Watch live: Trump V Harris - The US Election Debate │ September 10

in Philadelphia all right Peter thank you for more let's bring in North Carolina governor Roy Cooper who is a surrogate for the Harris campaign Governor it's good to see you so 60% of Voters nearly 60% in a recent poll said they want to see change kamla Harris is the incumbent vice president how do you make the argument that she's a change candidate when she's been in office for three and a half years well first the record that that she and Joe Biden have established as President and Vice President are bringing change to this country with investment in high-speed internet fighting prescription drug cost expanding health insurance investing in infrastructure those things are long generational Investments that are changing America and that's a good thing but she's also laid out her own economic plan she sees that people are facing higher costs she understands Child Care unlike Donald Trump who clearly doesn't have a clue about child care neither than jie Vance who thinks that parent grandparents and uncles and aunts should look after children she wants to uh reinstate the child care tax credit she wants to help small businesses instead of big corporations so I think she can lead uh to tonight she can lead with her path for a new way forward and really bring a lot of people who have been disaffected who really haven't voted the last few times I think that she can excite them history is going to be made this year and North Carolina voted for Barack Obama in 2008 we're going to vote for coma Harris in 2024 and make history again Governor let me ask you in a recent interview Harris seemed to shrug off some of the personal attacks that Donald Trump has levied her way calling it from The Playbook of the past will she have to take on these things more directly in this debate setting tonight well it'll be interesting to see that in the middle of all of his work salads uh and lies which we know are coming whether he hurls insults at her while she's there in person we'll see if he does I suspect that she will brush them off pretty quickly and head into making sure she's putting meat on the bones of her policy telling the country about the direction that she wants to take it making sure that we Shore up the middle class making sure that the tax breaks go to the middle class and not the billionaire friends of Donald Trump she's going to distinguish herself from Donald Trump in a strong way and I think those those insults whether they come or not on the stage she'll she'll go right past them and make sure she's sticking to the issues that the American people will care about you know it's interesting you say that because today on debate day the Harris campaign released an ad seeming to want to go Donald Trump uh with a clip from the campaign the convention let me roll you a little portion of this here's a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems oh she had a big crowd oh the crowd this weird obsession with crowd sizes interesting because everybody says they want to talk about policy and then you everyone kind of gets down in the dirt a little bit and that turns voters off so why do you think this is effective and are you sure it's not going to make people think well this is just more of the same well look there are a lot of ads in this campaign and a lot of them are about her policies and her backgrounds her her background she she's not going to let this distract her there she's not going to take any crap from Donald Trump on that stage today she is a prosecutor and she's going to make sure that she gets her points across but she's not going to be distracted by the name calling I think it is turning off America and it may be one of the reasons why the the Harris campaign chose to run such an ad reminding people that this is really what Donald Trump is all about it's all about him and his narcissism and every decision that he makes comes back to whether it will Advantage him or not and when KLA Harris talks about how she gets up every morning wanting to do good things for the American people I think people will see the real difference this is a race about character too this is a race about the soul of our country and people are going to be making that decision this debate will be a time tonight to to make some decisions for people I'm hoping we can bring in people who haven't been involved in the process that much in the past more than half of our volunteers the first couple of weeks in North Carolina were firsttime volunteers we've got a lot of firsttime uh donors to the campaign go to kah harris.com and contribute to the campaign so we're excited we think tonight will be a big night we'll see what happens all right Governor thanks so much for spending time with us this evening we appreciate it we're going to get back to politics and a second but we do have some breaking news in the South we're following where Francine just strengthened into a category one hurricane that storm barreling toward Texas and Louisiana with life-threatening conditions expected along the gulf coast France and expected to make landfall tomorrow with the New Orleans metro area under a hurricane watch Al Roker is tracking the storm Al what can we expect well we are looking for some really serious weather over the next 48 hours along the gulf right now it's 350 miles Southwest of Morgan City Louisiana 75 m per hour wind so it's just barely a category 1 but we're not worrying about the categories we're worrying about the impacts we're talking about hurricane warnings right now throughout much of Louisiana New Orleans under a hurricane watch tomorrow sometime around 5 6:00 we're expecting the worst conditions around around 6 till Thursday at 2: a.m. in New Orleans what we're expecting 3 to 6 Ines of rain or more 60 mph winds and isolated tornadoes as well now as the system pushes on Shore and this is what we're talking about don't worry about categories impacts Baton Rouge could see 95 mile per hour wind gust these at these winds we're looking at power outages damage to homes and with that wind the dangerous this is where the most deadly uh effect is the storm surge from Central Louisiana to Grand Island about 10 ft of surge 4 to 7 feet As you move further to the east 3 to 5 feet in New Orleans and heavy rain this area is already seen a lot of rain in the last uh last seven days well they're going to get anywhere from 2 to 4 Ines per hour falling that means more likely we're going to be seeing very severe flooding and storm totals guys upwards of 12 in especially along the southern Gulf but as we get into the Mississippi River Valley 3 to 5 in as well possible the only silverine in there is that the water levels for the Mississippi are really down they're worried about shipping so this could help but those folks right along the gulf Are In Harm's Way all right we'll see you Bri and early tomorrow Al all right on the Today's Show thank you and we are going to take a short break here but still ahead tonight we'll show you the biggest debate moments of kamla Harris and Donald Trump as they gear up to debate each other and meet in person for the very first time that's coming up right after this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we're talking possibly a trillion galaxies that is a number that is just so hard to compute whether it's the moon whether it's Mars it feels like we're on the cusp of something [Music] big hi everybody welcome back this is our special coverage of tonight's presidential debate between vice president kamla Harris and former president Donald Trump we will bring that debate to you live in its entirety once it begins and lot has been made of this is the first time these two candidates have appeared on the same stage they have never debated each other before tonight and they've never even met so what can we expect we have a closer look at their biggest moments from past debates and what that could tell us about what we could see tonight our senior Washington correspondent Hale Jackson's been walking down memory land with the archive tape hi hie and it is quite a fascinating walk Savannah and Lester because yes you said it their first meeting ever their first debate ever but it is not the first time that either has stepped on a debate stage period with some of the most memorable moments from the past perhaps providing some clues for tonight tonight the first Faceoff between two candidates with different prep