DEBATE REPLAY: VP Harris and former President Trump l ABC News Presidential Debate

[0:00] tonight the high-stakes showdown here in philadelphia between vice president kamala [0:04] harris and former president donald trump their first face-to-face meeting in this presidential [0:09] election their first face-to-face meeting ever a historic race for president upended just weeks [0:14] ago president biden withdrawing after his last debate donald trump now up against a new opponent [0:20] the candidates separated by the smallest of margins essentially tied in the polls nationally [0:24] and in the key battlegrounds including right here in pennsylvania all still very much in play [0:30] the abc news presidential debate starts right now this is an abc news special the most consequential [0:37] moment of this campaign kamala harris donald trump we will soon be a great nation again face-to-face [0:51] historic the abc news presidential debate here now david muir and lindsey davis good evening i'm david [1:02] muir and thank you for joining us for tonight's abc news presidential debate we want to welcome [1:06] viewers watching on abc and around the world tonight vice president kamala harris and president [1:12] donald trump are just moments away from taking the stage in this unprecedented race for president [1:16] and i'm lindsey davis tonight's meeting could be the most consequential event of their campaigns with [1:21] election day now less than two months away for vice president kamala harris this is her first debate [1:26] since president biden withdrew from the race on july 21st of course that decision followed his debate [1:32] against president donald trump in june since then this race has taken on an entirely new dynamic and [1:37] that brings us to the rules of tonight's debate 90 minutes with two commercial breaks no topics or [1:42] questions have been shared with the campaigns the candidates will have two minutes to answer questions [1:46] and this is the clock that's what they'll be seeing two minutes for rebuttals and one minute for [1:51] follow-ups clarifications or responses their microphones will only be turned on when it's their turn to speak [1:56] no pre-written notes allowed there is no audience here tonight in this hall at the national constitution [2:02] center this is an intimate setting for two candidates who have never met president trump won the coin toss [2:07] he chose to deliver the final closing statement of the evening vice president harris selected the podium to [2:12] the right so let's now welcome the candidates to the stage vice president kamala harris and president [2:18] donald trump kamala harris some good debate thank you welcome to you both it's wonderful to have you it's an [2:33] honor to have you both here tonight good evening we are looking forward to a spirited and thoughtful [2:38] debate so let's get started i want to begin tonight with the issue that voters repeatedly say [2:42] is their number one issue and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country [2:47] vice president harris you and president trump were elected four years ago and your opponent on the [2:51] stage here tonight often asks his supporters are you better off than you were four years ago when it [2:57] comes to the economy do you believe americans are better off than they were four years ago [3:02] so i was raised as a middle class kid and i am actually the only person on this stage who has [3:09] a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of america i believe in the ambition [3:15] the aspirations the dreams of the american people and that is why i imagine and have actually a plan to [3:22] build what i call an opportunity economy because here's the thing we know that we have a shortage of [3:28] of homes and housing and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people we know that [3:34] young families need support to raise their children and i intend on extending a tax cut for those [3:41] families of six thousand dollars which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time [3:47] so that those young families can afford to buy a crib buy a car seat buy clothes for their children [3:54] my passion one of them is small businesses i was actually my mother raised my sister and me [4:01] but there was a woman who helped raise us we call her our second mother she was a small business owner [4:05] i love our small businesses my plan is to give a fifty thousand dollar tax deduction to start up small [4:13] businesses knowing they are part of the backbone of america's economy my opponent on the other hand his plan [4:19] is to do what he has done before which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations which [4:26] will result in five trillion dollars to america's deficit my opponent has a plan that i call the trump's [4:32] sales tax which would be a 20 percent tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month [4:41] economists have said that that trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families in about [4:47] four thousand dollars more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be [4:55] the backs of middle class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires president trump i'll give you two [5:01] minutes first of all i have no sales tax that's an incorrect statement she knows that we're doing tariffs [5:08] on other countries other countries are going to finally after 75 years pay us back for all that we've done [5:14] for the world and the tariff will be substantial in some cases i took in billions and billions of dollars as [5:20] you know from china in fact they never took the tariff off because it was so much money they can't it would [5:26] totally destroy everything that they've set out to do they're taking in billions of dollars from china and [5:31] other places they've left the tariffs on when i had it i had tariffs and yet i had no inflation [5:37] look we've had a terrible economy because inflation has which is really known as a country buster it [5:43] breaks up countries we have inflation like very few people have ever seen before probably the worst in [5:49] our nation's history we were at 21 but that's being generous because many things are 50 60 70 and 80 percent [5:56] higher than they were just a few years ago this has been a disaster for people for the middle class but [6:02] for every class on top of that we have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and [6:08] jails from mental institutions and insane asylums and they're coming in and they're taking jobs that [6:15] are occupied right now by african americans and hispanics and also unions unions are going to be [6:21] affected very soon and you see what's happening you see what's happening with towns throughout the united [6:26] states you look at springfield ohio you look at aurora in colorado they are taking over the towns they're [6:33] taking over buildings they're going in violently these are the people that she and biden led into [6:40] our country and they're destroying our country they're dangerous they're at the highest level of [6:45] criminality and we have to get them out we have to get them out fast i created one of the greatest [6:51] economies in the history of our country i'll do it again and even better we are going to get to [6:56] immigration and border security during this debate but i would like to let vice president harris [7:01] respond on the economy here well i would love to let's talk about what donald trump left us donald trump [7:08] left us the worst unemployment since the great depression donald trump left us the worst public [7:16] health epidemic in a century donald trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war [7:27] and what we have done is clean up donald trump's mess what we have done and what i intend to do is build [7:34] on what we know are the aspirations and the hopes of the american people but i'm going to tell you all [7:38] in this debate tonight you're going to hear from the same old tired playbook a bunch of lies grievances [7:45] and name calling what you're going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called project 2025 [7:53] that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again i believe very strongly [8:00] that the american people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together [8:06] knowing we have so much more in common than what separates us and i pledge to you to be a president [8:11] for all americans president trump will give you a minute here to respond number one i have nothing to [8:15] do as you know and as she knows better than anyone i have nothing to do with project 2025 that's out [8:21] 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 [8:26] of people that got together they came up with some ideas i guess some good some bad but it makes no [8:31] difference i have nothing to do everybody knows i'm an open book everybody knows what i'm going to do cut [8:35] taxes very substantially and create a great economy like i did before we had the greatest economy we got hit [8:42] hit with a pandemic and the pandemic was not since 1917 where 100 million people died has there been [8:49] anything like it we did a phenomenal job with the pandemic we handed them over a country where the economy [8:56] and where the stock market was higher than it was before the pandemic came in nobody's ever seen anything [9:02] like it we made ventilators for the entire world we got gowns we got masks we did things that nobody thought [9:08] possible and people give me credit for rebuilding the military they give me credit for a lot of things [9:13] but not enough credit for the great job we did with the pandemic but the only jobs they got were bounce [9:18] back jobs these were jobs bounce back and it bounced back and it went to their benefit but i was the one [9:24] that created them they know it and so does everybody else vice president harris i'll let you respond [9:29] so donald trump has no plan for you and when you look at his economic plan it's all about tax breaks [9:37] for the richest people i am offering what i describe as an opportunity economy and the best economists in [9:45] our country if not the world have reviewed our relative plans for the future of america what goldman [9:52] sachs has said is that donald trump's plan would make the economy worse mine would strengthen the economy [9:59] what the wharton school has said is donald trump's plan would actually explode the deficit 16 nobel laureates [10:07] have described his economic plan as something that would increase inflation and by the middle of next [10:14] year would invite a recession you just have to look at where we are and where we stand on the issues [10:20] and i'd invite you to know that donald trump actually has no plan for you because he is more interested [10:26] in defending himself than he is in looking out for you i went to the wharton school of finance and [10:35] many of those professors the top professors think my plan is a brilliant plan it's a great plan it's a [10:41] plan that's going to bring up our our worth our value as a country it's going to make people want to be [10:46] able to go and work and create jobs and create a lot of good solid money for our company for our country [10:54] just to finish off she doesn't have a plan she copied biden's plan and it's like four sentences [11:02] like run spot run four sentences that are just oh we'll try and lower taxes she doesn't have a plan [11:09] take a look at her plan she doesn't have a plan mr president i do want to drill down on something [11:14] you both brought up uh the vice president brought up your tariffs you responded and let's drill down on [11:18] this because your plan is what she calls is essentially a national sales tax your proposal [11:24] calls for tariffs as you pointed out here on foreign imports across the board you recently said that you [11:28] might double your plan imposing tariffs up to 20 on goods coming into this country as you know many [11:34] economists say that with tariffs at that level costs are then passed on to the consumer vice president [11:39] harris has argued it'll mean higher prices on gas food clothing medication arguing it costs the typical [11:45] family nearly four thousand dollars a year do you believe americans can afford higher prices because [11:50] of tariffs they're not going to have higher prices what's going to have and who's going to have higher [11:54] prices is china and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years i charge i was the [12:00] only president ever china was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars and so were other countries [12:07] and you know if she doesn't like them they should have gone out and they should have immediately cut [12:10] the tariffs but those tariffs are there three and a half years now under their [12:14] administration we are going to take in billions of dollars hundreds of billions of dollars i had [12:22] no inflation virtually no inflation they had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our [12:27] country because i've never seen a worse period of time people can't go out and buy cereal or bacon [12:32] or eggs or anything else these the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done [12:39] they've destroyed the economy and all you have to do is look at a poll the polls say 80 and 85 and even [12:46] 90 percent that the trump economy was great that their economy was terrible vice president harris i do [12:52] want to ask for your response and you heard what the president said there because the biden administration [12:55] did keep a number of the trump tariffs in place so how do you respond well let's be clear that the trump [13:02] administration resulted in a trade deficit one of the highest we've ever seen in the history of america [13:08] he invited trade wars you want to talk about his deal with china what he ended up doing is under [13:14] donald trump's presidency he ended up selling american chips to china to help them improve and modernize [13:23] their military basically sold us out when a policy about china should be in making sure the united states of [13:31] america wins the competition for the 21st century which means focusing on the details of what that [13:37] requires focusing on relationships with our allies focusing on investing in american-based technology [13:44] so that we