Trump claims migrants are eating dogs and rips into Kamala Harris for mocking his rally crowd sizes as VP tries to get under his skin
Kamala Harris baited Donald Trump repeatedly during their debate on Tuesday night, pushing her Republican rival on his crowd size, his record on abortion, and his criminal trials.
Kamala Harris baited Donald Trump repeatedly during their debate on Tuesday night, pushing her Republican rival on his crowd size, his record on abortion, and his criminal trials.
Trump was visibly irritated, interrupting Harris to call her words a lie and repeating a viral line from his own side that migrants are eating pets.
He appeared rattled and pivoted to his favorite strategy: going on the attack.
The former president repeatedly hammered her and President Joe Biden, slamming Harris as a Marxist and horrible vice president pick. He accused Biden of being on the beach and staying in bed until 4 in the afternoon.
Harris looked shocked and stunned as Trump raged from his lectern. But her strategy going into the debate was to bait him, hitting him where it would personally hurt.
It appeared to work.
Trump was so furious he even said that Biden hates Harris for replacing him as the Democratic nominee.
Ill give you a little secret. He hates her. He cant stand her, the former president said as Harris looked aghast. Biden endorsed Harris and has supported her repeatedly.
The two candidates went after each other repeatedly during their 90 minutes on stage, speaking over each other and off mic. The moderators allowed time to respond but mainly interrupted Trump and not Harris. It was so heated the first commercial debate didnt take place until after the first hour.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on the debate stage
The argument started with a fierce back and forth on abortion rights that quickly descended into chaos.
The tone notably changed when Harris attacked Trump on the size of his crowds at his rallies. The former president repeatedly and proudly brags about how large his rallies are and how many supporters he has.
Im going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trumps rallies because its a really interesting thing to watch, she told the debate audience, speaking directly to camera.
You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause 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.
Trump was furious in his response.
First let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People dont go to her rallies. And the people that do go shes busing them in and paying them, he said, sounding angry. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies.
He then went on to accuse migrants of eating pets – an issue that went viral online after his team started to push it.
Theyre eating the cats. Theyre eating -- theyre eating the pets, the former president said.
Trump was referring to comments from his running mate J.D. Vance that Haitians in Ohio were eating pets.
Off-mic, Harris muttered: What? This is unbelievable.
ABC News moderator David Muir stepped in to say: 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.
Ive seen people on television say my dog was taken, Trump argued. A dog was eaten by the people.
Again, the Springfield city manager says theres no evidence of that, Muir said.
Debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News
From there, Harris referred to Trumps criminal cases, including his conviction in New York tied to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and a libel payment to writer E. Jeanne Carroll, who accused Trump of sexual assault. Trump has said hes not guilty in both cases.
She noted Trump 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.
Trump repeated his longtime defense that he was the victim of witch hunt.
Excuse me. Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And Im winning most of them and Ill win the rest on appeal, he said. But those are cases, its called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the justice department.
He then charged Democrats with goading his assassin, saying: I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me.
Law enforcement is still investigating the assassination attempt and have not yet found a motive.
Harris also hit Trump for his reputation among fellow world leaders and said he hasnt gotten over losing the 2020 election.
Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So lets be clear about that. And clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that, she said. And Im 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.
Trump countered the Victor Orban, the prime minister of Hungry, supported him. Orban has been accused of being a dictator.
Harris later hit him again, saying 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.
Theyre the ones -- and shes the one that caused it, thats weak on national security, Trump countered.
Trump tried to attack Harris on some of her most vulnerable areas, including immigration.
He said she and Biden allowed criminals, many, many, millions of - They allowed terrorists. criminals. They allowed people to come in, country, and theyre now in.
And we have a new form of crime. Its called migrant crime, he added, calling the U.S. Venezuela on steroids.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris shook hands at the start of the debate
In other moments, Trump accused Harris and other Democrats of supporting the execution of babies after their birth.
He said Harris says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. She also says execution after birth, its execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And thats not okay with me.
ABC News Linsey Davis offered a fact check: There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after its born.
Trump went on to say of abortion: I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. 85% of Republicans do. Very important. But we were able to get it. And now states are voting on it.