different styles and different experience for vice president Harris her first time stepping into this kind of general election Spotlight after memorable moments in primary nvp debates Mr Vice President I'm speaking speak I'm speaking Harris no stranger to the stage from early in her career to her Senate run in 2016 when her opponent awkwardly dabbed so there's a clear difference between the candidates in this race and I think the voters will make that decision allies point to Harris's past as a prosecutor and arguing her experience helps shape sharp arguments whatever the vice president is claiming the Administration is done clearly it hasn't worked and Harris drawing on her personal background like in this key exchange in the 2020 primary with her future boss you also worked with them to oppose busing and you know there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was busted to school every day and that little girl was me but Harris has had to play defense too like in another at that cycle accused of hypocrisy for shifting to a more Progressive position in a crowded primary there are too many examples to site but she put over 1500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana for his part Mr Trump has more debate experience as a Presidential nominee six in all most recently in June a showdown that ultimately ended President Biden's presidential run we finally beat Medicare who was right he didat beat Medicaid Beat It To Death their first ever debate in 2020 notable just as much for what Mr Trump didn't say when asked if he'd condemn white supremacists I'm willing to do anything I want to see peace then do it sir say it do it say it do you want to call him what do you want to call him give me a name give me a name suem like to andys stand back and stand by then candidate Trump's first debate against Hillary Clinton in 2016 still holds the record for the most watched ever 84 million viewers at later faceoffs the two sparring over foreign policy and Russia's Vladimir Putin well that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States and it's pretty clear Mr Trump memorably looming behind his opponent on stage at other points delivering personal attacks trust and earlier in the Republican primaries responding to a crash insult about the size of his hands look at those hands are they small hands I guarantee you there's no problem now tonight vice president Harris hoping to make good on past pledges I'd wipe the floor with him but according to the rules of this debate it's former president Trump who will get the last word we're going to make it great again now some of the those moments that you just saw may be mitigated by the rules we've been talking about at tonight's debate think about those mics muted when it's not each candidate's turn to speak that may cut down on some of that overt talk or interruptions if you will there's also of course the rule that each candidate must stay behind their microphone no stage wandering allot 2016 Lester Savannah all right thanks so much hie for more on what we can expect from both candidates tonight let's bring in President Biden's former White House Press Secretary Jen Saki and Donald Trump's former deputy White House Press Secretary Hogan gidley good to have both of you here today Jen let me start with you I think it's fair to say a lot of Democrats were rattled by those latest New York Times Sienna poll numbers is part of the vice president's Mission and task tonight to reassure Democratic voters that all is well I think it's part of the mission but the other part of the mission is to think about that 28% and that same poll of people who want more information about her so what's tricky about this Lester if you're the vice president is a lot of Democrats out there have been waiting for somebody to eviscerate Donald Trump they might Progressive Democrats and other Democrats who might be rooting for that that is not the right strategy for the totality of this debate because that 28% who want more information who want to know more about her positions that may not be what they're looking for well she has the most to gain or lose because she has 30% roughly of the electorate that's still curious Hogan as I bring you in here Donald Trump I mean For Better or For Worse it's a very calcified set and stone opinion that people have that some love him love him love them some do not love him love him love him so what is his number one job tonight I think what he's going to try and do is make people remember his record while he was VI while he was president and then what KLA Harris is going to try and do is make people forget her record as Vice president people remember they could afford gas and groceries just a few short years ago there weren't Wars breaking out all over the world we had a rational Sayan Southern border policy so he's got to remind people of that he's got to expose her radical record at the same time but he needs to stay on message he needs to focus on what the American people care about every single day and not run Rabbit Hole run rabbits there's no doubt she's going to have those can lines ready to go those contrived stories like she did in the package that you guys just played look she called Joe Biden a racist and a rapist on a debate stage had merchandise ready to go but she couldn't parlay that into anything positive for her campaign she'll do that to Donald Trump tonight the question becomes will he follow her down that trail or will he stick to the points that the American people care about most and Jen does the vice president have to have things that she wants to remind the public about in terms of History yes absolutely I mean one of the challenges for her is that every candidate wants to be the change candidate right you have a former president and a sitting vice president so they're not the natural change candidates she has to figure out on this debate stage how she can both Embrace part of her record that people may like and also build on it and tell people that she's going to do something different very tricky sounds like you're saying she has a higher bar she does have a higher bar I think there's higher expectations for her I will say I'm not sure that looking in the past that's not what the public is really looking for we know that from every election ever people want a forward-looking plan and vision so another part of what she needs to do is tell people exactly what she's going to do do you think she made it unnecessarily hard on herself in this particular moment because she hasn't done very much off the cuff unscripted she did one interview since being elevated to the top of the ticket now it's this night does that just ratchet up the stakes when they don't need to be ratcheted up any higher I I actually think the biggest challenge for her is that she's never met him before or interacted with him before and she is a studious thorough prepper which I think is good no matter what political party you're from that's a good thing but it also means you have to let go of those briefing books and be in the moment Donald Trump is not a standard traditional policy debating candidate so it requires a different muscle and I think she's never practiced that muscle before and that's the piece that I think is going to be challeng respond I've got a question for yeah sure quickly it's interesting because you do want to look in the future there's no doubt about that uh the problem with KLA Harris is every time she starts to say I promise you I will on day one I'm going to Donald Trump can just say but you're the sitting vice president right now either you can't do those things or you won't either way I don't think the American people are going to buy it you both know him very well Lura Trump just told us a few moments ago he's going to be calm cool and collected raise your hand if you think he will be like always what you talking about he's always is that the worst thing that could happen to KLA Harris if he is calm cool and collected I'm not sure it's the worst thing um but I think she is going to hopefully not take the bait I think the Clinton advice is good advice to her don't take the bait try to bait him a little bit uh that's that would be a win for her all right all right Hogan and Jen thank you very much both Veterans of the White House coming up we've got Steve coraki here to break down where this race stands spoiler alert it's very very tight and how tonight's debate could shake things up we're