win the race on ai on quantum computing focusing on what we need to do to support america's [13:52] workforce so that we don't end up having on the short end of the stick in terms of workers rights but what [13:59] donald trump did let's talk about this with covid is he actually thanked president xi for what he did [14:06] during covid look at his tweet thank you president xi exclamation point when we know that she was [14:14] responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of covid president trump [14:20] i'll let you respond first of all they bought their chips from taiwan we hardly make chips anymore [14:25] because of philosophies like they have and policies like they have i don't say her because she has no [14:32] policy everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window she's going to [14:38] my philosophy now in fact i was going to send her a mega hat she's gone to my philosophy but if she ever [14:44] got elected she'd change it and it will be the end of our country she's a marxist everybody knows she's a [14:51] marxist her father's a marxist professor in economics and he taught her well but when you look at what she's done [14:58] to our country and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country [15:03] monthly where it's i believe 21 million people not the 15 that people say and i think it's a lot higher [15:09] than the 21 that's bigger than new york state pouring in and just look at what they're doing to our [15:15] country they're criminals many of these people coming in are criminals and that's bad for our [15:20] economy too you know you mentioned before we'll talk about immigration later well bad immigration is the [15:25] worst thing that can happen to our economy they have and she has destroyed our country with policy [15:33] that's insane almost policy that you'd say they have to hate our country president trump thank you [15:39] lindsey i want to turn to the issue of abortion president trump you've often touted that you were [15:44] able to kill roe v wade last year you said that you were proud to be the most pro-life president in [15:50] american history then last month you said that your administration would be great for women and their [15:55] reproductive rights in your home state of florida you surprised many with regard to your six-week [16:00] abortion ban because you initially had said that it was too short and you said quote i'm going to [16:05] be voting that we need more than six weeks but then the very next day you reversed course and said [16:11] you would vote to support the six-week ban vice president harris says that women shouldn't trust you [16:16] on the issue of abortion because you've changed your position so many times therefore why should [16:22] they trust you well the reason i'm doing that vote is because the plan is as you know the vote is [16:28] they have abortion in the ninth month they even have and you can look at the governor of west virginia [16:34] the previous governor of west virginia not the current governor is doing an excellent job but the [16:38] governor before he said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby in other [16:44] words we'll execute the baby and that's why i did that because that predominates because they're [16:50] radical the democrats are radical in that and her vice presidential pick which i think was a horrible [16:56] pick by the way for our country because he is really out of it but her vice presidential pick says [17:02] abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine he also says execution after birth it's execution no [17:09] longer abortion because the baby is born is okay and that's not okay with me hence the vote but what i [17:16] did is something for 52 years they've been trying to get roe v wade into the states and through the [17:24] uh genius and and heart and strength of six supreme court justices we were able to do that now i believe [17:33] in the exceptions for rape incest and life of the mother i believe strongly in it ronald reagan did also [17:39] 85 of republicans do exceptions very important but we were able to get it and now states are voting on it [17:48] and for the first time you're going to see look this is an issue that's torn our country apart [17:53] for 52 years every legal scholar every democrat every republican liberal conservative they all wanted [18:02] this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote and that's what happened happened [18:07] now ohio the vote was somewhat liberal kansas the vote was somewhat liberal much more liberal than people [18:14] would have thought but each individual state is voting it's the vote of the people now it's not tied [18:20] up in the federal government i did a great service in doing it it took courage to do it and the supreme [18:25] court had great courage in doing it and i give tremendous credit to those six justices there is no state [18:31] in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born madame vice president want to get your [18:36] response to president trump well as i said you're going to hear a bunch of lies and that's not actually a [18:41] surprising fact let's understand how we got here donald trump hand selected three members of the united [18:49] states supreme court with the intention that they would undo the protections of roe v wade and they [18:54] did exactly as he intended and now in over 20 states there are trump abortion bans which make it criminal [19:04] for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state it provides prison for life trump abortion bans [19:12] that make no exception even for rape and incest which understand what that means a survivor of a crime [19:18] of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body [19:25] next that is immoral and one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the [19:34] government and donald trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body i have talked [19:41] with women around our country you want to talk about this is what people wanted pregnant women who want [19:48] to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage being denied care in an emergency room [19:54] because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in [20:00] the parking lot she didn't want that her husband didn't want that a 12 or 13 year old survivor of incest [20:07] being forced to carry a pregnancy to term they don't want that and i pledge to you when congress passes a bill [20:18] to put back in place the protections of roe v wade as president of the united states i will proudly sign it [20:25] in to law but understand if donald trump were to be reelected he will sign a national abortion ban [20:32] understand in his project 2025 there would be a national abortion a monitor that would be monitoring [20:38] your pregnancies your miscarriages i think the american people believe that certain freedoms [20:45] in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body should not be made by the government [20:51] thank you vice president harris well there she goes again it's a lie i'm not signing a ban and there's no [20:58] reason to sign a ban because we've gotten what everybody wanted democrats republicans and everybody [21:05] else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states and the states are voting [21:11] and it may take a little time but for 52 years this issue has torn our country apart and they've wanted [21:19] it back in the states and i did something that nobody thought was possible the states are now voting what she [21:26] 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 [21:33] because this issue has now been taken over by the states would you veto a national abortion ban if [21:39] it well i won't have to because again and two things number one she said she'll go back to congress [21:44] she'll never get the vote it's impossible for her to get the vote especially now with the 50 50 [21:49] essentially 50 50 in both senate and the house she's not going to get the vote she can't get the vote she [21:55] won't even come close to it so it's just talk you know what it reminds me of when they said they're [21:59] going to get student loans terminated and it ended up being a total catastrophe the student loans and [22:05] then her i think probably her boss if you call him a boss he spends all his time on the beach but look [22:12] her boss went out and said we'll do it again we'll do it a different way he went out got rejected again [22:17] by the supreme court so all these students got uh taunted with this whole thing about this whole idea [22:24] and how unfair that would have been part of the reason they lost to the millions and millions of [22:29] people that had to pay off their student loans they didn't get it for free but they were saying [22:33] it's the same way that they talked about that that they talk about abortion but if i could just get a [22:39] yes or no because you're running me jd vance has said that you would veto if you did come to your desk [22:44] well i didn't discuss it with jd in all fairness uh jd and i i don't mind if he has a certain view but i [22:51] think he was speaking for me but i really didn't look we don't have to discuss it because she'd never [22:57] be able to get it just like she couldn't get student loans they couldn't get student loans they [23:01] didn't even come close to getting student loans they taunted young people and a lot of other people [23:06] that had loans they can never get this approved so it doesn't matter what she says about going to [23:10] congress so wonderful let's go to congress do it but the fact is that for years they wanted to get it [23:16] out of congress and out of the federal government and we did something that everybody said couldn't be [23:20] done and now you have a vote of the people on abortion vice president harris want to give you [23:25] your time to respond but i do want to ask would you support any restrictions on a woman's right to [23:30] an abortion i absolutely support reinstating the protections of roe v wade and as you rightly [23:37] mentioned nowhere in america is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and and in asking for an abortion [23:46] that is not happening it's insulting to the women of america and understand what has been happening [23:52] under donald trump's abortion bans couples who pray and and and and dream of having a family [24:00] are being denied ivf treatments what is happening in our country working people working women who are [24:08] working one or two jobs who can barely afford child care as it is have to travel to another state [24:17] to get on a plane sitting next to strangers to go and get the health care she needs [24:23] barely can afford to do it and what you are putting her through is unconscionable and the people [24:30] of america have not the majority of americans believe in a woman's right to make decisions about [24:36] her own body and that is why in every state where this issue has been on the ballot in red and blue states [24:43] both the people of america have voted for freedom vice president excuse me i have to respond another lie [24:50] it's another lie i have been a leader on ivf which which is fertilization the ivf i have been a leader [24:57] in fact when they got a very negative decision on ivf from the alabama courts i saw the people of [25:04] alabama and the legislature two days later voted it in i've been a leader on it they know that and [25:10] everybody else knows it i have been a leader on fertilization ivf and the other thing they you [25:18] should ask will she allow abortion in the eighth month ninth month seventh month come on okay would [25:25] you do that why don't you ask why don't you that's the problem because under roe v way answer the question [25:32] you could do abortions in the seventh month the eighth month the ninth month and probably after [25:37] birth just look at the governor former governor of virginia the governor of virginia said we put the [25:43] baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with the baby president trump thank you we're going [25:48] to turn now to immigration and border security we know it's an issue that's important to republicans [25:52] democrats voters across the board in this country vice president harris you were tasked by president [25:57] biden with getting to the root causes of migration from central america we know that illegal border [26:03] crossings reached a record high in the biden administration this past june president biden [26:07] imposed tough new asylum restrictions we know the numbers since then have dropped significantly but my [26:13] question to you tonight is why did the administration wait until six months before the election to act [26:18] and would you have done anything differently from president biden on this so i'm the only person [26:23] on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns [26:29] drugs and human beings and let me say that the united states congress including some of the most [26:35] conservative members of the united states senate came up with a border security bill which i supported [26:42] and that bill would have put 1500 more border agents on the border to help those folks who are [26:48] working there right now over time trying to do their job it would have allowed us to stem the flow of [26:55] fentanyl coming into the united states i know there are so many families watching tonight who have been [27:00] personally affected by the surge of fentanyl in our country that bill would have put more resources to [27:07] allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns drugs and human [27:12] beings but you know what happened to that bill donald trump got on the phone called up some folks in [27:18] congress and said kill the bill and you know why because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing [27:25] a problem and understand this comes at a time where the people of our country actually need a leader [27:34] who engages in solutions who actually addresses the problems at hand but what we have in the former [27:41] president is someone who would prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem and i'll tell [27:46] you something he's going to talk about immigration a lot tonight even when it's not the subject that is being [27:50] raised and i'm going to actually do something really unusual and i'm going to invite you to