Kamala Harris repeatedly baited Donald Trump during their fiery debate on Tuesday night, goading her Republican rival over his rally crowd sizes, his record on abortion, and his criminal trials.
Trump appeared visibly irritated and interrupted Harris to call her words a ‘lie’ before hammering her as a ‘Marxist’ and ‘horrible’ vice-presidential pick. He also suggested that Joe Biden was on the ‘beach’ and staying in bed until ‘four in the afternoon.’
The former president went on to accuse Haitian migrants of ‘eating pets’ in Springfield, Ohio, an unsubstantiated claim that first appeared on social media.
‘In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats,’ the former president said. ‘They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.’
Harris could be heard muttering ‘What? This is unbelievable’ before adding ‘talk about extreme’ and laughing.
ABC News debate moderator David Muir stepped in to say: ‘I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals.’
It was one of the most dramatic moments of a monumental night in the 2024 race where Harris scored a sought-after endorsement from Taylor Swift and was widely declared the winner of the showdown.
Trump hammered Harris for having ‘no policies’ and accused her of stealing his ideas as MAGA fans claimed the ABC moderators were biased against the Republican nominee.
But the debate took a turn when Harris jabbed the former president over fans walking out of his rally.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on the debate stage
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At times during the debate Harris looked stunned as Trump raged from his lectern.
Her strategy going into the debate was to bait him, hitting him where it would personally hurt, and it led to fireworks.
Trump appeared furious as he said that Biden ‘hates’ Harris for replacing him as the Democratic nominee.
‘I’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her,’ the former president said as Harris looked on. Biden endorsed Harris and has supported her repeatedly.
The two candidates went after each other during their 90 minutes on stage, speaking over each other and off mic. The moderators allowed time to respond but mainly interrupted Trump and not Harris. It was so heated the first commercial break didn’t take place until after the first hour.
Proceedings began with a handshake but after that the two candidates barely looked at each other. At the end of night, they each exited on their side of the stage, turning their backs on one another.
The arguments started with a fierce back and forth on abortion rights that quickly descended into chaos.
Harris then attacked Trump on the size of his crowds at his rallies. The former president often boasts about how large his rallies are and how many supporters he has.
‘I’m going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump’s rallies because it’s a really interesting thing to watch,’ Harris told the debate audience, speaking directly to camera.
‘You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.’
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Trump was furious in his response.
‘First let me respond as to the rallies. She said people start leaving. People don’t go to her rallies. And the people that do go she’s busing them in and paying them,’ he said, sounding angry. ‘We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies.’
From there, Harris referred to Trump’s criminal cases, including his conviction in New York tied to a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
She noted Trump has been ‘prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference, has been found liable for sexual assault and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing.’
Trump repeated his longtime defense that he was the victim of witch hunt.
Debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC News
Screens show the presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris outside the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City
‘Excuse me. Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And I’m winning most of them and I’ll win the rest on appeal,’ he said. ‘But those are cases, it’s called weaponization. Never happened in this country. They weaponized the justice department.’
He then charged Democrats with goading his would-be assassin, after he was shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July.
He said: ‘I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they (Democrats) say about me.’
Law enforcement is still investigating the assassination attempt and have not yet found a motive.
Harris also hit Trump for his reputation among fellow world leaders and said he hasn’t gotten over losing the 2020 election.
‘Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So let’s be clear about that. And clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that,’ she said. ‘And I’m going to tell you that I have traveled the world as vice president of the United States. And world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump.’
Harris later hit him again, saying ‘That is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace. That is why we understand that we have to have a president who is not consistently weak and wrong on national security.’
Trump countered: ‘They’re the ones — and she’s the one that caused it, that’s weak on national security.’
Trump attacked Harris on some of her most vulnerable areas, including immigration.
He said she and Biden ‘allowed criminals, many, many, millions of – They allowed terrorists. criminals. They allowed people to come in, country, and they’re now in.’
‘And we have a new form of crime. It’s called migrant crime,’ he added, calling the U.S. ‘Venezuela on steroids.’
He also tried to tie her to Biden’s presidency.
‘This is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country,’ Trump said. ‘There’s never been anything like it.’
‘Clearly I am not Joe Biden, and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country,’ Harris responded.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris shook hands at the start of the debate
In other moments, Trump accused Harris and other Democrats of supporting the execution of babies after their birth.
He said Harris says 'abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. She also says execution after birth, it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that's not okay with me.'
ABC News moderator Linsey Davis offered a fact check: 'There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born.'