back right after [Music] this trust me it's just the beginning [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] what is going to happen now going back and forth all right nice to see you [Music] news for the generation of now is NBC News [Music] Now welcome back to our special coverage of tonight's presidential debate between vice president Harris and former president Trump we'll be bringing you the debate live when it begins in less than 25 minutes and tonight will be a critical moment and it could shake up what many see as a tight race a deadlock race with less than two months to go before election day Steve Kaki is with us tonight at the big to break it all down where's this going yeah I mean close and let's put this in some perspective here what you're looking at is the average of all of the major national polls that are out there right now this is a running average we keep Harris at a 4745 for Trump two-point lead there for Harris obviously Democrats like that but some context for that first of all there's this Donald Trump has run from behind both previous times he ran for president at this same point four years ago in our poll average Donald Trump was trailing Joe Biden by 7.8 points and at the same point in 2016 in our poll average Trump was trailing Hillary Clinton by four and a half points now it's only two so yeah Trump's behind but this is closer than he's been in the polling in previous elections and there's also this remember in 2016 Trump lost the national popular vote to Clinton W in the Electoral College in 2020 Trump lost the popular vote by a wide margin to Joe Biden almost won in the Electoral College is there going to be Gap like that again that works to Trump's favor an electoral college advantage that's what you think about when you look at this the seven core Battleground States and again poll average here the average of the major polls in those States right now and you see the headline obviously these are very close margins look Harris one tenth of one point in the North Carolina average right now Trump by a half a point in Georgia these are very very close although you take a look and you see one here that's a little different that's Wisconsin Harris on average just over four points ahead right now this was keep in mind Wisconsin the source of the single biggest polling Miss in 2020 it had Joe Biden well ahead nearly 10 points on average he won the state by less than one point the polling here was way off in 2016 as well there was a pretty big Miss in Michigan too states with large Blue Collar white populations where Trump has run up very big numbers the polls didn't sufficiently capture that in 16 and 20 is that going to be different in 2024 or is there more TR Trump support in some of these states than it appears in the polls that's a major question to think about as you see more numbers come out and then you just see in this column right here the electoral votes again seven core Battleground states where is tonight's debate it is in the state that is first among equals when it comes to Battleground States 19 electoral votes in Pennsylvania more than any other what does that mean functionally if you're one of these campaigns and you lose Pennsylvania mathematically if you want to offset that you got to win at least two others to make up for the 19 that you're losing out on in Pennsylvania this is the king of the Battleground States Steve I not to bring up back memories but weren't we were here until Saturday the week of the election waiting for Pennsylvania that's right 11:30 Saturday morning 2020 oh my God but who's counting right okay well we shall see thank you that sets it up very nicely for our next guest what voters want to hear from candidates tonight these Battleground voters they're the deciders Kate snow is in Pennsylvania talking to those undecided swing voters hi Kate Hi Savannah yeah we're at the Churchville Inn it's a restaurant in Bucks County Pennsylvania that's right outside of Philadelphia this is a county that really could be pivotal in the state of Pennsylvania and as Steve was just saying it could be pivotal Pennsylvania as it goes could be pivotal for the whole election so we gathered three voters with me they are all undecided voters each one of you is registered differently we have Lynn kellerer who's a registered Republican and a realtor here in town we have Hannah Reed an independent a mom of three and then we have Andrew Wallace who's registered Democrat and owns this place by the way the owner of the restaurant what's interesting though is you all cannot decide and Lynn you told us that you find Trump I forget your word reprehensible you really don't like the guy but you find Harris you said that you don't understand what she stands for she needs to explain what are you looking for tonight for me the the election is a decision between economics and morals I I like some of Trump's economic policies yeah I find him I abhor him quite frankly of his morals because of his morals or lack thereof uh but she I think is talking a lot of fluff she hasn't said anything substantive I don't know that she has the experience or the um wherewithal to lead this country out of the economic situation that we're in I'm going to note all three of you voted for Trump in 2016 and then changed in 20120 Hannah let me go to you you said you're very frustrated going into this debate why because it the election itself is no longer about policies it's no longer about the real issues in this country like econom the economics or the inflation you don't like the name calling the name calling I mean the back and forth It's it it it's about who can get one over on the other to the point that we are not pushing policies through just because the person that put it through was from another party and Andrew let me ask you about your issues because we were talking earlier you like some of the things you're really big on policies that Trump supports and then you're also really big on policies that Harris supports you don't know what you're going to do so what do you what do you need to hear tonight I feel left behind by the Democratic party the Democratic party uh Parris received zero votes I would like to have a say in the primary and they didn't give me that um I feel that they think that they know what's best for me um Harris hasn't said anything uh Harris's policies a lot of them have just been stolen from Trump taxes on tips putting up the border wall she's had said absolutely nothing of her own with her own ideas so I'm waiting to see anything from her that is an original idea and not stolen from the other candidate all right guys we're going to watch this debate together and Savannah Lester we will certainly report back on sort of what the reactions are here in the room it's an instant focus group important voices to hear Kate thanks very much let me bring in two experts at debate preparation Greg Craig served as White House counsel in the Obama Administration he prepped John krey by playing George W bush and Jud Greg is a former senator from New Hampshire who prepped George W bush by playing John kery and Senator let me begin with you you know the candidates of H you with tongue tire there yes it's not easy uh the uh Harris folks really want to put forth her and introduce her to people who don't know a lot about her right now is this a good time for any candidate to change who they are who the viewers and voters perceive them to be uh people can't change themselves uh really these debates uh turn on a few things I think first is your mannerisms and especially when you have a split screen if you'll remember when uh George Bush the first was was in the debate he looked at his watch and that affected the campaign significantly and then Al Gore rolled his eyes and made all sorts of facial dispari types of movements and then uh of course in the last debate it was uh President Biden just looking like he wasn't there uh so the physical activity on the stage is really critical and you've got to act like you're a serious person in a serious event secondly you've got to be substantive uh people this is about the presidency of the United States people expect substance they don't expect gamesmanship and third a little self-deprecating human doesn't work doesn't doesn't hurt it's it's nice to know that the person can connect with you because they are willing to talk about themselves in a humorous way and so those those three elements are really critical