attend one [27:56] of donald trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch you will see during the [28:01] course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like hannibal lecter he will talk about [28:06] windmills cause cancer and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early [28:12] out of exhaustion and boredom and i will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you [28:18] you will not hear him talk about your needs your dreams and your need and your desires and i'll [28:24] tell you i believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first and i pledge to you that [28:29] i will vice president harris thank you president trump on that point i want to get your response [28:33] well i would like to respond let me just ask though why did you try to kill that bill and successfully [28:37] so that would have put thousands of additional agents and officers on the board first let me respond [28:41] is to the rallies she said people start leaving people don't go to her rallies there's no reason to go [28:46] and the people that do go she's bussing them in and paying them to be there and then showing them in [28:53] a different light so she can't talk about that people don't leave my rallies we have the biggest [28:57] rallies the most incredible rallies in the history of politics that's because people want to take [29:02] their country back our country is being lost we're a failing nation and it happened three and a half years [29:09] ago and what what's going on here you're going to end up in world war three just to go into another [29:14] subject what they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into [29:21] our country and look at what's happening to the towns all over the united states and a lot of towns [29:26] don't want to talk it's not going to be aurora or springfield a lot of towns don't want to talk [29:30] about it because they're so embarrassed by it in springfield they're eating the dogs the people that came in [29:37] they're eating the cats they're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there and this [29:44] is what's happening in our country and it's a shame as far as rallies are concerned as far as the reason [29:52] they go is they like what i say they want to bring our country back they want to make america great [29:57] against very simple phrase make america great again she's destroying this country and if she becomes [30:04] president this country doesn't have a chance of success not only success we'll end up being [30:09] venezuela on steroids i just want to clarify here you bring up springfield uh ohio and abc news did [30:16] reach out to the city manager there uh he told us there have been no credible reports of specific [30:21] claims of pets being harmed injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community [30:26] well i've seen people on television let me just say here this is the people on television say my dog was [30:30] taken and used for food so maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager [30:36] i'm not taking this from television but the people on television saying the dog was eaten by the people [30:41] that went there again the springfield city manager says there's no evidence of that vice president harris [30:46] i'll let you respond to the rest of what you've heard you talk about extreme um you know i this is i [30:54] i think one of the reasons why in this election i actually have the endorsement of 200 republicans [31:01] who have formally worked with president bush mit romney and john mccain including the endorsement of [31:09] former vice president dick cheney and congress member liz cheney and if you want to really know [31:16] the inside track on who the former president is if he didn't make it clear already just ask people who have [31:23] worked with him his former chief of staff of four star general has said he has contempt for the [31:28] constitution of the united states his former national security advisor has said he is dangerous and [31:34] unfit his former secretary of defense has said the nation the republic would never survive another trump [31:43] term and when we listen to this kind of rhetoric when the issues that affect the american people are not [31:52] being addressed i think the choice is clear in this election president trump will give you a quick [31:57] minute to respond yeah uh thank you because when i hear that see i'm a different kind of a person [32:03] i fired most of those people not so graciously they did bad things or a bad job i fired them they [32:10] never fired one person they didn't fire anybody having to do with afghanistan and the taliban and the [32:15] 13 people who's who's were just killed viciously and violently killed and i got to know the parents [32:22] and the family they didn't fire they should have fired all those generals all those top people because [32:27] that was one of the most incompetently handled situations anybody has ever seen so when somebody [32:34] does a bad job i fire him and you take a guy like esper he was no good i fired him so he writes a book [32:40] another one writes a book because with me they can write books with nobody else can they [32:45] but they have done such a poor job and they never fire anybody look at the economy look how look at [32:51] the inflation they didn't fire any of their economists they have the same people that's a good way not to [32:57] have books written about you but just to finish i got more votes than any republican in history by far [33:05] in fact i got more votes than any president sitting president in history by far let me continue on [33:13] immigration it was what you wanted to talk about earlier so let's get back to your [33:16] deportation uh proposal that the vice president has reacted to as well president trump you call [33:22] this the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country you say you would [33:26] use the national guard you say if things get out of control you'd have no problem using the u.s [33:30] military you also said you would use local police how would you deport 11 million undocumented [33:37] immigrants i know you you believe that number is much higher take us through this what does this look [33:42] like will authorities be going door to door in this country yeah it is much higher because of them [33:48] they allowed criminals many many millions of criminals they allowed terrorists they allowed common street [33:55] criminals they allowed people to come in drug dealers to come into our country and they're now in the [33:59] united states and told by their countries like venezuela don't ever come back or we're going to kill you [34:07] do you know that crime in venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down you know [34:13] why because they've taken their criminals off the street and they've given them to her to put into our [34:19] country and this will be one of the greatest mistakes in history for them to allow and i think they [34:25] probably did it because they think they're going to get votes but it's not worth it because they're [34:30] they're destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done there's never been anything done [34:35] like this at all they've destroyed the fabric of our country millions of people let in and all over [34:42] the world crime is down all over the world except here crime here is up and through the roof despite [34:48] their fraudulent statements that they made crime in this country is through the roof and we have a new [34:53] form of crime it's called migrant crime and it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible president [34:58] trump as you know the fbi says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country [35:03] but excuse me the fbi defraud they were defrauding statements they they didn't include the worst cities [35:09] they didn't include the cities with the worst crime it was a fraud just like their number of 818 [35:16] 000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud president trump thank you i'll let you [35:19] respond vice president well i think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted [35:26] for national security crimes economic crimes election interference has been found liable for sexual [35:36] assault and his next big court appearance is in november at his own criminal sentencing and let's be [35:44] clear where each person stands on the issue of what is important about respect for the rule of law [35:51] and respect for law enforcement the former vice president called for defunding federal law enforcement [35:57] and 45 000 agents get this on the day after he was arranged on 34 felony counts so let's talk about [36:06] what is important in this race it is important that we move forward that we turn the page on this same old [36:15] tired rhetoric and address the needs of the american people address what we need to do about the housing [36:22] shortage which i have a plan for address what we must do to support our small businesses address [36:28] bringing down the price of groceries but frankly the american people are exhausted with the same old [36:35] tired playbook vice president harris thank you excuse me every one of those cases was started by them [36:42] against their political opponent and i'm winning most of them and i will win the rest on appeal and you saw [36:47] that with the decision that came down just recently from the supreme court i'm winning most of them but [36:52] those are cases it's called weaponization never happened in this country they weaponized the justice [36:58] department every one of those cases was involved with the doj from atlanta and fawny willis to to the [37:06] attorney general of new york and the da in new york every one of those cases and then they say oh [37:13] he was he's a criminal they're the ones that made them go after me by the way joe biden was found [37:20] essentially guilty on the documents case and what happened in my documents case they said oh that's [37:25] the toughest of them all a complete and total victory two months ago it was thrown out it's [37:32] weaponization and they used it and it's never happened in this country they used it to try and win an [37:37] election they're fake cases president trump thank you a really quick response here vice president harris on [37:42] this notion of weaponization of the justice department well let's talk about extreme and [37:47] understand the context in which this election in 2024 is taking place the united states supreme court [37:53] recently ruled that the former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he [37:59] were to enter the white house again understand this is someone who has openly said he would terminate [38:06] i'm quoting terminate the constitution of the united states that he would weaponize the department [38:12] of justice against his political enemies someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our [38:21] military understand what it would mean if donald trump were back in the white house with no guard [38:27] rails because certainly we know now the court won't stop him we know jd vance is not going to stop him [38:33] it's up to the american people vice president thank you lindsey vice president harris in your last run for [38:39] president this is the one that weaponized not me she weaponized i probably took a bullet to the head [38:47] because of the things that they say about me they talk about democracy i'm a threat to democracy they're [38:54] the threat to democracy with a fake russia russia russia investigation that went nowhere we have a lot to [39:00] get to lindsey vice president harrison your last run for president you said you wanted to ban fracking [39:05] now you don't you wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons now your campaign [39:10] says you don't you supported decriminalizing border crossings now you're taking a harder line i know [39:16] you say that your values have not changed so then why have so many of your policy positions changed [39:22] so my values have not changed and i'm going to discuss every one of the at least every point that [39:27] you've made but in particular let's talk about fracking because we're here in pennsylvania [39:30] i made that very clear in 2020 i will not ban fracking i have not banned fracking as vice president [39:36] united states and in fact i was the tie-breaking vote on the inflation reduction act which opened new [39:43] leases for fracking my position is that we have got to invest in diverse sources of energy so we reduce [39:52] our reliance on foreign oil we have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history [40:01] because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil as it relates to my [40:08] values let me tell you i grew up a middle-class kid raised by a hard-working mother who worked and [40:15] saved and was able to buy our first home when i was a teenager the values i bring to the importance of [40:21] home ownership knowing not everybody got handed 400 million dollars on a silver platter and then [40:27] filed bankruptcy six times is a value that i bring to my work to say we are going to work with the [40:33] private sector and home builders to increase three million homes increased by three million homes by the [40:39] end of my first term my work that is related to having a friend when i was in high school who was [40:45] sexually assaulted by her stepfather and my focus then on protecting women and children from violent crime [40:51] is based on a value that is deeply grounded in the importance of standing up for those who are [40:57] most vulnerable my work that is about protecting social security and medicare is based on long-standing [41:04] work that i have done protecting seniors from scams my values have not changed and what is important is [41:12] that there is a president who actually brings values and a perspective that is about lifting people up [41:19] and not beating people down and name-calling the true measure of the leader is the leader who actually [41:28] understands the strength is not in beating people down it's in lifting people up i intend to be that [41:35] president president trump well first of all i wasn't given 400 million dollars i wish i was my father was a [41:40] brooklyn builder brooklyn queens and a great father and i learned a lot from him but i was given a fraction