond here. I was at the Capitol on January 6th. I was the vice president
elect. I was also an acting senator. I was there. And on that day, the president of the United States
incited a violent mob to attack our nation's Capitol, to desecrate our nation's Capitol.
On that day, 140 law enforcement officers were injured. And some died and understand the former
president has been indicted and impeached for exactly that reason. But this is not an isolated
situation. Let's remember Charlottesville, where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches,
spewing anti-Semitic hate. And what did the president then at the time say?
There were fine people on each side. Let's remember that when it came to the Proud Boys on militia,
the president said, the former president said, stand back and stand by. So for everyone watching
who remembers what January 6th was, I say, we don't have to go back. Let's not go back. We're
not going back. It's time to turn the page. And if that was a bridge too far for you, well,
there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country, to stand for our democracy,
to stand for rule of law, and to end the chaos, and to end the approach that is about attacking
the foundations of our democracy because you don't like the outcome and be clear. On that point,
Donald Trump, the candidate, has said in this election, there will be a bloodbath.
If this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking, let's turn the page on this.
Let's not go back. Let's chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past.
Let me just follow up here. It was a different term and it was a term that related to energy
because they have destroyed our energy business. That was where bloodbath was.
Also, on Charlottesville, that story has been, as you would say, debunked. Laura Ingraham,
Sean Hannity, all of these people, they covered it. If they go an extra sentence,
they will see it was perfect. It was debunked in almost every newspaper,
but they still bring it up just like they bring 2025 up. They bring all of the stuff up.
I ask you this. You talk about the Capitol. Why are we allowing these millions of people to come
through on the Southern border? How come she's not doing anything? And I'll tell you what I would
do, and I would be very proud to do it. I would say we would both leave this debate right now.
I'd like to see her go down to Washington, D.C. during this debate because we're wasting a lot of
time. Go down to, because she's been so bad. It's so ridiculous. Go down to Washington, D.C.
and let her sign a bill to close up the border, because they have the right to do it. They don't
need bills. They have the right to do it. The president of the United States, you'll get them
out of bed. You'll wake them up at four o'clock in the afternoon. You'll say, come on, come on down
to the office. Let's sign a bill. If he signs a bill that the border is closed, all he has to do
is say it to the border patrol who are phenomenal. If they do that, the border is closed. Those people
are killing many people, unlike J-6. We talked immigration here tonight. I do want to focus on
this next issue to both of you, because it really brings us this into focus truth in these times
that we're living in. Mr. President, for three and a half years after you lost the 2020 election,
you repeatedly falsely claimed that you won, many times saying you won in a landslide.
In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker
that you, quote, didn't quite make it, that you came up a little bit short.
I said that. Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?
No, I'm acknowledging it at all. I said that sarcastically. You didn't know that.
He said, oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there's so much proof. All you
have to do is look at it. And they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval.
I got almost 75 million votes. The most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told
if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can't be beaten. The election, people should never be
thinking about it. Election is fraudulent. We need two things. We need walls. We need,
and we have to have it. We have to have borders, and we have to have good elections.
Our elections are bad. And a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they're trying to get them
to vote. They can't even speak English. They don't even know what country they're in practically.
And these people are trying to get them to vote. And that's why they're allowing them to come into
our country. I did watch all of these pieces of video. I didn't detect the sarcasm lost by a
whisker. We didn't quite make it. And we should just point out here as clarification,
and you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges, many of them
have publicly. No judge looked at it. They said we didn't have standing. That's the other thing.
They said we didn't have standing, a technicality. Can you imagine a system where a person in an
election doesn't have standing, the president of the United States doesn't have standing?
That's how we lost. If you look at the facts, and I'd love to have you, do a special on it,
I'll show you Georgia and I'll show you Wisconsin and I'll show you Pennsylvania and I'll show
we have so many facts and statistics. But you know what? That doesn't matter. Because we have to
solve the problem that we have right now. That's old news. And the problem that we have right now
is we have a nation in decline. And they have put it into decline. We have a nation that is dying,
David. Mr. President, thank you. Vice President Harris, you heard the president there tonight.
He said he didn't say that, that he lost by a whisker. So he still believes he did not lose
the election. That was won by President Biden and yourself. But I do want to ask you about
something that's come up in the last couple of days. This was a post from President Trump
about this upcoming election just weeks away. He said, when I win those people who cheated,
and then he lists donors, voters, election officials, he says will be prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law, which will include long-term prison sentences.
One of your campaign's top lawyers responded saying, we won't let Donald Trump intimidate us.
We won't let him suppress the vote. Is that what you believe he's trying to do here?
Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So let's be clear about that. And clearly,
he is having a very difficult time processing that. But we cannot afford to have a president of the
United States who attempts, as he did in the past, to upend the will of the voters in a free and
fair election. And I'm going to tell you that I have traveled the world as Vice President of the
United States, and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders,
some of whom work with you, and they say you're a disgrace. And when you then talk in this way,
in a presidential debate and deny what over and over again are court cases you have lost,
because you did, in fact, lose that election, it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have
in the candidate to my right the temperament or the ability to not be confused about fact.
That's deeply troubling, and the American people deserve better.
I'll give you one minute to respond, Mr. President.
Let me just tell you about world leaders.
Victor Orban, one of the most respected men, they call him a strong man. He's a tough person,
smart. Prime Minister of Hungary, they said, why is the whole world blowing up? Three years ago,
it wasn't. Why is it blowing up? He said, because you need Trump back as president.
They were afraid of him. China was afraid, and I don't like to use the word afraid,
but I'm just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him.