to defining an individual and whether they connect with the audience but you can't change yourself uh just for a debate that's impossible well it's fun to talk to both of you because you've had this rare opportunity to actually play the opposing candidate so we know you're from politics but apparently you have acting chops as well Greg as I turn to you you helped uh President Obama and I I think uh Senator KY as well so if you were advising kamla Harris what would you tell her to do because obviously Donald Trump is an opponent unlike any other I I agree with that I think on the issue of substance and policy she's just going to be fine she's disciplined she's hardworking her real challenge I think is managing U Trump because whereas vice president Harris is the captain and quarterback of team normal former president Trump is really the fourar general of Team crazy and you can't really guess or predict exactly what he's going to be saying or doing it's going to be a stream of Consciousness there's going to be non sequitors there's going to be one falsehood after another so I'm going to be interested in finding out how she manages to deal with him uh I think he's likely to get under her skin more than she's likely to get under his skin and is she going to lose it she would probably have every right to get angry or emotional or lecture him but uh I think if she manages um this guy uh in this debate U she'll be president of the United States Senator Craig and Greg Craig good to have both of you with us not easy right not easy at all but nice to have your perspective speaking of an interesting perspective there's only two people sitting at this desk right now who' have actually moderated general election debates which I would like to say seems like the most thankless job in America but you both survive we got Christ Welker here H's done some primary debat too but this is this is next level Lester first of all without triggering you what do you remember about doing the debate in in 2016 I remember how how lonely it felt because we were when both of us did it was under the opes of the presidential debate commission you're a solo out there you've got your back is to in this giant room full of people and and there were estimates of 100 million people watching um at the same time it's such a privilege to do things like this but you're getting people are you know leading up to it or is he going to fact check you every time you turn on cable TV they're talking about you what they think you're going to do or what you're thinking um I don't know if Kristen felt the same thing but it I I I think of uh of David and Lindsay tonight it's not an easy task oh it's definitely not and when you talk about feeling lonely part of that is because there's no one in your ear telling you or giving you editorial backup look I think there's no greater wait than the moments before heading into a general election debate because you are asking questions on behalf of the people who Kate was just interviewing on behalf of the American people so you want the questions to be understandable digestible not coming from Washington and politics but from a place of people's dining room tables and the best thing that you can say about a moderator is that you don't remember who moderator I was going to say and since it's over I can say these can make a career they can break a career and a lot of times criticism is quite harsh for a moderator who's either who does fact check in real time I can think of a moderator who got in trouble for that and for moderators who don't it's sort of darned if you do darned if you don't I think the way to deal with that is to ask follow-up questions make sure you're getting answers to the questions that you ask it's also a question for the candidates and there is a question of how much tonight as we bring it back to what we're going to see in just about 11 minutes from now is how much will vice president Harris factcheck former president Trump and and vice versa although it is it is clear we know from past debates that the former president does say things that are not true on this stage I've talked to people in her orbit who say if she spent the night factchecking in their view she'd never get anything else in so she's got to pick her moments in that space we're also seeing even as we've been on the air tonight former president Trump already his campaign his team kind of working the refs here already preemptively going after the moderators it's always a factor I was just going to say I mean it's not terribly recent but I remember it it's in the last 10 15 years it's become a lot more common to attack the moderator I remember when you would never you would never see the candidates go out and go after the moderator I remember n gingr doing it in a Republican primary I think in 2016 or something like that and that was different two things you've got to feel the room and it took me several minutes to feel the room feel the temperature of the uh of the candidates the other thing is you know having done a lot of debates including a presidential debate I swore a long time ago I would never publicly judge a debate moderator it is a incredibly difficult job and my hats off to anyone who has done it absolutely and you try to tune out any criticism that you might be getting heading into the big but you know exactly what their stomachs feel like 10 minutes away from the debate now I'm certain it feel having moments of feeling for them thanks for all this this was great uh we'll take a break we're less than 10 minutes away from the big moment as KLA Harris and Donald Trump get ready to face off and meet for the first time ever I hope you can stay with us it's going to be quite a night they tried to kick Trump off your ballot they even tried to end his campaign and take him out for good but president Trump will never stop fighting and neither can you get out and vote for president Trump this year awor domain name that inspires possibility immerses and welcomes own your world at name.com slor [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] what is going to happen going back and forth oh yeah nice to see [Music] you news for the generation of now is NBC News Now welcome back to our special coverage of tonight's presidential debate between vice president Harris and former president Trump the debate is set to begin just minutes from now it'll be the first time Harris and Trump meet each other and it will be the in front of the entire country tonight also could have a huge impact on the campaign less than two months out from election day with a tight race nationally and in the critical Battleground States let's go back to the debate Hall in Philadelphia the spin room Tom yamus is there we're just about six minutes away now from the start of this debate which we will carry in its entirety Tom are you starting to feel that buzz of energy oh you do and guys I will tell you something I've noticed that is different about this debate usually the spin room gets wild and crazy post to what I'm seeing for the first time is pre-debate spin you've seen surrogates on both sides sort of flank all the reporters flank all the sets from all the different news organizations and try to get their message out there was a ton of commotion about 10 minutes ago and that's because RFK Jr came into the spin room of course he was the third party candidate who has since endorsed former president Trump he was followed by uh you know I'd say dozens of reporters as he walked through the spin room we're hearing kind of the same things both campaigns are disciplined they they are on messaged the Harris surrogates are saying the same thing thing former president Trump is the most experienced presidential debater this will be a seventh debate and also they want to go over Reproductive Rights that a vote for Trump is a vote that will limit abortion access and then on the Trump side of course they're hammering the issue that former that vice president Harris is untested she's only done one big major interview she's doing no town halls and also they want to hammer home that they want to put the spotlight and they hope the candidate does on the issues of immigration the economy and the two Wars overseas what I'll be looking for guys tonight who can truthfully answer the question that they are the change candidate coming out of this debate back to you all right Tom thanks very much our Washington correspondent yam Al sindor has been