of [41:46] that a tiny fraction and have built it into many many billions of dollars many many billions and when [41:52] people see it they are even surprised so we don't have to talk about that fracking she's been against it [41:57] for 12 years defund the police she's been against that forever she gave all that stuff up very wrongly [42:06] very horribly and everybody's laughing at it okay they're all laughing at it she gave up at least 12 and [42:13] probably 14 or 15 different policies like she was big on defund the police in minnesota she went out [42:20] wait a minute i'm talking now if you don't mind please does that sound familiar she went out [42:29] she went out in minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people that burned down minneapolis [42:37] she went out and raised money to get them out of jail she did things that nobody would ever think of [42:42] now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison this is a radical left [42:49] liberal that would do this she wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in [42:55] pennsylvania if she won the election fracking in pennsylvania will end on day one just to finish one thing [43:02] so important in my opinion so i got the oil business going like nobody has ever done before [43:09] they took when they took over they got rid of it started getting rid of it and the prices were going [43:15] up the roof they immediately let these guys go to where they were i would have been five times four [43:23] times five times higher because you're talking about three and a half years ago they got it up to where i [43:29] was because they had no choice because the prices of energy would were quadrupling and doubling you saw what [43:34] happened to gasoline so they said let's go back to trump but if she won the election the day after [43:40] that election they'll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead fossil fuel will be [43:45] dead we'll go back to windmills and we'll go back to solar where they need a whole desert to get some [43:50] energy to come out you ever see a solar plant by the way i'm a big fan of solar but they take 400 500 acres [43:59] of desert soil these are not good things for the environment as she understands thank you lindsay [44:05] thank you we have an election in just 56 days and i want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power [44:10] which of course we all know is a cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president [44:14] in a moment of crisis mr president on january 6th you told your supporters to march to the capitol you [44:20] said you would be right there with them the country and the world saw what played out of the capitol [44:24] that day the officers coming under attack aides in the west wing say you watched it unfold on [44:29] television off the oval office you did send out tweets but it was more than two hours before you [44:33] sent out that video message telling your supporters to go home is there anything you regret about what [44:39] you did on that day you just said a thing that isn't covered peacefully and patriotically i said during [44:47] my speech not later on peacefully and patriotically and nobody on the other side was killed ashley babbitt [44:56] was shot by an out-of-control police officer that should have never ever shot her it's a disgrace but [45:04] we didn't do this group of people that have been treated so badly i asked what about all the people [45:10] that are pouring into our country and killing people that she allowed to port in she was the border [45:14] czar remember that she was the border czar she doesn't want to be called the borders are because [45:18] she's embarrassed by the border in fact she said at the beginning oh i'm surprised you're not talking [45:22] about the border yet that's because she knows what a bad job they've done what about those people what's [45:28] what are they going to be prosecuted one of these people from countries all over the world not just [45:33] south america they're coming in from all over the world david all over the world and crime rates are down [45:41] all over the world because of it but let me just one of those david one of those people going to be [45:45] prosecuted one of the people that burned down minneapolis is going to be prosecuted or in seattle [45:50] they went into seattle they took over a big percentage of the city of seattle when are those people going [45:55] to be prosecuted but let me just ask you might ask her that question you were the president you were [46:00] watching it unfold on television it's a very simple question as we move forward toward another election [46:05] is there anything you regret about what you did on that day yesterday i had nothing to do with that [46:10] 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 [46:15] i went to nancy pelosi and the mayor of washington dc and the mayor put it back in writing as you know [46:22] i said you know this is going to be a very big rally or whatever you want to call it and again it [46:28] wasn't done by me it was done by others i said i'd like to give you 10 000 national guard or soldiers [46:34] they rejected me nancy pelosi rejected me it was just two weeks ago her daughter has a tape of her [46:40] saying she is fully responsible for what happened they want to get rid of that tape it would have [46:46] never happened if nancy pelosi and the mayor of washington did their jobs i wasn't responsible [46:52] for security nancy pelosi was responsible she didn't do her job the question was about you as [46:57] president not about former speaker pelosi but i do want vice president harris to respond here [47:03] i was at the capitol on january 6th i was the vice president elect i was also an acting senator i was [47:10] there and on that day the president of the united states incited a violent mob to attack our nation's [47:20] capital to desecrate our nation's capital on that day 140 law enforcement officers were injured and some [47:29] died and understand the former president has been indicted and impeached for exactly that reason but [47:38] this is not an isolated situation let's remember charlottesville where there was a mob of people [47:46] carrying tiki torches spewing anti-semitic hate and what did the president then at the time say there [47:56] were fine people on each side let's remember that when it came to the proud boys a militia the president [48:05] said the former president said stand back and stand by so for everyone watching who remembers what [48:11] 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 [48:21] page and if that was a bridge too far for you well there is a place in our campaign for you to stand [48:30] for country to stand for our democracy to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the [48:41] approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy because you don't like the outcome [48:47] and be clear on that point donald trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a blood [48:54] bath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking let's turn the page on this [49:02] let's not go back let's chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past let me just [49:09] follow up here it was a different term and it was a term that related to energy because they have [49:16] destroyed our energy business that was where bloodbath was also on charlottesville that story has been as [49:22] you would say debunked laura ingram sean hannity jesse all of these people they covered it if they go [49:30] an extra sentence they will see it was perfect it was debunked in almost every newspaper but they still [49:36] bring it up just like they bring 2025 up they bring all of this stuff up i ask you this you talk about [49:42] the capitol why are we allowing these millions of people to come through on the southern border how [49:48] come she's not doing anything and i'll tell you what i would do and i would be very proud to do it [49:53] i would say we would both leave this debate right now i'd like to see her go down to washington dc [50:00] during this debate because we're wasting a lot of time go down to because she's been so bad it's so [50:04] ridiculous go down to washington dc and let her sign a bill to close up the border because they have the [50:11] right to do it they don't need bills they have the right to do the president of the united states [50:16] you'll get them out of bed you'll wake them up at four o'clock in the afternoon you'll say come on [50:20] come on down to the office let's sign a bill if he if he signs a bill that the border is closed [50:25] all he has to do is say it to the border patrol who are phenomenal if they do that the border is [50:30] closed those people are killing many people unlike j6 we talked immigration here tonight i do want to [50:36] focus on this next issue to both of you because it really brings us uh this into focus truth [50:41] uh in these times that we're living in uh mr president for three and a half years after [50:45] you lost the 2020 election you repeatedly falsely claimed that you won many times saying you won [50:51] in a landslide in the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate uh you have said quote you lost by [50:56] a whisker that you quote didn't quite make it that you came up a little bit short i said that are you [51:02] now acknowledging that you've lost in 2020 no i don't acknowledge that at all i said that sarcastically [51:06] you know that it was said oh we lost by a whisker that was said sarcastically look there's so much [51:12] proof all you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for [51:17] approval i got almost 75 million votes the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten i was [51:23] told if i got 63 which was what i got in 2016 you can't be beaten the election people should never be [51:30] thinking about an election is fraudulent we need two things we need walls we need and we have to have it [51:36] we have to have borders and we have to have good elections our elections are bad and a lot of [51:41] these illegal immigrants coming in they're trying to get them to vote they can't even speak english [51:46] they don't even know what country they're in practically and these people are trying to get [51:50] them to vote and that's why they're allowing them to come into our country i did watch all of these [51:55] pieces of video i i didn't detect the sarcasm lost by a whisker we didn't quite make it and we should [52:00] just point out here as clarification and you know this you and your allies 60 cases in front of many [52:05] judges many of them no judge looked at it and said they said we didn't have standing that's the other [52:10] thing they said we didn't have standing a technicality can you imagine a system where a person in an [52:16] election doesn't have standing the president of the united states doesn't have standing that's how we [52:22] lost if you look at the facts and i'd love to have you you'll do a special on it i'll show you georgia [52:28] and i'll show you wisconsin and i'll show you pennsylvania and i'll show we have so many facts and [52:33] statistics but you know what that doesn't matter because we have to solve the problem that we have [52:38] right now that's old news and the problem that we have right now is we have a nation in decline [52:45] and they have put it into decline we have a nation that is dying david mr president thank you uh vice [52:52] president harris you heard the president there tonight he said he didn't say that that he lost by [52:55] whisker so he still believes he did not lose the election uh that was won by president biden and [53:02] yourself but i do want to ask you about something that's come up in the last couple of days this was [53:06] a post from president trump about this upcoming election just weeks away he said when i win those [53:12] people who cheated and then he lists donors voters election officials he says will be prosecuted to the [53:17] fullest extent of the law which will include long-term prison sentences one of your campaign's top [53:23] lawyers responded saying we won't let donald trump intimidate us we won't let him suppress the vote [53:28] is that what you believe he's trying to do here donald trump was fired by 81 million people [53:35] so let's be clear about that and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that [53:41] but we cannot afford to have a president of the united states who attempts as he did in the past [53:49] to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election and i'm going to tell you that i have [53:56] traveled the world as vice president united states and world leaders are laughing at donald trump [54:03] i have talked with military leaders some of whom worked with you and they say you're a disgrace [54:10] and when you then talk in this way in a presidential debate and deny what over and over again are court cases [54:18] you have lost because you did in fact lose that election it leads one to believe that perhaps we [54:27] do not have in the candidate to my right the temperament or or the ability to not be confused [54:35] about fact that's deeply troubling and the american people deserve better i'll give you one minute to [54:41] respond mr president let me just tell about world leaders victor orban one of the most respected men they [54:47] call him a strong man he's just he's a tough person smart prime minister of hungary they said why is the [54:53] whole world blowing up three years ago it wasn't why is it blowing up he said because you need trump [55:00] back as president they were afraid of him china was afraid and i don't like to use the word afraid but i'm [55:06] just quoting him china was afraid of him north korea was afraid of him look at what's going on with north [55:12] korea by the way he said russia was afraid of him i ended the nordstrom 2 pipeline and biden put it back [55:19] on day one but he ended the xl pipeline the xl pipeline in our country he ended that but he let [55:27] the russians build a pipeline going all over europe and heading into germany the biggest pipeline in the [55:32] world look victor orban said it he said the most respected most feared person is donald trump we had no [55:42] problems when trump was president but when this weak pathetic man that you saw at a debate just a few [55:49] months ago that if he weren't in