Look at what's going on with North Korea, by the way. He said Russia was afraid of him.
I ended the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and Biden put it back on day one, but he ended the XL pipeline,
the XL pipeline in our country. He ended that, but he let the Russians build the pipeline going
all over Europe and heading into Germany, the biggest pipeline in the world. Look,
Victor Orban said it. He said, the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump.
We had no problems when Trump was president, but when this weak, pathetic man that you saw
had a debate just a few months ago that if he weren't in that debate, he'd be running instead
of her. She got no votes. He got 14 million votes. What you did, you talk about a threat to
democracy. He got 14 million votes, and they threw him out of office. And you know what,
I'll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can't stand her. But he got 14 million votes.
They threw him out. She got zero votes. And when she ran, she was the first one to leave because
she failed. And now she's running. I don't understand it, but I'm okay with it because I think we're
going to do very well. We've got a lot more to get to turning now to the Israel Hamas war and
the hostages who are still being held Americans among them. Vice President Harris in December,
you said, quote, Israel has a right to defend itself. But you added, quote, it matters how,
saying international humanitarian law must be respected. Israel must do more to protect innocent
civilians. You said that nine months ago, now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead,
nearly 100 hostages remain. Just last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said
there's not a deal in the making. President Biden has not been able to break through the stalemate.
How would you do it? Well, let's understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist
organization slaughtered 1200 Israelis, many of them young people who are simply attending a
concert, women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said, then I say now, Israel has a right to
defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters, because it is also true, far too many,
innocent Palestinians have been killed, children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end.
It must when end immediately. And the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the
hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that. Work around the
clock also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution.
And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and an equal
measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give
Israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran
and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza,
where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.
President Trump, how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the
hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza?
If I were president, it would have never started. If I were president, Russia would have never,
ever. I know Putin very well. He would have never, and there was no threat of it either,
by the way, for four years, have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you
ended up far worse than people understand what's going on over there. But when she mentions about
Israel, all of a sudden, she hates Israel. She wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went
to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a
sorority party of hers. She wanted to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel. If she's president,
I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now, and I've been pretty good at
predictions, and I hope I'm wrong about that one. She hates Israel. At the same time in her own way,
she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up.
Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone. It would have never happened. Iran was broke
under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had.
Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different
spheres of terror, and they are spheres of terror, horrible terror. They had no money.
It was a big story, and you know it. You covered it very well, actually.
They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they're a rich nation,
and now what they're doing is they're spreading that money around.
Look at what's happening with the Houthis and Yemen. Look at what's going on in the Middle East.
This would have never happened. I will get that settled and fast, and I'll get the war
with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I'm president-elect, I'll get it done before even becoming president.
Vice President Harris, he says you hate Israel. That's absolutely not true. I have
my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people. He knows that he's trying to
again divide and distract from the reality, which is it is very well known that Donald
Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy. It is well known that he
admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on day one, according to himself. It is well known
that he said of Putin that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine. It is well
known that he said when Russia went into Ukraine, it was brilliant. It is well known he exchanged
love letters with Kim Jong-un, and it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats
are rooting for you to be president again because they're so clear they can manipulate you with
flattery and favors. And that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have
told me you are a disgrace. That is why we understand that we have to have a president who is not
consistently weak and wrong on national security, including the importance of upholding and respecting
in highest regard our military. Vice President Harris, thank you.
And she's the one that caused it. That's weak or national security by allowing every nation
last month for the year, 168 different countries sending people into our country.
Their crime weights are way down. Putin endorsed her last week, said, I hope she wins. And I think
he meant it because what he's gotten away with is absolutely incredible. It wouldn't have happened
with me. The leaders of other countries think that they're weak and incompetent, and they are.
They're grossly incompetent. And I just asked one question. Why does Biden go in and kill the
Keystone pipeline and approve the single biggest deal that Russia's ever made Nordstream to,
the biggest pipeline anywhere in the world going to Germany and all over Europe?
Because they're weak and they're ineffective. And Biden, by the way, gets paid a lot of money.
Thank you. We have a lot of issues to get to.
We write back with much more of this historic ABC News presidential debate from the National
Constitution Center right here in Philadelphia. Back in a moment.
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Live from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, here again,
David Newer, and Lindsey Davis. Welcome back to this historic ABC News presidential debate
tonight. We're going to continue here. And I want to turn to the war in Ukraine. We're now
two and a half years into this conflict. Mr. President, it has been the position of the Biden
administration that we must defend Ukraine from Russia, from Vladimir Putin to defend their
sovereignty, their democracy, that it's an America's best interest to do so, arguing that if Putin
wins, he may be emboldened to move even further into other countries. You have said you would
solve this war in 24 hours. You said so just before the break tonight. How exactly would you do that?
And I want to ask you a very simple question tonight. Do you want Ukraine to win this war?
I want the war to stop. I want to save lives that are being uselessly, people being killed by
the millions. It's the millions. It's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting with
your fake numbers. Look, we're in for $250 billion or more because they don't ask Europe,
which is a much bigger beneficiary to getting this thing done than we are. They're in for $150
billion less because Biden and you don't have the courage to ask Europe like I did with NATO.
They paid billions and billions, hundreds of billions of dollars when I said,
either you pay up or we're not going to protect you anymore. So that's maybe one of the reasons
they don't like me as much as they like weak people. But you take a look at what's happening.
We're in for $250 to $275 billion. They're into $100 to $150. They should be forced to equalize.