covering the Harris campaign and joins us now yamish your thoughts tonight as we're just minutes away one of the biggest challenges for vice president Harris as I've been talking to a lot of sources that are familiar with her date debate preparations are how she's going to differentiate herself from President Biden former president Trump is going to try to make her own every single mistake that he believes President Biden made and there's been a lot of tension among the Harris team about whether or not she should throw the president President Biden under the brush figuratively and say I disagreed with some of the policies maybe even the withdrawal from Afghanistan the way that it was carried out or whether she's going to say I serve at the pleasure of of the president and I agreed with everything that he did but she has to in some ways really carve out what a Harris Administration is going to look like and why it's not going to just be a third term of the Biden Administration or the second term of the Biden Administration rather and the other thing that she's really going to have to do is not get pulled into personal attacks by former president Trump they expect him to at some point maybe lose it they're going to try to bait him a bit to try to lash out at her but she really wants to remain calm because her biggest thing that she wants to do is M really introduce herself to undecided voters and voters who might not be familiar with her background her middle class background that she's a child of immigrants they really want to her team really make sure that she defines herself so that's also a big challenge that I'll be watching for how she does that back to you all right yish thank you so much and let's turn now to NBC's Dasha Burns who covers the Trump campaign joins us now what are you hearing from the Trump campaign about the preparations tonight well look Savannah you've heard the former president say time and again that he does not do traditional debate prep that campaigning is his prep but we are told by sources that over the last few days he has been hunkered down at maral Lago he's been doing extensive policy sessions and watch for him to do two things tonight two things that his campaign wants him to do number one tie vice president Harris to President Biden make her own what's going on with the economy what's going on with immigration and number two remind voters some of the positions she took back in 2020 when she was running for president that were left of center try to paint her as simply too liberal for those moderate swing voters in places like the suburbs of Philadelphia of course that is the plan that is what the campaign wants but it's all going to be about the execution in the moment especially if Harris tries to bait the former president into an outburst Savannah all right Dasha thank you let's bring back Kristen Welker and H Jackson I want to talk about how the vice president has cast herself in this campaign as the prosecutor um you know going against against Donald Trump does are there limits to that in this format do you think of the of coming off in a prosecutorial way absolutely when I've spoken to allies who are close to her they say her biggest challenge tonight is getting specific but not too specific she's got to tell the story of how a Harris Administration would differ from a Biden Administration that word we keep using change how would she change things right now does she acknowledge to some extent that the economy is not where she wants it to be and really lay out in more detail what she wants to see yes she's going to prosecute the case against Donald Trump on a range of different issues she'll accuse him of switching his opinion particularly when it comes to the issue of abortion uh and Reproductive Rights but again she's got to walk that fine line yeah but she also has to answer for some changes in her own positions of course she ran for president in 2020 and she came across and and positioned herself as a much more Progressive type of candidate now she's really moving to the middle here in a general election crowded primary right back in 2019 2020 she has moved away from that on issues like uh for example mandated gun buybacks for automatic rifle something that she no longer supports fracking for example something that she uh has changed her position on as well you look at Medicare for all a position that she's backed away from watch for the former president to try to go after some of these issues and I'll tell you to bring it back to the voters that panel with Kate snow is super interesting the economy came up again and again and even though this summer for the first time inflation dipped below 3% for the first time since March of 2021 people don't feel great about it right now so how does vice president Harris address that moving forward let me briefly go there and talk about his physical performance it's been noted by many that the former president has tended to be more rambling disjointed in many of his answers at a time that we were focusing on on Joe Biden is that something that folks will be watching careful he's now of course the older candidate now okay will be back with you at the top of the hour now at 9:00 on the East Coast here in New York and in Philadelphia the room where it's about to happen we're just seconds away now from tonight's first and perhaps last presidential debate between vice president KLA Harris and former president Donald Trump as we've noted this will be the first time these candidates have met in person and it's happening on a debate stage also the first debate since President Biden left the race over the summer and Harris became the Democratic nominee a lot has happened in a very compressed period of time yes it has and we have a few uh moments until the debate starts we will join it ABC News is is broadcasting it but we will simoc cast it right here in its entirety it's taking place at the national Constitution Center in Philadelphia and like June's debate there will be no audience tonight the candidates microphones will be muted while the other one is talking each candidate will get two minutes for answers there will be closing statements but no opening statements so we expect them to probably mix it up rather early in this as they stake out their positions and we get a sense of where're all this is is going and the mics are muted when the other is talking so let's take you to Philadelphia now and the first presidential debate of 2024 good evening I'm David mure and thank you for joining us for tonight's ABC News presidential debate we want to welcome viewers watching on ABC and around the world tonight vice president kamla Harris and president Donald Trump are just moments away from taking the stage in this unprecedented race for president and I'm lindsy Davis tonight's meeting could be the most consequential event of their campaigns with election day less than two months away for vice president kamla Harris this is her first debate since President Biden withdrew from the race on July 21st of course that decision followed his debate against President Donald Trump in June since then this race has taken on an entirely new Dynamic and that brings us to the rules of tonight's debate 90 minutes with two commercial breaks no topics or questions have been shared with the campaigns the candidates will have two minutes to answer questions and this is the clock that's what they'll be seeing 2 minutes for rebuttal and 1 minute for follow-ups clarification or responses their microphones will only be turned on when it's their turn to speak no pre-written notes allowed there is no audience here tonight in this Hall at the national Constitution Center this is an intimate setting for two candidates who have never met president Trump won the coin toss he chose to deliver the final closing statement of the evening vice president Harris selected the podium to the right so let's now welcome the candidates to the stage vice president kamla Harris and president Donald Trump KLA Harris Let's Have a good debate you see you have fun thank you thank you welcome to you both it's wonderful to have you it's an honor to have you both here tonight good evening we are looking forward to a spirited and thoughtful debate so let's get started I want to begin tonight with the issue that voters repeatedly say is their number one issue and that is the economy and the cost of living in this country vice president Harris you and president Trump