that debate he'd be running instead of her she got no votes he got 14 [55:54] million votes what you did you talk about a threat to democracy he got 14 million votes and they threw [55:59] 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 [56:05] got 14 million votes they threw him out she got zero votes and when she ran she was the first one [56:12] to leave because she failed and now she's running i don't understand it but i'm okay with it because [56:18] your time is i think we're going to do very well we've got a lot more to get to turning now to the [56:22] israel hamas war and the hostages who are still being held americans among them vice president harris [56:28] in december you said quote israel has a right to defend itself but you added quote it matters how [56:33] saying international humanitarian law must be respected israel must do more to protect innocent [56:39] civilians you said that nine months ago now an estimated 40 000 palestinians are dead nearly 100 [56:46] hostages remain just last week prime minister benjamin netanyahu said there's not a deal in the [56:51] making president biden has not been able to break through the stalemate how would you do it well [56:58] let's understand how we got here on october 7 hamas a terrorist organization slaughtered 1200 israelis [57:09] many of them young people who are simply attending a concert women were horribly raped and so absolutely [57:17] i said then i say now israel has a right to defend itself we would and how it does so matters because it [57:26] is also true far too many innocent palestinians have been killed children mothers what we know is that [57:35] this war must end it must win and immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we [57:43] need the hostages out and so we will continue to work around the clock on that work around the clock also [57:51] understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution and in that solution there must be [57:59] security for the israeli people and israel and in equal measure for the palestinians but the one thing [58:05] i will assure you always i will always give israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it rates [58:12] to as it relates to iran and any threat that iran and its proxies pose to israel but we must have a two-state [58:20] solution where we can rebuild gaza where the palestinians have security self-determination [58:27] and the dignity they so rightly deserve president trump how would you negotiate with netanyahu [58:33] and also hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in [58:39] gaza if i were president it would have never started if i were president russia would have never ever [58:45] ever i know putin very well he would have never there was no threat of it either by the way for [58:50] four years have gone into ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up far worse [58:56] than people understand what's going on over there but when she mentions about israel all of a sudden [59:02] she hates israel she wouldn't even meet with netanyahu when he went to congress to make a very [59:08] important speech she refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers she wanted to go to [59:13] the sorority party she hates israel if she's president i believe that israel will not exist within two [59:21] years from now and i've been pretty good at predictions and i hope i'm wrong about that one [59:25] she hates israel at the same time in her own way she hates the arab population because the whole place [59:34] is going to get blown up arabs jewish people israel israel will be gone it would have never happened iran [59:43] was broke under donald trump now iran has 300 billion dollars because they took off all the sanctions [59:50] that i had iran had no money for hamas or hezbollah or any of the 28 different uh spheres of terror and [59:58] they are spheres of terror horrible terror they had no money it was a big story and you know it you covered [1:00:04] it very well actually they had no money for terror they were broke now they're a rich nation and now [1:00:12] what they're doing is they're spreading that money around look at what's happening with the houthis and [1:00:18] yemen look at what's going on in the middle east this would have never happened i will get that settled [1:00:23] and fast and i'll get the war with ukraine and russia ended if i'm president-elect i'll get it done [1:00:31] before even becoming president vice president harris he says you hate israel oh that's absolutely not true [1:00:38] i have my entire career and life supported israel and the israeli people he knows that he's trying to [1:00:45] again divide and and distract from the reality which is it is very well known that donald trump [1:00:54] is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy it is well known that he admires dictators [1:01:01] wants to be a dictator on day one according to himself it is well known that he said of putin [1:01:09] that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into ukraine it is well known that he said when [1:01:16] russia went into ukraine it was brilliant it is well known he exchanged love letters with kim jong-un [1:01:24] and it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president [1:01:33] again because they're so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favors and that is why so many [1:01:43] military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace that is why we understand [1:01:50] that we have to have a president who is not consistently weak and wrong on national security [1:01:57] including the importance of upholding and respecting in highest regard our military vice president harris [1:02:03] thank you they're the ones and she's the one that caused it that's weak or national security by allowing [1:02:10] every nation last month for the year 168 different countries sending people into our country their crime [1:02:17] weights are way down putin endorsed her last week said i hope she wins and i think he meant it [1:02:24] because what he's gotten away with is absolutely incredible it wouldn't have happened with me [1:02:29] the leaders of other countries think that they're weak and incompetent and they are they're grossly [1:02:35] incompetent and i just ask one question why does biden go in and kill the keystone pipeline [1:02:41] and approve the single biggest deal that russia's ever made nordstream to the biggest pipeline [1:02:47] anywhere in the world going to germany and all over europe because they're weak and they're ineffective [1:02:52] and biden by the way gets paid a lot of money thank you we have a lot of issues to get to we'll [1:02:57] be right back with much more of this historic abc news presidential debate from the national [1:03:00] constitution center right here in philadelphia back in a moment the abc news presidential debate will [1:03:13] continue after this live from the national constitution center in philadelphia pennsylvania [1:03:24] here again david muir and lindsey davis welcome back to this historic abc news presidential debate [1:03:30] tonight we're going to continue here and i want to turn to the war in ukraine we're now two and a [1:03:33] half years into this conflict mr president it has been the position of the biden administration that we [1:03:39] must defend ukraine from russia from vladimir putin to defend their sovereignty their democracy that it's [1:03:44] in america's best interest to do so arguing that if putin wins he may be emboldened to move even further [1:03:49] into other countries you have said you would solve this war in 24 hours you said so just before the [1:03:54] break tonight how exactly would you do that and i want to ask you a very simple question tonight do you [1:04:00] want ukraine to win this war i want the war to stop i want to save lives that are being uselessly [1:04:08] people being killed by the millions it's the millions it's so much worse than the numbers that [1:04:13] you're getting which are fake numbers look we're in for 250 billion or more because they don't ask [1:04:21] europe which is a much bigger beneficiary to getting this thing done than we are they're in for 150 [1:04:28] billion dollars less because biden and you don't have the courage to ask europe like i did with nato [1:04:36] they paid billions and billions hundreds of billions of dollars when i said either you pay up or we're not [1:04:42] going to protect you anymore so that's maybe one of the reasons they don't like me as much as they [1:04:46] like weak people but you take a look at what's happening we're in for 250 to 275 billion they're into [1:04:54] 100 to 150 they should be forced to equalize with that being said i want to get the war settled i know [1:05:03] zelinski very well and i know putin very well i have a good relationship and they respect your president [1:05:09] okay they respect me they don't respect biden how would you respect him why for what reason he hasn't [1:05:15] even made a phone call in two years to put hasn't spoken to anybody they don't even try and get it [1:05:20] that is a war that's dying to be settled i will get it settled before i even become president if i win [1:05:26] 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 [1:05:32] together that war would have never happened and in fact when i saw putin after i left unfortunately [1:05:39] left because our our country has gone to hell but after i left when i saw him building up soldiers [1:05:45] he did it after i left i said oh he must be negotiating it must be a good strong point of [1:05:51] negotiation well it wasn't because biden had no idea how to talk to him he had no idea how to stop it [1:05:58] and now you have millions of people dead and it's only getting worse and it could lead to world war [1:06:03] three don't kid yourself david we're playing with world war three and we have a president that we don't [1:06:08] even know if he's where is our president we don't even know if he's a president and just to clarify [1:06:13] they threw him out of a campaign like a dog we don't even know is he our president but we have a [1:06:18] president mr president that doesn't know he's alive your time is up just to clarify on the question [1:06:24] do you believe it's in the u.s best interest for ukraine to win this war yes or no i think it's [1:06:28] the u.s best interest to get this war finished and just get it done all right negotiate a deal [1:06:34] because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed i want to take this device [1:06:39] president harris i want to get your thoughts on support for ukraine in this moment but also as [1:06:45] commander-in-chief if elected how would you deal with vladimir putin and would it be any different from [1:06:50] what we're seeing from president biden well first of all it's important to remind the former [1:06:55] president you're not running against joe biden you're running against me i believe the reason [1:07:01] that donald trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up [1:07:07] and that's not who we are as americans let's understand what happened here um i actually met with [1:07:12] zelensky a few days before russia invaded tried through force to change territorial boundaries [1:07:21] to defy one of the most important international rules and norms which is the importance of [1:07:26] sovereignty and territorial integrity and i met with president zelensky i shared with him american [1:07:32] intelligence about how he could defend himself days later i went to nato's eastern flank to poland [1:07:38] and romania and through the work that i and others did we brought 50 countries together to support ukraine [1:07:45] in its righteous defense and because of our support because of the air defense the ammunition the [1:07:53] artillery the javelins the abrams tanks that we have provided ukraine stands as an independent and free [1:08:00] country if donald trump were president putin would be sitting in kiev right now and understand what that [1:08:06] would mean because putin's agenda is not just about ukraine understand why the european allies and our nato [1:08:15] allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of [1:08:23] the greatest military alliance the world has ever known which is nato and what we have done to [1:08:28] preserve the ability of zelensky and the ukrainians to fight for their independence otherwise putin would [1:08:35] be sitting in kiev with his eyes on the rest of europe starting with poland and why don't you tell the [1:08:41] eight hundred thousand polish americans right here in pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the [1:08:47] sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat [1:08:54] you for lunch vice president harris thank you we've heard from both of you on ukraine tonight afghanistan [1:09:00] came up in the last hour i i wanted her to respond to something you said earlier and now please i'll give [1:09:06] you a minute here putin would be sitting in moscow and he wouldn't have lost 300 000 men and women but [1:09:14] he would have been sitting in moscow quiet please he would have been sitting in moscow much happier than [1:09:21] he is right now but eventually you know he's got a thing that other people don't have he's got nuclear [1:09:26] weapons they don't ever talk about that he got nuclear weapons nobody ever thinks about that and [1:09:31] eventually uh maybe he'll use them and maybe hasn't been that threatening but he does have that [1:09:38] something we don't even like to talk about nobody likes to talk about it but just so you understand [1:09:43] they sent her to negotiate peace before this war started three days later he went in and he started [1:09:49] the war because everything they said was weak and stupid they said the wrong things that war should have [1:09:56] never started she was the emissary they sent her in to negotiate with zelinski and putin and she did [1:10:04] and the war started three days later and that's the kind of talent we have with her she's worse than [1:10:09] biden in my opinion i think he's the worst president in the history of our country she goes down as the [1:10:15] worst vice president in the history of our country but let me tell you something she is a horrible [1:10:20] negotiator they sent her in to negotiate as soon as they left putin did the invasion president trump [1:10:27] thank you you did bring up something