With that being said, I want to get the war settled. I know Zelensky very well and I know Putin very
well. I have a good relationship and they respect your president. They respect me. They don't respect
Biden. How would you respect him? Why? For what reason? He hasn't even made a phone call in two
years to Putin. He hasn't spoken to anybody. They don't even try and get it. That is a war
that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president. If I win,
when I'm president-elect and what I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other,
I'll get them together, that war would have never happened. And in fact, when I saw Putin after I left,
unfortunately, left because our country has gone to hell. But after I left, when I saw him building
up soldiers, he did it after I left. I said, oh, he must be negotiating. It must be a good strong
point of negotiation. Well, it wasn't because Biden had no idea how to talk to him. He had no
idea how to stop it. And now you have millions of people dead and it's only getting worse and it
could lead to World War III. Don't kid yourself, David. We're playing with World War III and we
have a president that we don't even know if he's- where is our president? We don't even know if he's
a president. And just to clarify here- They threw him out of a campaign like a dog. We don't even
know. Is he our president? But we have a president that doesn't know he's alive. Your time is up.
Just to clarify in the question, do you believe it's in the U.S. best interest for Ukraine to win
this war? Yes or no? I think it's the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get
it done. Negotiated deal because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed.
I want to take this device, President Harris. I want to get your thoughts on support for Ukraine
in this moment. But also, as Commander-in-Chief, if elected, how would you deal with Vladimir Putin
and would it be any different from what we're seeing from President Biden? Well, first of all,
it's important to remind the former president you're not running against Joe Biden, you're running
against me. I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours
is because he would just give it up. And that's not who we are as Americans. Let's understand what
happened here. I actually met with Zelensky a few days before Russia invaded, tried through force
to change territorial boundaries to defy one of the most important international rules and norms,
which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity. And I met with President Zelensky.
I shared with him American intelligence about how he could defend himself.
Days later, I went to NATO's eastern flank to Poland and Romania.
And through the work that I and others did, we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine
in its righteous defense. And because of our support, because of the air defense,
the ammunition, the artillery, the javelins, the Abrams tanks that we have provided,
Ukraine stands as an independent and free country. If Donald Trump were president,
Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now. And understand what that would mean, because Putin's
agenda is not just about Ukraine. Understand why the European allies and our NATO allies
are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the
greatest military alliance the world has ever known, which is NATO, and what we have done
to preserve the ability of Zelensky and the Ukrainians to fight for their independence.
Otherwise, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland.
And why don't you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would
give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator
who would eat you for lunch. Vice President Harris, thank you. We've heard from both of you on Ukraine
tonight. Afghanistan came up in the last hour. I wanted her to respond to something you said
earlier. And now, please, I'll give you a minute here. Putin would be sitting in Moscow and he
wouldn't have lost 300,000 men and women. But he would have been sitting in Moscow quietly.
He would have been sitting in Moscow much happier than he is right now. But eventually, you know,
he's got a thing that other people don't have. He's got nuclear weapons. They don't ever talk
about that. He got nuclear weapons. Nobody ever thinks about that. And eventually, maybe he'll
use him and maybe he hasn't been that threatening. But he does have that. Something we don't even
like to talk about. Nobody likes to talk about it. But just so you understand, they sent her to
negotiate peace before this war started. Three days later, he went in and he started the war,
because everything they said was weak and stupid. They said the wrong things that war should have
never started. She was the emissary. They sent her in to negotiate with Zelensky and Putin.
And she did. And the war started three days later. And that's the kind of talent we have with her.
She's worse than Biden. In my opinion, I think he's the worst president in the history of our country.
She goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country. But let me tell you something.
She is a horrible negotiator. They sent her in to negotiate. As soon as they left, Putin did the
invasion. President Trump, thank you. You did bring up something. You said she went to negotiate
with Vladimir Putin. Vice President Harris, have you ever met Vladimir Putin? Can you clarify
tonight? Yet again, I said at the beginning of this debate, you're going to hear a bunch of lies
coming from this fellow. And that is another one. When I went to meet with President Zelensky,
I've now met with him over five times. The reality is it has been about standing as America always
should as a leader upholding international rules and norms, as a leader who shows strength,
understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on our ability to look
out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strong men instead of caring
about democracy. And that is very much what is at stake here. The president of the United States
is Commander-in-Chief. And the American people have a right to rely on a president who understands
the significance of America's role and responsibility in terms of ensuring that there is stability
and ensuring we stand up for our principles and not sell them for the benefit of personal
flattery. We've talked about Ukraine and Vladimir Putin. I do want to talk about Afghanistan. It
came up in the first hour of this debate. I wanted to move on to Afghanistan.
Trump said Trump did the most amazing thing I've ever seen. He got these countries,
the 28 countries at the time, to pay up. He said, I've never seen. He's the head of NATO.
He said, I've never seen. For years, we were paying almost all of NATO. We were being ripped off by
European nations, both on trade and on NATO. I got them to pay up by saying one of the statements
you made before, if you don't pay, we're not going to protect you, otherwise we would have
never gotten it. He said it was one of the most incredible jobs that he's ever seen done.
Thank you. I want to turn to Afghanistan. It came up in the first hour of the debate,
and we witnessed a poignant moment today on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died
in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. I do want to ask the vice president,
do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?
Well, I will tell you, I agreed with President Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan.
Four presidents said they would, and Joe Biden did. And as a result, America's taxpayers are not
paying the $300 million a day. We were paying for that endless war.
And as of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is an active duty
in a combat zone, in any war zone around the world the first time this century.
But let's understand how we got to where we are. Donald Trump, when he was president,
negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine. He calls himself a dealmaker,
even his national security advisor said it was a weak, terrible deal. And here's how it went down.