were elected four years ago and your opponent on the stage here tonight often asks his supporters are you better off than you were four years ago when it comes to the economy do you believe Americans are better off that they were four years ago so I was raised as a middle class kid and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America I believe in the ambition the aspirations the dreams of the American people and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy because here's the thing we know that we have a a shortage of of homes and housing and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people we know that young families need support to raise their children and I intend on extending a tax cut for those families of $6,000 which is the largest child tax credit that we have given in a long time so that those young families can afford to buy a crib buy a car seat buy clothes for their children my passion one of them is small businesses I was actually my mother raised my sister and me but there was a woman who helped raise us we call her our second mother she was a small business owner I love our small businesses my plan is to give a $50,000 tax deduction to Startup small businesses knowing they are part of the backbone of America's economy my opponent on the other hand his plan is to do what he has done before which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations which will result in $5 trillion to America's deficit my opponent has a plan that I call the Trump's sales tax which would be a 20% tax on everyday Goods that you rely on to get through the month economists have said that that Trump sales tax would actually result for middle class families and about $4,000 more a year because of his policies and his ideas about what should be the backs of middle class people paying for tax cuts for billionaires president Trump I'll give you two minutes first of all I have no sales tax that's an incorrect statement she knows that uh we're doing tariffs on other countries other countries are going to finally after 75 years pay us back for all that we've done for the world and the Tariff will be substantial in some cases I took in billions and billions of dollars as you know from China in fact they never took the Tariff off because it was so much money they can't it would totally destroy everything that they've set out to do they're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places they've left the tariffs on when I had it I had tariffs and yet I had no inflation uh look we've had a terrible economy because inflation has which is really known as a country Buster it breaks up countries we have inflation like very few people have ever seen before probably the worst in our nation's history we were at 20 1% but that's being generous because many things are 50 60 70 and 80% higher than they were just a few years ago this has been a disaster for people for the middle class but for every class on top of that we have millions of people pouring into our country from prisons and jails from mental institutions and insane asylums and they're coming in and they're taking jobs that are occupied right now by African-Americans and Hispanics and also unions unions are going to be affected very soon and you see what's happening you see what's happening with towns throughout the United States you look at Springfield Ohio you look at Aurora in Colorado they are taking over the towns they're taking over buildings they're going in violently these are the people that she and Biden led into our country and they're destroying our country they're dangerous they're at the highest level of criminality and we have to get them out we have to get them out fast I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country I'll do it again and even better we are going to get to immigration and border security during this debate but uh I would like to let vice president Harris respond on the economy here well I would love to let's talk about what Donald Trump left us Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression Donald Trump left us the worst Public Health epidemic in a century Donald Trump left us the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War and what we have done is clean up Donald Trump's mess what we have done and what I intend to do is build on what we know are the aspirations and the hopes of the American people but I'm going to tell youall in this debate tonight you're going to hear from the same old tired Playbook a bunch of Lies Grievances and name calling what you're going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous Plan called project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected to again I believe very strongly that the American people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together know we have so much more in common than what separates us and I pledge to you to be a president for all Americans president Trump I'll give you a minute here to respond number one I have nothing to do as you know and as she knows better than anyone I have nothing to do with project 2025 uh that's out there I haven't read it I don't want to read it purposely I'm not going to read it this was a group of people that got together they came up with some ideas I guess some good some bad but it makes no difference I have nothing to do everybody knows I'm an open book everybody knows what I'm going to do cut taxes very substantially and create a great economy like I did before we had the greatest economy we got hit with a pandemic and the pandemic was not since 1917 where 100 million people died has there been anything like it we did a phenomenal job with the Pand pic we handed them over a country where the economy and where the stock market was higher than it was before the pandemic came in nobody's ever seen anything like it we made ventilators for the entire world we got gowns we got masks we did things that nobody thought possible and people give me credit for rebuilding the military they give me credit for a lot of things but not enough credit for the great job we did with the pandemic but the only jobs they got were bounceback jobs these were jobs bounceback and it bounced back and it went to their benefit but I was the one that created them they know it and so does everybody else vice president Harris I'll let you respond so Donald Trump has no plan for you and when you look at his economic plan it's all about tax breaks for the richest people I am offering what I describe as an opportunity economy and the best economists in our country if not the world have reviewed our relative plans for the future of America what go Goldman Sachs has said is that Donald Trump's plan would make the economy worse mine would strengthen the economy what the won school has said is Donald Trump's plan would actually explode the deficit 16 Nobel laurates have described his economic plan as something that would increase inflation and by the middle of next year would invite a recession you just have to look at where we are and where we stand on the issues and I'd invite you toight that Donald Trump actually has no plan for you because he is more interested in defending himself than he is in looking out for you that's just a sound by they gave her that to say look I went to the Wharton School of finance and many of those professors the top professors think my plan is a brilliant plan it's a great plan it's a plan that's going to bring up our our worth our value as a country it's going to make people want to be able to go and work and uh create jobs and create a lot of good solid money for our for our country and just to finish off uh she doesn't have a plan she copied Biden's plan and it's like four sentences like Run Spot Run four sentences that are just oh we'll try and lower taxes she doesn't have a plan take a look at her plan she doesn't have a plan Mr President I do want to drill down on something you both brought up uh the vice president brought up your tariffs you responded and let's drill down on this because your plan is what she calls is essentially a national sales tax your proposal calls for tariffs as you pointed out here on Foreign imports across the board you recently said that you might double your plan imposing tariffs up to 20% on Goods coming into this country as you know many economists say that with tariffs at that level costs are then passed on to the consumer vice president Harris has argued it'll mean higher prices on