you said she went to negotiate with vladimir putin vice [1:10:30] president harris have you ever met vladimir putin can you clarify tonight yet again i said at the [1:10:35] beginning of this debate you're gonna hear a bunch of lies coming from this fellow and that is another one [1:10:40] when i went to meet with president zelinski i've now met with him over five times the reality is it has been [1:10:46] about standing as america always should as a leader upholding international rules and norms as a leader [1:10:56] who shows strength understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on our ability [1:11:04] to look out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strongmen instead of caring [1:11:12] about democracy and that is very much what is at stake here the president of the united states is commander in [1:11:19] chief and the american people have a right to rely on a president who understands the significance of [1:11:28] america's role and responsibility in terms of ensuring that there is stability and ensuring we stand up for [1:11:36] our principles and not sell them for the for the benefit of personal flattery we've talked about ukraine [1:11:43] and vladimir putin i do want to talk about afghanistan it came up in in the first hour of this debate [1:11:48] i i want to move on to afghanistan said trump did the most amazing thing i've ever seen [1:11:54] 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 [1:12:01] he said i've never seen for years we were paying almost all of nato we were being ripped off by [1:12:06] european nations both on trade and on nato i got them to pay up by saying one of the statements you [1:12:13] made before if you don't pay we're not going to protect you otherwise we would have never gotten [1:12:17] it he said it was one of the most incredible jobs that he's ever seen done thank you i want to turn to [1:12:23] afghanistan it came up in the first hour of the debate and we witnessed a poignant moment today on [1:12:27] capitol hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan i do want to ask [1:12:32] the vice president do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played [1:12:37] out well i will tell you i agreed with president biden's decision to pull out of afghanistan four [1:12:44] presidents said they would and joe biden did and as a result america's taxpayers are not paying the 300 [1:12:52] million dollars a day we were paying for that endless war and as of today there is not [1:12:58] one member of the united states military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around [1:13:06] the world the first time this century but let's understand how we got to where we are donald trump [1:13:12] when he was president negotiated one of the weakest deals you can imagine he calls himself a deal maker [1:13:19] even his national security advisor said it was a weak terrible deal and here's how it went down [1:13:25] he bypassed the afghan government he negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the [1:13:32] taliban the negotiation involved the taliban getting 5 000 terrorists taliban terrorists released [1:13:39] and get this no get this and the president at the time invited the taliban to camp david [1:13:48] a place of storied significance for us as americans a place where we honor the importance of american diplomacy [1:13:56] where we invite and receive respected world leaders and this former president as president invited them [1:14:08] to camp david because he does not again appreciate the role and responsibility of the president of the united [1:14:18] states to be commander-in-chief with a level of respect and this gets back to the point of how he has [1:14:25] consistently disparaged and demeaned members of our military fallen soldiers and the work that we must do [1:14:32] to uphold the strength and the respect of the united states of america around the world vice president [1:14:39] harris thank you president trump your response to her saying that you began the negotiation yeah thank you [1:14:43] so if you take a look at that period of time the taliban was killing our soldiers a lot of them with snipers [1:14:53] and i got involved with the taliban because the taliban was doing the killing that's the fighting [1:14:59] force within afghanistan they don't bother doing that because you know they deal with the wrong people all [1:15:03] the time but i got involved and abdul is the head of the taliban he is still the head of the taliban [1:15:10] and i told abdul don't do it anymore you do it anymore you're gonna have problems and he said why [1:15:16] do you send me a picture of my house i said you're gonna have to figure that out abdul and for 18 months [1:15:21] we had nobody killed we did have an agreement negotiated by mike pompeo it was a very good [1:15:27] agreement the reason it was good it was we were getting out we would have been out faster than them [1:15:32] but we wouldn't have lost the soldiers we wouldn't have left many americans behind and we wouldn't have [1:15:36] left we wouldn't have left 85 billion dollars worth of brand new beautiful military equipment behind [1:15:43] and just to finish they blew it the agreement said you have to do this this this this this and they [1:15:51] didn't do it they didn't do it the agreement was was terminated by us because they didn't do what they [1:15:59] were supposed to do i want to move and these people did the worst withdrawal and in my opinion the [1:16:05] most embarrassing moment in the history of our country and by the way that's why russia attacked [1:16:11] ukraine because they saw how incompetent she and her boss are president trump thank you i want to [1:16:17] move on now to race and politics in this country mr president you recently said a vice president harris [1:16:22] quote i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now [1:16:27] she wants to be known as black i want to ask a bigger picture question here tonight why do you believe [1:16:33] it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent i don't and i don't care i don't [1:16:38] care what she is i don't care uh you make a big deal out of something i couldn't care less whatever [1:16:45] she wants to be is okay with me but those were your words so i don't know i don't know i mean all i can [1:16:50] 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 [1:16:59] and that's okay either one was okay with me that's up to her that's up to her vice president harris [1:17:04] your thoughts on this i think it's i mean honestly i think it's a tragedy that we have um someone who [1:17:13] wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to [1:17:20] divide the american people you know i do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so [1:17:25] much more in common than what separates us and we don't want this kind of approach that is just [1:17:30] constantly trying to divide us and especially by race and let's remember how donald trump started he [1:17:37] was a land he owned land he owned buildings and he was investigated because he refused to rent property [1:17:50] to black families let's remember this is the same individual who took out a full page ad in the new [1:17:56] new york times calling for the execution of five young black and latino boys who were innocent the [1:18:06] central park five took out a full page ad calling for their execution this is the same individual who [1:18:15] spread birther lies about the first black president of the united states and i think the american people [1:18:23] want better than that want better than this want someone who understands as i do i travel our [1:18:30] country we see in each other a friend we see in each other a neighbor we don't want a leader who is [1:18:40] constantly trying to have americans point their fingers at each other i meet with people all the time [1:18:47] who tell me can we please just have discourse about how we're going to invest in the aspirations and [1:18:55] the ambitions and the dreams of the american people knowing that regardless of people's color or the [1:19:01] language their grandmother speaks we all have the same dreams and aspirations and want a president [1:19:07] who invest in those not in hate and division vice president harris thank you lindsey president [1:19:13] trump this is now your third time this is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country [1:19:21] there's never been anything like it they're destroying our country and they come up with things like [1:19:27] what she just said going back many many years when a lot of people including mayor bloomberg agreed with [1:19:33] me on the central park five they admitted they said they pled guilty and i said well if they pled guilty [1:19:40] they badly hurt a person killed a person ultimately and if they pled guilty then they pled we're not guilty [1:19:47] but this is a person that has to stretch back years 40 50 years ago because there's nothing now i built [1:19:55] one of the greatest economies in the history of the world and i'm going to build it again it's going to [1:20:00] be bigger better and stronger but they're destroying our economy they have no idea what a good economy is [1:20:07] their oil policies every single policy and remember this she is biting you know she's trying to get away [1:20:14] from biden i don't know the gentleman she says she is biting the worst inflation we've ever had a horrible [1:20:21] economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can't get away with that thank you your time is up [1:20:27] i want to briefly clearly i am not joe biden and i am certainly not donald trump and what i do offer [1:20:38] is a new generation of leadership for our country one who believes in what is possible one who brings a [1:20:45] sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the american people i believe in [1:20:55] what we can do to strengthen our small businesses which is why i have a plan let's talk about our plans [1:21:02] and and let's compare the plans i have a plan to give startup businesses 50 000 tax deduction [1:21:12] to pursue their ambitions their innovation their ideas their hard work i have a plan six thousand [1:21:20] for young families for the first year of your child's life to help you in that most critical stage [1:21:26] of your child's development i have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has [1:21:33] been fleeting in terms of the american dream by offering a help with down payment of twenty five [1:21:39] thousand dollar down payment assistance for first-time home buyers that's the kind of conversation i [1:21:45] believe david that people really want tonight as opposed to a conversation that is constantly about [1:21:51] belittling and name-calling let's turn the page vice president harris thank you let's turn to [1:21:58] policy let's turn back to policy let's turn back to policy let's turn back to policy let's turn to [1:22:02] policy please she has a plan to defund the police she has a flat plan to confiscate everybody's gun [1:22:09] president she has a plan to not allow fracking in pennsylvania or anywhere else okay that's what [1:22:15] her plan is until just recently i just think president president has said something twice that [1:22:21] i need to respond i'm sorry we're gonna we're gonna move on vice president president trump this is now [1:22:26] your third time running for president you have long vowed to repeal and replace the affordable care act [1:22:31] also known as obamacare you have failed to accomplish that you now say you're going to keep [1:22:36] obamacare quote unless we can do something much better last month you said quote we're working on it [1:22:42] so tonight nine years after you first started running do you have a plan and can you tell us [1:22:47] what it is obamacare was lousy healthcare always was it's not very good today and what i said that if [1:22:54] we come up with something and we are working on things we're going to do it and we're going to [1:22:58] replace it but remember this i inherited obamacare because democrats wouldn't change it they wouldn't [1:23:04] vote for it they were unanimous they wouldn't vote to change it if they would have done that we would [1:23:09] have had a much better plan than obamacare but the democrats came up they wouldn't vote for it i had a [1:23:16] choice to make when i was president do i save it and make it as good as it can be never going to be [1:23:21] great or do i let it rot and i felt i had an obligation even though politically it would have [1:23:27] been good to just let it rot and let it go away i decided and i told my people the top people and [1:23:33] they're very good people i have a lot of good people in this that administration we read about [1:23:37] the bad ones we had some real bad ones too and so do they they have really bad ones the difference is [1:23:42] 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 [1:23:48] 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 [1:23:55] to be great and it's too expensive for people and what we will do is we're looking at different plans [1:24:01] if we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people our population less money and be better [1:24:08] healthcare than obamacare then i would absolutely do it but until then i'd run it as good as it can be [1:24:14] run so just a yes or no you still do not have a plan i have concepts of a plan i'm not president [1:24:20] right now but if we come up with something i would only change it if we come up with something that's [1:24:27] better and less expensive and there are concepts and options we we have to do that and you'll be [1:24:33] hearing about it in the not too distant future vice president harris in 2017 you supported bernie [1:24:39] sanders proposal to do away with private insurance and create a government-run health care system [1:24:43] two years later you proposed a plan that included a private insurance option what is your plan today [1:24:49] well first of all i absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president private [1:24:54] health care options but what we need to do is maintain and grow the affordable care act but i [1:24:59] i'll get to that lindsay i just need to respond to a previous point that the former president has made [1:25:04] i've made very clear my position on fracking and then this business about taking everyone's guns away [1:25:09] tim