He bypassed the Afghan government. He negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called
the Taliban. The negotiation involved the Taliban getting 5,000 terrorists, Taliban terrorists
released and get this, no, get this. And the president at the time invited the Taliban to
camp David, a place of storied significance for us as Americans, a place where we honor
the importance of American diplomacy, where we invite and receive respected world leaders.
And this former president, as president, invited them to camp David because he does not again
appreciate the role and responsibility of the president of the United States to be
commander in chief with a level of respect. And this gets back to the point of how he has
consistently disparaged and demeaned members of our military fallen soldiers and the work that
we must do to uphold the strength and the respect of the United States of America around the world.
Vice President Harris, thank you. President Trump, your response to her saying that you
began the negotiations with the Taliban. So if you take a look at that period of time,
the Taliban was killing our soldiers, a lot of them with snipers. And I got involved with the
Taliban because the Taliban was doing the killing. That's the fighting force within Afghanistan.
They don't bother doing that because, you know, they deal with the wrong people all the time.
But I got involved and Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban.
And I told Abdul, don't do it anymore. You do it anymore. You're going to have problems.
And he said, why do you send me a picture of my house? I said, you're going to have to figure
that out, Abdul. And for 18 months, we had nobody killed. We did have an agreement negotiated by
Mike Pompeo was a very good agreement. The reason it was good, it was we were getting out. We would
have been out faster than them, but we wouldn't have lost the soldiers. We wouldn't have left
many Americans behind and we wouldn't have left. We wouldn't have left
85 billion dollars worth of brand new beautiful military equipment behind. And just to finish,
they blew it. The agreement said, you have to do this, this, this, this, and they didn't do it.
They didn't do it. The agreement was terminated by us because they didn't do what they were supposed
to do. And these people did the worst withdrawal. And in my opinion, the most embarrassing moment
in the history of our country. And by the way, that's why Russia attacked Ukraine,
because they saw how incompetent she and her boss are.
President Trump, thank you. I want to move on now to race and politics in this country.
Mr. President, you recently said a Vice President Harris quote, I didn't know she was black until
a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. And now she wants to be known as black.
I want to ask a bigger picture question here tonight. Why do you believe it's appropriate to
weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent? I don't. And I don't care. I don't care what she
is. I don't care. You make a big deal out of something. I couldn't care less. Whatever she
wants to be is okay with me. But those were your words. So I'm asking you. I don't know. I don't
know. I mean, all I can say is I read where she was not black that she put out. And I'll say that.
And then I read that she was black. And that's okay. Either one was okay with me. That's up to her.
That's up to her. Vice President Harris, your thoughts on this?
I think it's I mean, honestly, I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who
wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career.
Attempted to use race to divide the American people. You know, I do believe that the vast
majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us. And we don't want
this kind of approach that is just constantly trying to divide us. And especially by race. And
let's remember how Donald Trump started. He was a land he owned land. He owned buildings. And
he was investigated because he refused to rent property to black families. Let's remember,
this is the same individual who took out a full page ad in the New York Times calling for
the execution of five young black and Latino boys who were innocent, the Central Park Five,
took out a full page ad calling for their execution. This is the same individual who spread
birther lies about the first black president of the United States. And I think the American
people want better than that. Want better than this. Want someone who understands as I do,
I travel our country. We see in each other a friend. We see in each other a neighbor.
We don't want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other.
I meet with people all the time who tell me, can we please just have discourse about how we're
going to invest in the aspirations and the ambitions and the dreams of the American people.
Knowing that regardless of people's color or the language their grandmother speaks, we all
have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president who invests in those not in hate and
division. Vice President Harris, thank you. Lindsay. President Trump, this is now your third time.
This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. There's never been
anything like it. They're destroying our country and they come up with things like what she just said.
Going back many, many years when a lot of people, including Mayor Bloomberg, agreed with me on the
Central Park Five, they admitted. They said they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty,
they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty, then they pled, we're not
guilty. But this is a person that has to stretch back years, 40, 50 years ago, because there's nothing
now. I built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world. And I'm going to build it
again. It's going to be bigger, better, and stronger. But they're destroying our economy.
They have no idea what a good economy is. They're oil policies, every single policy. And remember
this. She is Biden. You know, she's trying to get away from Biden. I don't know the gentleman. She
says she is Biden. The worst inflation we've ever had, a horrible economy because inflation has made
it so bad that you can't get away with that. I want to respond to that, though. I want to just
respond briefly. Clearly, I am not Joe Biden. And I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do
offer is a new generation of leadership for our country, one who believes in what is possible,
one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American
people. I believe in what we can do to strengthen our small businesses, which is why I have a plan.
Let's talk about our plans. And let's compare the plans. I have a plan to give startup businesses
$50,000 tax deduction, to pursue their ambitions, their innovation, their ideas, their hard work.
I have a plan, $6,000 for young families for the first year of your child's life,
to help you in that most critical stage of your child's development. I have a plan that is about
allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American dream
by offering a help with down payment of $25,000 down payment assistance for first-time home buyers.
That's the kind of conversation, I believe, David, that people really want tonight,
as opposed to a conversation that is constantly about belittling and name calling. Let's turn
the page. Vice President Harris, thank you. Let's turn to policy. Let's turn. We have to move on.
President Trump, let's turn to policy, please. To defund the police, she has a flat plan to
confiscate everybody's gun. She has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or
anywhere else. That's what her plan is until just recently.
I just need to respond. The president has said something twice that I need to respond to.
