Trump-Harris debate: As it happened

The two main US presidential candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, are facing off in their first – but this election campaign’s second – TV debate, hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Trump easily won his party’s primaries to earn a rematch of the 2020 contest with President Joe Biden, only to see the Democrats force their man to drop out of the race just weeks after the June 27 debate on CNN. The Democratic Party then acclaimed Harris, Biden’s vice president, as its chosen candidate.

The debate is being held under the rules demanded by Biden’s campaign. This includes no studio audience and no interruptions, which Harris tried to change without success.

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• 11 September 2024

  02:55 GMT

  In his own closing statement, Trump questioned Harris’ track record and new promises.

  “She just started by saying she’s gonna do this, she’s gonna do that, she’s gonna do all these wonderful things… Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for three and a half years,” the former president said.

  “What these people have done to our country … they’re destroying our country. The worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country,” he added.

• 02:50 GMT

  In her closing statement, Harris claimed that her background as a prosecutor makes her a perfect candidate to lead the country as she vowed to protect Americans “rights and freedoms.”

  “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, United States senator and now vice-president. I only have one client: the people.”

• 02:46 GMT

  Harris stressed that she stands by Biden’s decision to pull out of Afghanistan, portraying it as a historic move to end “the endless war” that was burdening American taxpayers. She also shifted the blame for the situation in the Middle Eastern country spiraling out of control on what she said was “one of the weakest deals you can imagine” with the Taliban struck by Trump. 

  Trump parried by saying he was ready to negotiate even with the Taliban to save the lives of American soldiers. According to the Republican, the agreement was extremely clear and provided specific instructions for the withdrawal, but the Biden administration “blew it.” 

  “The agreement was terminated by us because they did not do what they were supposed to do,” he said, describing the withdrawal as the “most embarrassing moment in the history of our country”.

  “By the way, that’s why Russia attacked Ukraine. Because it saw how incompetent she and her boss are,” Trump added.

• 02:40 GMT

  Israel has every right to defend itself against Hamas, but how it does so is crucial given the numerous civilian casualties in Gaza, Harris said.

  “This war must end… We need a ceasefire deal and the hostages released,” she stressed, voicing support for a two-state solution that enables peaceful coexistence between Israel and Palestine.

  Meanwhile, Trump claimed that the Israel-Hamas war would never have broken out if he had been president. He accused Harris of “hating Israel,” pointing out that the vice president skipped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s keynote speech in Congress. “If she is president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years,” he added.

• 02:30 GMT

  Harris charged back, stating that if Trump had indeed ended the conflict in 24 hours, it would have been only because “he would’ve given up.” She went on to highlight her alleged track record in consolidating Western support for Ukraine.

  “If Donald Trump were president, Putin would have been sitting in Kiev right now,” she said.

  “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.”

• 02:26 GMT

  Trump stated that if he had been president, he would have prevented the Ukraine conflict, vowing to end it even before being sworn into office. When asked if he wanted Kiev to win the conflict, the Republican replied that he wanted “the war to stop.”

  “People are being killed by the millions. It’s so much worse than the numbers you’re getting,” he claimed.

  Trump asserted that he had established a good rapport with both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, alleging that Biden had failed to do so because he is not respected.

  ”When I saw Putin building up soldiers on Ukraine’s border, I said: ‘Oh, he must be negotiating; it must be a strong point of negotiation.’ Well, it wasn’t. Because Biden had no idea how to talk to him… And it is only getting worse, and it could lead to World War III.”

'We're playing with World War III and we have a President that we don't even... WHERE IS OUR PRESIDENT, we don't even know if he's a President' - Trump#TheABCNewsPresidentialDebate#TrumpHarrisDebate pic.twitter.com/Am5bN7XTus

— RT (@RT_com) September 11, 2024

02:11 GMT

'World leaders are laughing at Trump' - Kamala

Question is... was she laughing with her 'fascinating' laugh? #TheABCNewsPresidentialDebate#TrumpHarrisDebate pic.twitter.com/sTOZ7sBzGt

— RT (@RT_com) September 11, 2024

• She went on to claim that Trump “admires dictators, and wants to be a dictator on day one.”

  “It is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because it’s so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favor,” she said. “It is very well known that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy.”

• 02:06 GMT

  Trump has reiterated his accusation that Democrats may be partly responsible for the assassination attempt against him two months ago.

  “I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me,” he claimed, accusing his Democratic rival and President Joe Biden of promoting rhetoric that could have encouraged the shooter.

'I probably took a BULLET to the head because of the things they say about me' - Trump parries with dead end 'Russia Russia Russia' investigation#TheABCNewsPresidentialDebate#TrumpHarrisDebate pic.twitter.com/OZ2dVxxVyU

— RT (@RT_com) September 11, 2024

• 01:58 GMT

  As Trump has accused the Biden administration of mishandling migration, Harris said that she supported the bill to enhance border security.

  “You know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone… with some folks in Congress and said ‘kill the bill.’ He preferred to run on the problem instead of fixing [it],” she said.

• 01:44 GMT

  Trump has slammed the Democrats' border policies, claiming that immigrants are “taking over the towns… they’re going in violently.” He also referred to a bizarre rumor that Haitian migrants have been murdering and eating pet cats in Ohio, which previously embroiled his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, in controversy.

  READ MORE: Trump’s running mate claims immigrants eat cats

  ”In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs; the people that came in, they’re eating the cats … 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,” the former president said.

  The moderator said that ABC News reached out to the city manager, who insisted there have been "no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

  Read More (...)