gas food clothing medication arguing it costs the typical family nearly $4,000 a year do you believe Americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs to have higher prices what's going to have and who's going to have higher prices is China and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years I charged I was the only president ever China was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars and so were other countries and you know if she doesn't like them they should have gone out and they should have immediately cut the tariffs but those tariffs are there three and a half years now under their Administration we are going to take in billions of dollars hundreds of billions of dollars I had no inflation virtually no inflation they had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country because I've never seen a worse period of time people can't go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else these the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done they've destroyed the economy and all you have to do is look at a poll the polls say 80 and 85 and even 90% that the Trump economy was great that their economy was terrible vice president Harris I do want to ask for your response and you heard what the president said there because the Biden Administration did keep a number of the Trump tariffs in place so how do you respond well let's be clear that the Trump Administration resulted in a trade deficit one of the highest we've ever seen in the history of America he invited trade Wars you want to talk about his deal with China what he ended up doing is under Donald Trump's presidency he ended up selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military basically sold us out when a policy about China should be in making sure the United States of America wins the competition for the 21st century which means focusing on the details of what that requires focusing on relationships with our allies focusing on investing in american-based technology so that we win the race on AI on Quantum Computing focusing on what we need to do to support American America's Workforce so that we don't end up having the on the short end of the stick in terms of workers rights but what Donald Trump did let's talk about this with covid is he actually thanked president XI for what he did during Co look at his tweet thank you president XI exclamation point when we know that shei was responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of covid President Trump I'll let you respond of all they bought their chips from Taiwan we hardly make chips anymore because of uh philosophies like they have and policies like they have I don't say her because she has no policy everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window she's going to My Philosophy now in fact I was going to send her a Maga hat she's gone to My Philosophy but if she ever got elected she change it and it will be the end of our country she's a Marxist everybody knows she's a Marxist her father's a Marxist professor in economics and he taught her well but when you look at what she's done to our country and when you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly where it's I believe 21 million people not the 15 that people say and I think it's a lot higher than the 21 that's bigger than New York State pouring in and just look at what they're doing to our country they're criminals many of these people coming in are criminals and that's bad for our economy too you know you mentioned before we'll talk about immigration later well bad immigration is the worst thing that can happen to our economy they have and she has destroyed our country with policy that's insane almost policy that you'd say they have to hate our country president Trump thank you Lindsay I want to turn to the issue of abortion president Trump you've often touted that you were able to kill roie Wade last year you said that you were proud to be the most pro-life president in American history then last month you said that your Administration would be great for women and their Reproductive Rights in your home state of Florida you surprised many uh with regard to your six we abortion ban because you initially had said that it was too short and you said quote I'm going to be voting that we need more than six weeks but then the very next day you reversed course and said you would vote to support the six- we ban vice president Harris says that women shouldn't trust you on the issue of of abortion because you've changed your position so many times therefore why should they trust you well the reason I'm doing that vote is because the plan is as you know the vote is they have abortion in the ninth month they even have and you can look at the governor of West Virginia the previous governor of West Virginia not the current governor is doing an excellent job but the governor before he said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby in other words we'll execute the baby and that's why I did that because that predominates because they're radical the Democrats are radical in that and her vice presidential pick which I think is a horrible pick by the way for our country because he is really out of it but her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine he also says execution after birth it's execution no longer abortion because the baby is born is okay and that's not okay with me hence the vote but what I did is something for 52 years they've been trying to get roie Wade into the states and through the uh genius and and heart and strength of six Supreme Court Justices we were able to do that now I believe in the exceptions for rape incest and life of the mother I believe strongly in it Ronald Reagan did also 85% of Republicans do exceptions very important but we were able to get it and now states are voting on it and for the first time you're going to see look this is a an issue that's torn our country apart for 52 years every legal scholar every Democrat every Republican liberal conservative they all wanted this issue to be brought back to the states where the people could vote and that's what happened happened now Ohio the vote was somewhat Liberal Kansas the vote was somewhat liberal much more liberal than people would have thought but each individual state is voting it's the vote of the people now it's not tied up in the federal government I did a great service in doing it it took courage to do it and the Supreme Court had great courage in doing it and I give tremendous credit to those six justices there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born Madam vice president I want to get your response to president Trump well as I said you're going to hear a bunch of lies and that's not actually a surprising fact let's understand how we got here Donald Trump hand selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of roie Wade and they did exactly as he intended and now in over 20 states there are Trump abortion bans which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide Health Care in one state it provides prison for life Trump abortion bans that make no exception even for rape and incest which understand what that means a survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next that is immoral and one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body I have talked with women around our country you want to talk about this is what people wanted pregnant women who want to carry a pregnancy to term suffering from a miscarriage being denied care in an emergency room because the health care providers are afraid they might go to jail and she's bleeding out in a car in the parking lot she didn't want that her husband didn't want that a 12 or 13-year-old Survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term they don't want that and I pledge to you when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of roie Wade as president of the United States I will proudly sign it into law but understand if Donald Trump were to be reelected he will sign a National Abortion ban understand in his project 2025 there would be a National Abortion a monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies your miscarriages I think the American people believe that certain freedoms in particular the freedom to make decisions about one's own body should not be made by the government thank you vice president Harris well there she goes again it's a lie I'm not signing a ban and there's