walls and i are both gun owners we're not taking anybody's guns away so stop with the continuous [1:25:14] lying about this stuff as it relates to the affordable care act understand let's just look at the [1:25:19] history to know where people stand when donald trump was president 60 times he tried to get rid of the [1:25:26] affordable care act 60 times i was a senator at the time when i will never forget the early morning [1:25:34] hours when it was up for a vote in the united states senate and the late great john mccain who you have [1:25:42] disparaged as being a you don't like him you said at the time because he got caught he was an american [1:25:50] hero the late great john mccain i will never forget that night walked onto the senate floor and said [1:25:57] 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 [1:26:04] the affordable care act has done is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people [1:26:10] with pre-existing conditions i don't have to tell the people watching tonight you remember what that was [1:26:14] like remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma if someone was a breast cancer [1:26:22] survivor if a if a grandparent had diabetes and thankfully as i've been vice president and we [1:26:29] over the last four years have strengthened the affordable care act we have allowed for the first [1:26:33] time medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of you the american people donald trump said he was [1:26:39] going to allow medicare to negotiate drug prices he never did we did and now we have capped the cost of [1:26:45] insulin at 35 a month since i've been vice president we have capped the cost of prescription medication for [1:26:50] seniors at two thousand dollars a year and when i am president we will do that for all people [1:26:55] understanding that the value i bring to this is that access to health care should be a right and not [1:27:03] just a privilege of those who can afford it and the plan has to be to strengthen the affordable care act [1:27:10] not get rid of it that's president in terms of where donald trump stands on that i want to move to an issue [1:27:16] that's important for a lot she made a mistake at number one john mccain fought obamacare for 10 years [1:27:23] but it wasn't only him it were all of the democrats that kept it going and you know what we can do much [1:27:31] better than obamacare much less money but she won't improve private insurance for people private [1:27:38] medical insurance that's another thing she doesn't want to get people are paying privately for insurance [1:27:43] that have worked hard and made money and they want to have private she wants everybody to be on [1:27:48] government insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need immediately president [1:27:53] trump thank you we have another issue that we'd like to get to that's important for a number of [1:27:57] americans in particular younger voters and that's climate change president trump with regard to the [1:28:02] environment you say that we have to have clean air and clean water vice president harris you call [1:28:07] climate change an existential threat the question to you both tonight is what would you do [1:28:13] to fight climate change and vice president harris we'll start with you one minute for you each [1:28:18] well the former president had said the climate change is a hoax and what we know is that it is [1:28:24] very real you ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences [1:28:29] who now is either being denied home insurance or it's being jacked up you ask anybody who has been [1:28:36] the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home having nowhere to go we know that we can [1:28:43] actually deal with this issue the young people of america care deeply about this issue and i am proud [1:28:48] that as vice president over the last four years we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy [1:28:54] economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to historic levels we have created over [1:29:02] 800 000 new manufacturing jobs while i have been vice president we have invested in clean energy to the [1:29:09] point that we are opening up factories around the world donald trump said he was going to create [1:29:13] manufacturing jobs he lost manufacturing jobs and i'm also proud to have the endorsement of the united [1:29:19] auto workers and sean fein who also know that part of building a clean energy economy includes investing [1:29:27] in american made products american automobiles it includes growing what we can do around american [1:29:35] manufacturing and opening up auto plants not closing them like happened under donald trump vice president [1:29:41] harris thank you it didn't happen under donald trump let me just tell you they lost 10 000 manufacturing [1:29:46] jobs this last month it's going they're all leaving they're building big auto plants in mexico in many [1:29:54] cases owned by china they're building these massive plants and they think they're going to sell their cars [1:30:00] into the united states because of these people what they have given to china is unbelievable but we're [1:30:06] not going to let that we'll put tariffs on those cars so they can't come into our country because they [1:30:11] will kill the united auto workers and any auto worker whether it's in detroit or south carolina or [1:30:17] any other place what they've done to business and manufacturing in this country is horrible we have [1:30:25] nothing because they they refuse you know biden doesn't go after people because supposedly china [1:30:31] paid him millions of dollars he's afraid to do it between him and his son they get all this money [1:30:36] from ukraine they get all this money from all of these different countries and then you wonder why is [1:30:41] he so loyal to this one that one ukraine china why is he why did he get three and a half million dollars [1:30:47] from the mayor of moscow's wife why did he get why did she pay him three and a half million dollars [1:30:54] this is a crooked administration and they're selling our country down the tubes president [1:30:59] trump thank you thank you we'll be right back with closing statements from both of our candidates [1:31:03] an historic night this abc news presidential debate from philadelphia back in a moment c news [1:31:16] presidential debate will continue after this constitutional center in philadelphia pennsylvania [1:31:24] here again david muir and lindsey davis welcome back tonight the time has come for closing [1:31:30] statements and vice president harris we begin with you so i think you've heard tonight two very [1:31:37] different visions for our country one that is focused on the future and the other that is focused [1:31:44] on the past and an attempt to take us backward but we're not going back and i do believe that the [1:31:52] american people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us and we can chart a new [1:31:58] way forward and a vision of that includes having a plan understanding the aspirations the dreams the [1:32:07] hopes the ambition of the american people which is why i intend to create an opportunity economy [1:32:15] investing in small businesses in new families in what we can do around protecting seniors what we can do [1:32:22] that is about giving hard-working folks a break and bringing down the cost of living i believe in what [1:32:30] we can do together that is about sustaining america's standing in the world and ensuring that we have the [1:32:36] respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal [1:32:44] fighting force in the world i will be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms [1:32:50] including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her [1:32:56] what to do i'll tell you i started my career as a prosecutor i was the da i was an attorney general [1:33:02] a united states senator and now vice president i've only had one client the people and i'll tell you as a [1:33:08] prosecutor i never asked a victim or a witness are you a republican or a democrat the only thing i ever asked [1:33:16] them are you okay and that's the kind of president we need right now someone who cares about you and is not [1:33:24] putting themselves first i intend to be a president for all americans and focus on what we can do over the [1:33:32] next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you the american people [1:33:39] vice president harris thank you president trump [1:33:42] so she just started by saying she's going to do this she's going to do that she's going to do all [1:33:48] these wonderful things why hasn't she done it she's been there for three and a half years they've had [1:33:54] three and a half years to fix the border they've had three and a half years to create jobs and all [1:34:01] the things we talked about why hasn't she done it she should leave right now go down to that beautiful [1:34:08] white house go to the capital get everyone together and do the things you want to do but you haven't [1:34:12] done it and you won't do it because you believe in things that the american people don't believe in [1:34:18] you believe in things like we're not going to frack we're not going to take fossil fuel we're not going [1:34:23] to do things that are going to make this country strong whether you like it or not germany tried that [1:34:29] and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants we're not ready for it we can't [1:34:36] sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision but i just ask one simple question why didn't she do [1:34:44] it we're a failing nation we're a nation that's in serious decline we're being laughed at all over [1:34:51] the world all over the world they're left i know the leaders very well they're coming to see me they [1:34:56] call me we're laughed at all over the world they don't understand what happened to us as a nation [1:35:02] we're not a leader we don't have any idea what's going on we have wars going on in the middle east [1:35:08] we have wars going on with russia and ukraine we're going to end up in a third world war and [1:35:14] it'll be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons the power of weaponry i rebuilt our entire [1:35:21] military she gave a lot of it away to the taliban she gave it to afghanistan what these people have done [1:35:29] to our country and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country many [1:35:36] of them are criminals and they're destroying our country the worst president the worst vice president [1:35:42] in the history of our country president trump thank you and that is our abc news presidential debate from [1:35:49] here in philadelphia at the national constitution center i'm lindsay davis and i'm david muir thank you [1:35:54] for watching here in the u.s and all over the world and from all of us here at abc news good night [1:36:05] and we are here live on abc with our post-debate comments i'm martha raddatz it was a lively debate [1:36:13] from the economy to abortion to afghanistan they had it all and it was historic john carl fiery wow wow [1:36:24] wow that was that was quite a debate uh and i'm jonathan carl here with of course mary bruce and rachel [1:36:30] scott our reporters across the news division have been updating our live blog looking at some of the [1:36:38] allegations made back and forth doing fact checks you can find all of that on abcnews.com but i would [1:36:43] like to replay the moment at the very start of this debate because it was quite a moment the handshake and if you look [1:36:53] have fun thank you i mean quite a moment first of all because we hadn't seen a handshake we haven't [1:37:01] seen a handshake in a long time and not only did she initiate it she walked over to him and sought [1:37:08] him out put the hands out and also made the first words and and probably had a plan if he hadn't [1:37:13] yeah his hand out interesting so so more at the bottom line what did you think i i think clearly what [1:37:19] kamala harris wanted to do was be the candidate of hope the candidate of the future donald trump [1:37:25] seemed angry within four minutes i think we we saw him going from from very serious at the beginning [1:37:32] never really seemed to look at her to just angry i mean really yelling at some points trying to make [1:37:40] to make his points i don't think we heard a lot of policy and plans on either side of that [1:37:47] despite those questions over and over again but what you had was that optic you had kamala harris [1:37:54] looking over baiting him again and again and again the microphones were muted when they weren't speaking [1:38:01] but many times she didn't need a microphone you watch donald trump get mad at scowl through things [1:38:08] and you know john we were all talking leading up to this about how this would go what donald trump [1:38:13] you would see i think he had a plan for talking about what he saw as as as a next as a next term [1:38:21] but then he was talking about uh rumors about people eating their neighbors pets so it really [1:38:27] devolved into that i mean look kamala harris didn't really explain some of the big questions that were [1:38:32] out there about why she changed her policy views on so many things part of the reason is donald trump [1:38:37] really was not effective in bringing the debate to her i agree with you i think that he looked [1:38:42] not just angry but also rattled and in contrast harris who again much of the world doesn't know [1:38:50] uh harris looked like she belonged on the stage looked like she is somebody that could serve as [1:38:57] president and that is certainly how the campaign is feeling tonight i can tell you the harris campaign [1:39:02] feels very good they feel they had a very strong night that she was in command that she did look [1:39:06] presidential and that she was able they feel to hold donald trump accountable for his actions and of [1:39:11] course that was their goal going into this that she would be able to put donald trump's record [1:39:15] under a microscope and they feel that the strongest example of that was that exchange on abortion where [1:39:20] she was able really to blame donald trump directly to his face i mean she said what you are putting [1:39:25] women through is unconscionable yes she goaded him she flat out trolled him many times got