I'm sorry, we're going to move on, Vice President Harris. President Trump, this is now your third
time running for president. You have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act,
also known as Obamacare. You have failed to accomplish that. You now say you're going to keep Obamacare,
quote, unless we can do something much better. Last month, you said, quote, we're working on it.
So tonight, nine years after you first started running, do you have a plan?
And can you tell us what it is? Obamacare was lousy health care. Always was. It's not very good
today. And what I said, that if we come up with something and we are working on things,
we're going to do it and we're going to replace it. But remember this, I inherited Obamacare
because Democrats wouldn't change it. They wouldn't vote for it. They were unanimous.
They wouldn't vote to change it. If they would have done that, we would have had a much better
plan than Obamacare. But the Democrats came up. They wouldn't vote for it.
I had a choice to make when I was president. Do I save it and make it as good as it can be,
never going to be great? Or do I let it rot? And I felt I had an obligation, even though politically,
it would have been good to just let it rot and let it go away. I decided, and I told my people,
the top people, and they're very good people. I have a lot of good people in this, that administration.
We read about the bad ones. We had some real bad ones too. And so do they. They have really
bad ones. The difference is they don't get rid of them. But let me just explain.
I had a choice to make. Do I save it and make it as good as it can be? Or do I let it rot?
And I saved it. I did the right thing. But it's still never going to be great,
and it's too expensive for people. And what we will do is we're looking at different plans.
If we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people, our population,
less money, and be better health care than Obamacare, then I would absolutely do it.
But until then, I'd run it as good as it can be run.
So just a yes or no, you still do not have a plan?
I have concepts of a plan. I'm not president right now. But if
we come up with something, I would only change it if we come up with something that's better
and less expensive. And there are concepts and options we have to do that.
And you'll be hearing about it in the not too distant future.
Vice President Harris, in 2017, you supported Bernie Sanders' proposal to do away with private
insurance and create a government-run health care system. Two years later, you proposed a plan that
included a private insurance option. What is your plan today?
Well, first of all, I absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president,
private health care options. But what we need to do is maintain and grow the affordable care act.
But I'll get to that, Lindsay. I just need to respond to a previous point that the
former president has made. I've made very clear my position on tracking.
And then this business about taking everyone's guns away, Tim Walls and I are both gun owners.
We're not taking anybody's guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.
As it relates to the Affordable Care Act, understand, just look at the history to know
where people stand. When Donald Trump was president, 60 times he tried to get rid of the
Affordable Care Act, 60 times I was a senator at the time when I will never forget the early
morning hours when it was up for a vote in the United States Senate and the late great John McCain
who you have disparaged as being... You don't like him, you said, at the time because he got caught.
He was an American hero. The late great John McCain I will never forget that night.
Walked onto the Senate floor and said, no, you don't. No, you don't. No, you don't get rid of the
Affordable Care Act. You have no plan. And what the Affordable Care Act has done is eliminate
the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions.
I don't have to tell the people watching tonight, you remember what that was like?
Remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma, if someone was a breast
cancer survivor, if a grandparent had diabetes? And thankfully, as I've been vice president and we
over the last four years have strengthened the Affordable Care Act, we have allowed,
for the first time Medicare to negotiate drug prices. On behalf of you, the American people,
Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices. He never did. We did.
And now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. Since I've been vice president,
we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year.
And when I am president, we will do that for all people understanding that the value I bring to this
is that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it.
And the plan has to be to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, not get rid of it.
But as president, in terms of where Donald Trump stands on that.
I want to move to an issue that's important for a lot of...
She made a mistake. At number one, John McCain fought Obamacare for 10 years. But it wasn't only
him. It were all of the Democrats that kept it going. And you know what? We can do much better
than Obamacare, much less money. But she won't improve private insurance for people, private
medical insurance. That's another thing she doesn't want to do. People are paying privately
for insurance that have worked hard and made money, and they want to have private. She wants
everybody to be on government insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need
to meet anything. President Trump, thank you. We have another issue that we'd like to get to
that's important for a number of Americans, in particular younger voters, and that's climate
change. President Trump, with regard to the environment, you say that we have to have clean
air and clean water. Vice President Harris, you call climate change an existential threat.
The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change, and Vice President
Harris will start with you one minute for you each? Well, the former president had said the
climate change is a hoax. And what we know is that it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a
state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences, who now is either being denied
home insurance or is being jacked up. You ask anybody who has been the victim of what that means
in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We know that we can actually deal with this
issue. The young people of America care deeply about this issue. And I am proud that as Vice
President over the last four years, we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy
economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels. We have
created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been Vice President. We have invested
in clean energy to the point that we are opening up factories around the world. Donald Trump said
he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs. And I'm also proud
to have the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and Sean Fane, who also know that part of building
a clean energy economy includes investing in American made products, American automobiles.
It includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up auto plants,
not closing them like happened under Donald Trump. Vice President Harris, thank you.
It didn't happen under Donald Trump. Let me just tell you, they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs
this last month. It's going, they're all leaving, they're building big auto plants in Mexico,
in many cases owned by China. They're building these massive plants and they think they're
going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people, what they have given to
China is unbelievable. But we're not going to let that. We'll put tariffs on those cars so they
can't come into our country because they will kill the United Auto Workers and any auto worker,
whether it's in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place. What they've done to business and
manufacturing in this country is horrible. We have nothing because they refuse. Biden doesn't
go after people because supposedly China paid a millions of dollars. He's afraid to do it
between him and his son. They get all this money from Ukraine. They get all this money from all
of these different countries. And then you wonder, why is he so loyal to this one, that one Ukraine,
China? Why is he? Why did he get three and a half million dollars from the mayor of Moscow's
wife? Why did he get? Why did she pay him three and a half million dollars? This is a crooked
administration and they're selling our country down the tubes. President Trump, thank you.