Harris picked up on that and said: Well, as I said, youre going to hear a bunch of lies. And thats not actually a surprising fact.
She added that 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 re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand in his project 2025 there would be a national abortion monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies.
Trump interrupted to say its a lie. Im not signing a ban. And theres no reason to sign because weve gotten what everybody wanted.
He added that what she says is an absolute lie. And as far as the abortion ban, no, Im not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesnt matter because this issue has now been taken over by the States.
He refused to say if he would veto a national abortion ban as president, despite being asked several times both by the debate moderators and by Harris.
Harris went after him: Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court 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.
Trump interrupted Harris repeatedly during the topic, defending his own record.
Excuse me, I have to respond. Another lie. Another lie. Its another lie. I have been a leader on IFV, which is fertilization. The IVF -- I have been a leader.
Trump had several one-liners during the debate, including personal attacks on his rival: I was going to send her a MAGA hat, he noted at one point.
He then went on to accuse her of being a Marxist.
Shes a marxist. Her fathers a marxist professor in economics. And he taught her well. But when you look at what shes done to our country and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly where its I believe 21 million people, not the 15 that people say, and I think its a lot higher than the 21. Pouring in. And just look at what theyre doing to our country. Many of these people coming in And thats bad for our economy, he said.
Harris father is an economic professor.
Trump also attacked President Biden, knocking him for picking Harris as his running mate.
Her vice presidential pick, which I think was a horrible pick, by the way, for our country because he is really out of it, he said of Biden.
He also said Biden doesnt get out of bed until 4 p.m. with Harris looking visibly outrated at his comment.
Donald Trump was on the defense during much of the debate
Kamala Harris repeatedly baited Trump
The two had several off-microphone moments.
When Tump accused Harris of wanting to defund the police, she was saying off-mic: Thats not true.
He responded with a nod to Harris line out of her 2020 vice presidential debate: Wait a minute. Im talking now. If you dont mind. Please. Does that sound familiar?
The first question in the debate was on the economy, leading to a long back-and-forth on who was the better steward for the American people.
Harris repeated what she has said many times on the stump, talking fast as she got to speak first in the debate.
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, she said.
Trump responded by criticizing Harris and Joe Bidens handling of the economy.
We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before, he said.
He also slammed Harris for trying to tie him to Project 2025, a document from a conservative group outlining hard-right policies.
She knows better than anyone I have nothing to do with Project 2025. Thats out there. I havent read it. I dont want to read it Im not going to read it.
He went on to say he wanted to 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.
Harris hammered him with: Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, its all about tax breaks for the richest people.
Trump, off mic, could be heard saying its just a soundbite.
He added she doesnt have a plan. She copied Bidens plan. And its like four sentences, like Run spot run.
He went on to note: People cant go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what Theyve destroyed the economy.
Tuesday marks the first time Trump and Harris have met. They have been in the same room – Harris, as a senator, attended Trumps State of the Union speeches when he was president – but they had never met in person.
Harris walked over to Trump to introduce herself, holding out her hand and saying: Kamala Harris, lets have a good debate.
Trump shook it, saying Nice to see you, have fun.
Donald Trump arrives in Philadelphia for the debate
Going into the debate the two sides had a back-and-forth battle over the microphones.
Harris and her team wanted them unmuted so Trump could interrupt at will – a strategy that backfired on him when he debated Joe Biden in 2020.
But the Trump team insisted on the same rules as used in the first debate of 2024 - held in June in Atlanta – were the mics were muted when the other contender spoke.
ABC News, the sponsor of Tuesdays debate, agreed to unmute the mics if there was a newsworthy back-and-forth between the two.
The debate is being held without an audience.
Harris locked up the Democratic nomination after Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month.
She has spent five days locked up in debate prep, even having her staff build a mock stage for her to hold her practice sessions.
Trump simply talked about policy with his staff. He often uses his political rallies and television interviews to try out new attack lines and campaign slogans.
The former president was last on the debate stage in June, when he debated Biden in Atlanta. But Bidens disastrous performance resulted in Democrats losing confidence in their nominee and pressuring him to exit the race.
Tuesday marks Trumps seventh presidential debate. He debated Hillary Clinton three times in the 2016 election, Biden twice in the 2020 contest and once in the 2024 race.