him off [1:39:31] message but she also talked directly to voters even inviting them to a trump rally to underscore [1:39:36] that central argument in her campaign that she says he's only out for himself that she argues she's [1:39:40] out for the american people rachel yeah well look the trump campaign is going to be seizing on the [1:39:44] fact that vice president kamala harris did not do a great job today really explaining her policy [1:39:50] shifts right and that is what they have been seizing on they're really trying to define her for voters [1:39:55] when voters have a lot of questions about her policy positions at the same time though almost every [1:40:01] single thing that vice president kamala harris said tonight got under trump's skin and that is exactly [1:40:06] what his allies and his advisors did not want to see i could tell you i do not think that part of [1:40:11] donald trump's debate prep was people eating dogs in springfield or comparing rally sizes they wanted [1:40:17] him to stay focused on the issues especially the ones that he has an edge on harris economy and [1:40:21] immigration i mean you get you want to get under donald trump's skin you question the people at [1:40:26] his rallies and that was something else martha you have i have with us right now governor tim waltz [1:40:31] of course the democratic vice presidential candidate uh welcome governor waltz how are you feeling [1:40:37] what's your reaction to the debate tonight martha i'm feeling great because uh what i knew and i [1:40:42] think so many knew and now many americans know is you saw a president for all america and kamala harris [1:40:48] you saw the confidence you saw the vision you saw the poise and you saw the compassion for people [1:40:53] understanding she spoke about an economy that moves us forward moves all of us forward lets everybody be [1:40:59] a part of it and she continued to lay that out whether it's reproductive freedom or how we start small [1:41:04] businesses or making home ownership easier and on the other side you saw a nearly 80 year old donald trump [1:41:11] angry unhinged and as you've been discussing talking about things that are deeply concerning [1:41:17] because they make no impact on the american public he shouldn't be anywhere near the white house and [1:41:22] i have to tell you if it if it weren't so dangerous it reminds you of of an old man yelling [1:41:27] at the clouds that was his thing get off my yard i contrast that in the place of harris [1:41:33] laying out for everything matters so i think the country can see what happened tonight we'll keep [1:41:41] pushing forward that's the way that the country wants to see our politics be she laid it out clearly [1:41:46] donald trump brought nothing tonight anger resentment governor governor waltz i do want to ask you she [1:41:55] did not ask answer questions on abortion restrictions she never really answered that question can you clear [1:42:02] that up where the harris waltz uh ticket stands on that certainly and you couldn't get any different [1:42:09] than this the reinstitution of roe versus wade what was the law of the land uh for for 30 for 52 years [1:42:17] you saw this in there and him pushing back to the stage she's exactly right it's people like amanda [1:42:22] in texas which everybody saw on the stage in chicago nearly bleeding out having sepsis twice [1:42:27] because she can't get the care she's been absolutely clear on this everything donald trump [1:42:32] said that is untrue the clarity of this is roe when you have roe you have the protections in place [1:42:38] where women make their own decisions with their health care providers not donald trump okay thanks so [1:42:44] very much for joining us governor waltz john and we have the other side of the ticket we have senator jd [1:42:49] vance donald trump's running mate joining us now senator vance thank you for joining us thanks john [1:42:56] i appreciate it so uh i i want to get to one part of the debate where you came up uh uh donald trump was [1:43:04] asked if he would if he would veto a national abortion ban uh he didn't answer the question suggested uh [1:43:11] i guess that he wouldn't and then it was pointed out that you in fact said not that long ago that he [1:43:16] would veto a national abortion ban can you explain them the uh the mix up here well i think the [1:43:24] president's been very clear that he doesn't want a national abortion ban i think in some ways he finds [1:43:29] the question a little bit ridiculous because why are we asking him about legislation that's never going [1:43:33] to actually happen and why he would veto it or not veto it when he says very explicitly that he doesn't [1:43:38] support a national abortion ban and he wants these policies to be made by the states but i think [1:43:43] there's a deeper and more important issue here in this debate which is that you had kamala harris [1:43:48] effectively echoing platitude after platitude after platitude uh the american people can't pay [1:43:53] their grocery bills on platitudes they can't uh put their kids in a house on platitudes and kamala [1:43:59] harris had a lot to say but very little actual substance behind it for how she's going to lower [1:44:05] grocery prices secure the border and make housing more affordable in this country she's been the [1:44:10] vice president for three and a half years she can't run on a record and she apparently can't [1:44:14] run on much of her plans either because it's just a lot of slogans and not a whole lot of substance [1:44:18] but but senator vance why won't he just say that he would veto the national abortion ban and by the way [1:44:23] had you spoken to him about it before you were put in a position to answer that question no i hadn't [1:44:30] spoken to him about it because again donald trump thinks the question is absurd because he doesn't [1:44:34] support a national abortion ban and he's been explicit about it and john i think that it's so [1:44:38] preposterous for the media to focus so much on an issue where donald trump has been crystal clear [1:44:44] and not on the fact that people can't afford groceries and housing because of kamala harris's [1:44:49] policies this election is actually quite simple and kamala harris and apparently the media would [1:44:55] like to distract americans on issues by the way that donald trump's been crystal clear about [1:45:00] but they're not talking nearly enough this debate didn't talk nearly enough about [1:45:03] the fact that americans are struggling because they can't afford groceries they can't afford [1:45:08] housing and a lot of their kids are dying of fentanyl overdoses because kamala harris has let [1:45:13] the mexican drug cartels take over the southern border this is a disgrace what's going on in our [1:45:18] country john and we could do so much better if we just had better leadership we've got the best [1:45:22] workers the most beautiful country the best natural resources but kamala harris's leadership is [1:45:28] squandering the great benefits of this country it's why we've got to get back to donald trump's leadership [1:45:33] senator by the way i asked because he hadn't been crystal clear and he said something different [1:45:36] than what you said that's why i was seeking clarification but let me ask you about this [1:45:40] for just very quickly i heard donald trump before this debate describe kamala harris as i'll just read [1:45:46] a few of them a low iq individual somebody who doesn't have the mental capacity to be president really [1:45:52] dumb unable to put two sentences together is that what you saw on the stage tonight john what i saw was a [1:46:00] a lot of slogans i think the american people are smart and kamala harris talks to them like their [1:46:05] children she repeats these ridiculous platitudes where if you actually think about what she said [1:46:10] you realize that it doesn't make any sense she talks a lot about her plans but then her plans when you [1:46:16] analyze the substance don't make any sense and more importantly john the american people don't get fed [1:46:21] on plans she has been the vice president for three and a half years what she can't do refuses [1:46:27] to do and has no ability to do is to say i accomplished lower prices because she didn't [1:46:32] or i accomplished lower housing prices because she didn't or i secured the southern border because [1:46:37] she didn't do that she has failed as vice president and the fundamental question is do we want to give [1:46:42] her a promotion i think the answer has to be no john all right senator vance thank you for joining us [1:46:47] mary one thing both sides can agree on this was a consequential night in this race more reaction when [1:46:51] we come back stay with us we're back now here at the national constitution center in philadelphia [1:47:08] and with chris christie so governor christie you heard the debate remarkable debate bottom line [1:47:14] what'd you think she was exquisitely well prepared she laid traps and he chased every rabbit down every [1:47:22] hole instead of talking about the things that he should have been talking about this is the difference [1:47:27] between someone who's well prepared and someone who's unprepared whoever did debate prep for donald trump [1:47:32] should be fired uh he was he was not good tonight at all and what harris did was what she had to do [1:47:39] which was to prove that she belonged on that stage she has a voice that wants to try to unite the [1:47:44] country and donald trump spent more time talking about people eating pets people um at his rallies and [1:47:53] whether he had more or less than he did about the economy and that is a huge fail tonight i think what [1:48:00] we're going to see is that kamala harris is now being seen by a lot of voters as a potential president [1:48:05] that's what she needed to accomplish tonight trump better get to work or he's going to lose this [1:48:10] election characteristically blunt assessment from governor chris christie thank you governor [1:48:16] mary all right let's go to former dnc chair donna brazil so donna you have certainly studied [1:48:21] many a debate in your career how does this one compare i think it was one of the best debate [1:48:26] performances i've ever seen in my life and i've seen a lot and i've helped a lot of people prepare [1:48:31] for these uh big moments she met the moment she sees the opportunity to tell the american people what [1:48:38] she would do and during her four years she commanded the issues and she did not allow the former president [1:48:46] to bait her instead she led the way forward she turned the page and i think this race is about to get [1:48:52] even more interested now we will see if it moves the needle donna thank you all right over to the [1:48:58] other side now former rnc chair reines previous all right reines the harris campaign says they want [1:49:04] another debate if you were advising the trump campaign would you tell them to do it sure i would [1:49:10] tell them to do it and the reason is is like i said before donald trump's numbers just don't move [1:49:16] i mean the reality tonight i know donna is excited but the truth is she didn't kamala harris didn't [1:49:21] address the most important thing that the american people care about which is the economy and the [1:49:26] cost of living she had no answers on immigration she had no answers when she was asked about defunding [1:49:31] the police she had nothing to say about the families that were lost in afghanistan which was a true layup [1:49:36] she should have been fact checked a lot more on some of the things she said in regard to this comment [1:49:41] about a bloodbath which was about the auto industry so look i think a lot of things uh were were not said [1:49:48] tonight that she needed to say in order to move the numbers and i don't think donald trump's numbers [1:49:53] move at all they haven't moved at all for months reines previous donna brazil both thank you for [1:50:00] your time all right well i got to say again what a incredible debate consequential debate no doubt i [1:50:07] don't know how many votes will actually be moved i don't know how many persuadable voters are actually out [1:50:13] there uh but kamala harris had a chance here to introduce herself to the country uh to people who [1:50:20] know who she is but don't know where she stands now you could debate how much she did in terms of the [1:50:25] specifics of where she stands but she stood up there and i think it was very significant to her chris [1:50:30] christie say uh that she acted like she seemed like she belonged exactly and and chris was clearly [1:50:37] impressed with that but i your to your point john what matters is what the voters think kamala harris [1:50:45] was hurling things against donald trump and he's been convicted in january 6th and everything else she [1:50:51] could throw at him but in the end right now he is tied with kamala does this change anything we've all [1:51:00] seen debates where people are very proud of what they did hillary clinton thought she won that debate many [1:51:05] debates in 2016 and she didn't win so you have to be very careful and it's very important to see [1:51:12] what the voters think and look the harris campaign certainly thinks that they were you know they put [1:51:16] him on the defensive they are going to keep getting out and making this message she's going to be out [1:51:20] there in those critical battlegrounds again later this week they're so optimistic they want that [1:51:25] second debate as rachel said the message from the campaign tonight vice president harris is ready for a [1:51:29] second debate they're looking for one in october they say is donald trump question mark one last [1:51:33] goading of him to end the night wow that is something else i did not predict that at the [1:51:38] beginning racial bottom line voters out there want a change that's what the polls say and both of these [1:51:44] candidates really trying to present themselves as the agent of change we will have to see in the [1:51:49] polls who did the most effective job of doing that tonight we will see all right that is it for us [1:51:54] here in philadelphia a night to remember for sure our race for the white house post-debate coverage [1:52:00] continues on abc news live disney plus 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