Trump went on to say of abortion: 'I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. 85 percent of Republicans do. Very important. But we were able to get it. And now states are voting on it.'
Harris picked up on that and said: 'Well, as I said, you're going to hear a bunch of lies. And that's not actually a surprising fact.'
She added that 'I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe V. Wade, as president of the United States I will proudly sign it into law. But understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. Understand in his Project 2025 there would be a national abortion monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies.'
Trump interrupted to say: 'It's a lie. I'm not signing a ban. And there's no reason to sign because we've gotten what everybody wanted.'
He added that 'what she says is an absolute lie. And as far as the abortion ban, no, I'm not in favor of abortion ban. But it doesn't matter because this issue has now been taken over by the States.'
He refused to say if he would veto a national abortion ban as president, despite being asked several times both by the debate moderators and by Harris.
Harris went after him: 'Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court that they would undo the protections of roe V. Wade. And they did exactly as he intended. And now in over 20 states there are trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care.'
Trump interrupted Harris repeatedly during the topic, defending his own record.
'Excuse me, I have to respond. Another lie. Another lie. It's another lie. I have been a leader on IFV, which is fertilization. The IVF -- I have been a leader.'
Trump had several one-liners during the debate, including personal attacks on his rival: 'I was going to send her a MAGA hat,' he noted at one point.
He then went on to accuse her of being a Marxist.
'She's a Marxist. Her father's a Marxist professor in economics. And he taught her well. But when you look at what she's done to our country and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly where it's I believe 21 million people, not the 15 that people say, and I think it's a lot higher than the 21. Pouring in.
'And just look at what they're doing to our country. Many of these people coming in And that's bad for our economy,' he said.
Trump also knocking Harris for picking Tim Walz as her running mate.
'Her vice presidential pick, which I think was a horrible pick, by the way, for our country because he is really out of it,' he said of Walz.
Donald Trump was on the defense during much of the debate
Kamala Harris repeatedly baited Trump
The two had several off-microphone moments.
When Tump accused Harris of wanting to defund the police, she was saying off-mic: 'That's not true.'
The first question in the debate was on the economy, leading to a long back-and-forth on who was the better steward for the American people.
Harris repeated what she has said many times on the stump, talking fast as she got to speak first in the debate.
'I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America. I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people. And that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy,' she said.
Trump responded by criticizing Harris and Joe Biden's handling of the economy.
'We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before,' he said.
He also slammed Harris for trying to tie him to Project 2025, a document from a conservative group outlining hard-right policies.
'She knows better than anyone I have nothing to do with Project 2025. That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it I'm not going to read it.'
He went on to say he wanted to 'create a great economy like I did before. We had the greatest economy. We got hit with a pandemic. And the pandemic was not since 1917 where 100 million people died has there been anything like it.'
Harris hammered him with: 'Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it's all about tax breaks for the richest people.'
Trump, off mic, could be heard saying 'it's just a soundbite.'
He added 'she doesn't have a plan. She copied Biden's plan. And it's like four sentences, like 'Run spot run.'
He went on to note: 'People can't go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what They've destroyed the economy.'
Tuesday marks the first time Trump and Harris have met. They have been in the same room – Harris, as a senator, attended Trump's State of the Union speeches when he was president – but they had never met in person.
Harris walked over to Trump to introduce herself, holding out her hand and saying: 'Kamala Harris, let's have a good debate.'
Trump shook it, saying 'Nice to see you, have fun.'
Doug Emhoff joined Kamala Harris on stage at the end of the debate
Donald Trump arrives in Philadelphia for the debate
Going into the debate the two sides had a back-and-forth battle over the microphones.
Harris and her team wanted them unmuted so Trump could interrupt at will – a strategy that backfired on him when he debated Joe Biden in 2020.
But the Trump team insisted on the same rules as used in the first debate of 2024 - held in June in Atlanta – were the mics were muted when the other contender spoke.
ABC News, the sponsor of Tuesday's debate, agreed to unmute the mics if there was a newsworthy back-and-forth between the two.
The debate was held without an audience.
Harris locked up the Democratic nomination after Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month.
She has spent five days locked up in debate prep, even having her staff build a mock stage for her to hold her practice sessions.
Trump simply talked about policy with his staff. He often uses his political rallies and television interviews to try out new attack lines and campaign slogans.
The former president was last on the debate stage in June, when he debated Biden in Atlanta. But Biden's disastrous performance resulted in Democrats losing confidence in their nominee and pressuring him to exit the race.
Tuesday marked Trump's seventh presidential debate. He debated Hillary Clinton three times in the 2016 election, Biden twice in the 2020 contest and once in the 2024 race.