Thank you. We'll be right back with closing statements from both of our candidates.
An historic night, this ABC News presidential debate from Philadelphia back at a moment.
The ABC News presidential debate will continue after this.
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campaigns and behind the scenes at the ABC debate. Will there be a clear winner? Good morning America
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Tonight at 10, team coverage of the first presidential debate. We've got you covered on
the night's biggest moments at how voters in our area are failing about the candidates.
And temperatures continue to climb across southern Wisconsin. I'll let you know how much warmer
we're about to get. Gruber offices. One call. That's all.
Get Kimmel's take on the debate with Jane Fonda and George Conway, new tonight on ABC.
Live from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Here again,
David Muir and Lindsey Davis. Welcome back tonight. The time has come for closing statements and vice
president Harris. We begin with you. So I think you've heard tonight two very different visions
for our country. One that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past.
And an attempt to take us backward. But we're not going back. And I do believe that the American
people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us. And we can chart a new
way forward. And a vision of that includes having a plan, understanding the aspirations,
the dreams, the hopes, the ambition of the American people, which is why I intend to create an
opportunity economy, investing in small businesses, in new families, in what we can do around protecting
seniors, what we can do that is about giving hardworking folks a break and bringing down the
cost of living. I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America's standing in
the world and ensuring that we have the respect that we so rightly deserve, including respecting
our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world. I will be a president
that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms, including the right of a woman to make
decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. I'll tell you,
I started my career as a prosecutor. I was the DA, I was an attorney general,
a United States senator, and now vice president. I've only had one client,
the people. And I'll tell you, as a prosecutor, I never asked a victim or a witness, are you a
Republican or a Democrat? The only thing I ever asked them, are you okay? And that's the kind
of president we need right now, someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves
first. I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10
and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you, the American people.
Vice President Harris, thank you, President Trump.
So she just started by saying she's going to do this, she's going to do that,
she's going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for
three and a half years. They've had three and a half years to fix the border. They've had three
and a half years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasn't she done it?
She should leave right now, go down to that beautiful White House, go to the Capitol,
get everyone together and do the things you want to do, but you haven't done it, and you won't do
it. Because you believe in things that the American people don't believe in. You believe in things
like, we're not going to frack, we're not going to take fossil fuel, we're not going to do things
that are going to make this country strong, whether you like it or not. Germany tried that,
and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants. We're not ready for it.
We can't sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision. But I just asked one simple question,
why didn't she do it? We're a failing nation. We're a nation that's in serious decline. We're
being left at all over the world, all over the world they're left. I know the leaders very well,
they're coming to see me. They call me. We're left at all over the world. They don't understand
what happened to us as a nation. We're not a leader. We don't have any idea what's going on.
We have wars going on in the Middle East. We have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine.
We're going to end up in a Third World War, and it'll be a war like no other because of nuclear
weapons, the power of weaponry. I rebuilt our entire military. She gave a lot of it away
to the Taliban. She gave it to Afghanistan. What these people have done to our country,
and maybe toughest of all, is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them
are criminals, and they're destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president
in the history of our country. President Trump, thank you,
and that is our ABC News presidential debate from here in Philadelphia at the National
Constitution Center. I'm Lindsay Davis. And I'm David Muir. Thank you for watching
here in the U.S. and all over the world, and from all of us here at ABC News. Good night.
And we are here live on ABC with our post-debate comments. I'm Martha Raditz. It was a lively
debate from the economy to abortion, to Afghanistan. They had it all, and it was historic. John
Carl, fiery. Wow, wow, wow. That was quite a debate. And I'm Jonathan Carl here with, of course,
Mary Bruce and Rachel Scott. Our reporters across the news division have been updating our
live blog, looking at some of the allegations made back and forth doing fact checks. You can
find all of that on ABC News.com. But I would like to replay the moment at the very start of this
debate, because it was quite a moment. The handshake. And if you look... Come with us.
It's a good debate. Thank you.
I mean, quite a moment, first of all, because we hadn't seen a handshake. We hadn't seen a
handshake in a long time. And she initiated that one. And not only did she initiate it,
she walked over to him and sought him out, put the hands out, and also made the first world.
And probably had a plan if he hadn't put his hand out either. Interesting. So,
somewhat at the bottom one, what did you think? I think clearly what Kamala Harris wanted to do
was be the candidate of hope, the candidate of the future. Donald Trump seemed angry within
four minutes. I think we saw him going from very serious at the beginning, never really seemed to
look at her, to just angry. I mean, really yelling at some points, trying to make his points.
I don't think we heard a lot of policy and plans on either side of that, despite those questions
over and over again. But what you had was that optic. You had Kamala Harris looking over,
baiting him again and again and again. The microphones were muted when they weren't speaking,
but many times she didn't need a microphone. You watched Donald Trump get mad at scowls through
things. And, you know, John, we were all talking, leading up to this, about how this would go,
what Donald Trump you would see. I think he had a plan for talking about what he saw as
as a next term. But then he was talking about rumors, about people eating their
neighbor's pets. So he really devolved into that. I mean, look, Kamala Harris didn't really
explain some of the big questions that were out there about why she changed her policy views on
so many things. Part of the reason is Donald Trump really was not effective in bringing the
debate to her. I agree with you. I think that he looked not just angry, but also rattled. And
in contrast, Harris, who again, much of the world doesn't know,
Harris looked like she belonged on the stage, looked like she is somebody that could serve as
president. And that is certainly how the campaign is feeling tonight. I can tell you the Harris
campaign feels very good. They feel they had a very strong night that she wasn't command,
that she did look presidential and that she was able, they feel, to hold Donald Trump accountable
for his actions. And of course, that was their goal going into this, that she would be able to
put Donald Trump's record under a microscope. And they feel that the strongest example of that
was that exchange on abortion, where she was able really to blame Donald Trump directly to his face.
I mean, she said what you are putting women through is unconscionable. Yes, she goed at him,
she flat out, trolled him. Many times got him off message, but she also talked directly to voters,
even inviting them to a Trump rally to underscore that central argument in her campaign,
that she says he's only out for himself, that she argues she's out for the American people.
Rachel? Yeah, well, look, the Trump campaign is going to be seizing on the fact that Vice
President Kamala Harris did not do a great job today really explaining her policy shifts, right?
And that is what they have been seizing on. They're really trying to define her for voters. When voters
have a lot of questions about her policy positions. At the same time, though, almost every single
thing that Vice President Kamala Harris said tonight got under Trump's skin. And that is exactly
what his allies and his advisors did not want to see. I can tell you, I do not think that part
of Donald Trump's debate prep was people eating dogs in Springfield or comparing rally sizes.
They wanted him to stay focused on the issues, especially the ones that he has an edge on Harris
economy and immigration. I mean, you get, you want to get under Donald Trump's skin,
you question the people at his rallies. And that was something else. Martha, you have?
I have with us right now, Governor Tim Waltz, of course, the Democratic Vice-Presidential
candidate. Welcome, Governor Waltz. How are you feeling with your reaction to the debate tonight?
Martha, I'm feeling great because what I knew and I think so many new and now many Americans know
is you saw a president for all America and Kamala Harris. You saw the confidence, you saw the vision,
you saw the poise, and you saw the compassion for people. Understanding she spoke about an
economy that moves us forward moves all of us forward. That's everybody be a part of it.
And she continued to lay that out, whether it's reproductive freedom or how we start small
businesses or making home ownership easier. And on the other side, you saw a nearly 80-year-old
Donald Trump angry unhinged. And as you've been discussing, talking about things that are deeply
concerning because they make no impact on the American public, he shouldn't be anywhere near
the White House. And I have to tell you, if it weren't so dangerous, it reminds you of an old
man yelling at the clouds. That was his thing. Get off my yard. That's what he did to the White.
Contrast that with the police. Harris laying out the court. She didn't forget the matters.
I think the whole country can see what happened tonight. We'll keep pushing forward. That's the
way that the country wants to see our politics be. She laid it out. Clearly, Donald Trump brought
nothing tonight. Anger, resentment.
Governor, Governor Waltz, I do want to ask you, she did not answer questions on abortion restrictions.
She never really answered that question. Can you clear that up where the Harris-Waltz ticket stands
on that? Certainly, you couldn't get any different than this. The re-institution of Roe versus Wade,
what was the law of the land for, for 30, for 52 years, you saw this in there. And him pushing
back to the stage, she's exactly right. There's people like Amanda in Texas,
which everybody saw on the stage in Chicago, nearly beating out, having sepsis twice because
she can't get the care. She's been absolutely clear on this. Everything Donald Trump said,
that is untrue. The clarity of this is Roe. When you have Roe, you have the protections in place
where women make their own decisions with their health care providers, not Donald Trump.
Okay. Thanks so very much for joining us, Governor Waltz, John.
And we have the other side of the ticket. We have Senator J.D. Vance,
Donald Trump's running mate joining us now. Senator Vance, thank you for joining us.
Thanks, John. I appreciate it.
So I want to get to one part in the debate where you came up.
Donald Trump was asked if he would veto a national abortion ban. He didn't answer the
question suggested, I guess, that he wouldn't. And then it was pointed out that you, in fact,
said not that long ago that he would veto a national abortion ban. Can you explain them the
mix up here? Well, I think the president's been very clear that he doesn't want a national
abortion ban. I think in some ways, he finds the question a little bit ridiculous because why
are we asking him about legislation that's never going to actually happen and why he would veto
it or not veto it when he says very explicitly that he doesn't support a national abortion ban
and he wants these policies to be made by the states. But I think there's a deeper and more
important issue here in this debate, which is that you had Kamala Harris effectively echoing
platitude after platitude after platitude. The American people can't pay their grocery bills
on platitudes. They can't put their kids in a house on platitudes. And Kamala Harris had a
lot to say, but very little actual substance behind it for how she's going to lower grocery
prices, secure the border, and make housing more affordable in this country. She's been the vice
president for three and a half years. She can't run on a record and she apparently can't run on
much of her plans either because it's just a lot of slogans and not a whole lot of substance.
But Senator Vance, why won't he just say that he would veto the national abortion ban? And by
the way, had you spoken to him about it before you weren't put in a position to answer that question?
No, I hadn't spoken to him about it because again, Donald Trump thinks the question is absurd
because he doesn't support a national abortion ban and he's been explicit about it. And John,
I think that it's so preposterous for the media to focus so much on an issue where Donald Trump
has been crystal clear and not on the fact that people can't afford groceries and housing because
of Kamala Harris's policies. This election is actually quite simple and Kamala Harris and
apparently the media would like to distract Americans on issues, by the way that Donald
Trump's been crystal clear about. But they're not talking nearly enough. This debate didn't
talk nearly enough about the fact that Americans are struggling because they can't afford groceries,
they can't afford housing, and a lot of their kids are dying of fitting all overdoses because
Kamala Harris has let the Mexican drug cartels take over the southern border. This is a disgrace
what's going on in our country, John, and we could do so much better if we just had better
leadership. We've got the best workers, the most beautiful country, the best natural resources,
but Kamala Harris's leadership is squandering the great benefits of this country. It's why we've
got to get back to Donald Trump's leadership. Senator, by the way, I asked because he hadn't
been crystal clear and he said something different than what you said. That's why I was seeking
clarification. But let me ask you about this work just very quickly. I heard Donald Trump before
this debate describe Kamala Harris as, I'll just read a few of them, a low IQ individual,
somebody who doesn't have the mental capacity to be president, really dumb, unable to put
two sentences together. Is that what you saw on the stage tonight?
John, what I saw was a lot of slogans. I think the American people are smart and Kamala Harris
talks to them like their children. She repeats these ridiculous platitudes where if you actually
think about what she said, you realize that it doesn't make any sense. She talks a lot about
her plans, but then her plans when you analyze the substance don't make any sense. And more
importantly, John, the American people don't get fed on plans. She has been the vice president
for three and a half years. What she can't do, refuses to do, and has no ability to do is to say,
I accomplished lower prices because she didn't, or I accomplished lower housing prices because
she didn't, or I secured the Southern border because she didn't do that. She has failed as vice president
and the fundamental question is, do we want to give her a promotion? I think the answer has to be
no, John. All right, Senator Vance, thank you for joining us, Mary.
One thing both sides can agree on this was a consequential night in this race. More reaction
when we come back. Stay with us.
Tonight at 10 Team Coverage of the First Presidential Debate, we've
bet you covered on the night's biggest moments and how voters in our area are
feeling about the candidates. And temperatures continue to climb across
southern Wisconsin. I'll let you know how much warmer we're about to get.
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We're back now here at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.
And with Chris Christie. So Governor Christie, you heard the debate. Remarkable debate.
Bottom line. What do you think?
She was exquisitely well prepared. She laid traps and he chased every rabbit down every
hole instead of talking about the things that he should have been talking about.
This is the difference between someone who's well prepared and someone who's unprepared.
Whoever did debate prep for Donald Trump should be fired. He was he was not good tonight at all.
And what Harris did was what she had to do, which was to prove that she belonged on that stage.
She has a voice that wants to try to unite the country.
And Donald Trump spent more time talking about people eating pets, people at his rallies and
whether he had more or less than he did about the economy. And that is a huge fail tonight.
I think what we're going to see is that Kamala Harris is now being seen by a lot of voters
as a potential president. That's what she needed to accomplish tonight.
Trump better get to work or he's going to lose this election.
Characteristically blunt assessment from Governor Chris Christie. Thank you, Governor.
Mary. All right. Let's go to former DNC chair Donna Brazil. So Donna, you have certainly studied
many a debate in your career. How does this one compare? I think it was one of the best debate
performances I've ever seen in my life. And I've seen a lot and I've helped a lot of people prepare
for these big moments. She met the moment she sees the opportunity to tell the American people
what she would do in during her four years. She commanded the issues and she did not allow
the former president to bait her. Instead, she led the way forward. She turned the page.
And I think this race is about to get even more interested now.
We will see if it moves the needle, Donna. Thank you.
All right. I'll over to the other side now. Former RNC chair Ryan's previous. All right,
Ryan's. The Harris campaign says they want another debate. If you were advising the Trump campaign,
would you tell him to do it? Sure, I would tell him to do it. And the reason is, as like I said
before, Donald Trump's numbers just don't move. I mean, the reality tonight, I know Donna is excited,
but the truth is Kamala Harris didn't address the most important thing that the American
people care about, which is the economy and the cost of living. She had no answers on immigration.
She had no answers when she was asked about defunding the police. She had nothing to say
about the families that were lost in Afghanistan, which was a true layup. She should have in fact
checked a lot more on some of the things she said in regard to this comment about a bloodbath,
which was about the auto industry. So, look, I think a lot of things were not said tonight,
that she needed to say in order to move the numbers. And I don't think Donald Trump's numbers
move at all. They haven't moved at all for months.
Right, previous Donna Brazil. Well, thank you for your time.
All right. Well, I got to say again, what a incredible debate, consequential debate, no doubt.
I don't know how many votes will actually be moved. I don't know how many persuadable
voters are actually out there. But Kamala Harris had a chance here to introduce herself to the
country, to people who know who she is, but don't know where she stands. Now, you could
debate how much she did in terms of the specifics of where she stands,
but she stood up there. And I think it was very significant to her. Chris Christie say
that she acted like she seemed like she belonged. Exactly. And Chris was clearly
oppressed with that. But to your point, John, what matters is what the voters think.
Kamala Harris was hurling things against Donald Trump, and he's been convicted in January 6th,
and everything else she could throw at him. But in the end, right now, he is tied with Kamala Harris.
Does this change anything? We've all seen debates where people are very proud of what they did.
Hillary Clinton thought she won that debate, many debates in 2016, and she didn't win.
So you have to be very careful. And it's very important to see what the voters think.
And look, the Harris campaign certainly thinks that they were, you know, they put him on the
defensive. They are going to keep getting out and making this message. She's going to be out there
in those critical battlegrounds again later this week. They're so optimistic they want that second
debate. As Rachel said, the message from the campaign tonight, Vice President Harris is ready
for a second debate. They're looking for one in October. They say, is Donald Trump question mark?
One last goating of him to end the night. Wow, that is something else. I did not predict that
at the beginning, Rachel. Bottom line, voters out there want a change. That's what the polls
say. And both of these candidates really trying to present themselves as the age