no reason to sign a ban because we've gotten what everybody wanted Democrats Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back into the states and the states are voting and it may take a little time but for 52 years this issue has torn our country apart and they've wanted it back in the States and I did something that nobody thought was possible the states are now voting what she says is an absolute lie and as far as the abortion B no I'm not in favor of abortion B but it doesn't matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states would you veto a National Abortion ban if it well I won't have to because again two things number one she said she'll go back to Congress she'll never get the vote there impossible for her to get the vote especially now with the 5050 and essentially 5050 in both Senate and the house she's not going to get the vote she can't get the vote she won't even come close to it so it's just talk you know what it reminds me of when they said they're going to get student loans terminated and it ended up being a total catastrophe the student loans and then her I I think probably her boss if you call him a boss he spends all his time on the beach but look her boss went out and said we'll do it again we'll do it a different way and he went out got rejected Again by the Supreme Court so all these students got uh taunted with this whole thing about this whole idea and how unfair that would have been part of the reason they lost to the millions and millions of people that had to pay off their student loans they didn't get it for free but they were saying it's the same way that they talked about that that they talk about abortion but if I could just get a yes or no because your running mate J JD Vance has said that you would veto if you did come to your desk well I didn't discuss it with JD in all fairness uh JD and I I don't mind if he has a c view but I think he was speaking for me but I really didn't look we don't have to discuss it because she'd never be able to get it just like she couldn't get student loans they couldn't get student loans they didn't even come close to getting student loans they taunted young people and a lot of other people that had loans they can never get this approved so it doesn't matter what she says about going to Congress wonderful let's go to Congress do it but the fact is that for years they wanted to get it out of Congress and out of the federal government and we did something that everybody said couldn't be done and now now you have a vote of the people on abortion vice president Harris want to give you your time to respond but I do want to ask would you support any restrictions on a woman's right to an abortion I absolutely support reinstating the protections of roie Wade and as you rightly mentioned nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and an an asking for an abortion that is not happening it's insulting to the women of America and understand what has been happening under Donald Trump's abortion bans couples who pray and and and and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments what is happening in our country working people working women who are working one or two jobs who can barely afford child care as it is have to travel to another state to get on a plane sitting next to strangers to go and get the health care she needs barely can afford to do it and what you are putting her through is unconscionable and the people of America have not the majority of Americans believe in a woman's right to make decisions about her own body and that is why in every state where this issue has been on the ballot in red and blue States both the people of America have voted for Freedom vice president excuse me I have to respond another lie it's another lie I have been a leader on IVF which which is fertilization the IVF I have been a leader in fact when they got a very negative decision on IVF from the Alabama courts I saw the people of Alabama and the legislature two days later voted it in I've been a leader on it they know that and everybody else knows it I have been a leader on fertilization IVF and the other thing they not you should ask will she allow a abortion in the e8th month 9th month 7th month come on okay would you do that why don't you ask that question why don't you the because under Ro way you could do abortions in the seventh month the eighth month the ninth month and probably after birth just look at the governor former governor of Virginia the governor of Virginia said we put the baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with the baby president Trump thank you we're going to turn now to immigration and border security we know it's an issue that's important to Republicans Democrats voters across the board uh in this country vice president Harris you were tasked by President Biden with getting to the root causes of migration from Central America we know that illegal border crossings reached a record high in the Biden Administration this past June President Biden imposed tough new Asylum restrictions we know the numbers since then have dropped significantly but my question to you tonight is why did the administration wait until 6 months before the election to act and would you have done anything differently from president President Biden on this so I'm the only person on this stage who has prosecuted transnational criminal organizations for the trafficking of guns drugs and human beings and let me say that the United States Congress including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate came up with a border security bill which I supported and that bill would have put 1500 more border agents On the Border to help those folks who are working there right now over time trying to do their job it would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentol coming into the United States I know there are so many families watching tonight who have been personally affected by The Surge of fentanyl in our country that bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns drugs and human beings but you know what happened to that bill Donald Trump got on the phone called up some folks in Congress and said kill the bill and you know why because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem and understand this comes at a time where the people of our country actually need a leader who engages in Solutions who actually addresses the problems at hand but what we have in the former president is someone who would prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem and I'll tell you something he's going to talk about immigration a lot tonight even when it's not the subject that is being being raised and I'm going to actually do something really unusual and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies cuz it's a really interesting thing to watch you will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter he will talk about windmills 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 you will not hear him talk about your needs your dreams and your and your desires and I'll tell you I believe you deserve a president who actually puts you first and I pledge to you that I will vice president Harris thank you president Trump on that point I want to get your response like to respond let me just ask though why did you try to kill that bill and successfully so that would have put thousands of additional agents and officers On the Border first let me respond as to the rallies she said people start leaving people don't go to her rallies there's no reason to go and the people that do go she's busting them in and paying them to be there and then showing them in a different light so she can't talk about that people don't leave my rallies we have the biggest rallies the most incredible rallies in the history of politics that's because people want to take their country back our country is being lost we're failing nation and it happened three and a half years ago and what what's going on here you're going to end up in World War III just to go into another subject what they have done to our country by allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country and look at what's happening to the towns all over the United States and a lot of towns don't want to talk not going to be Aurora or Springfield a lot of towns don't want to talk about it because they're so embarrassed by it in Springfield they're eating the dogs the people that came in they're eating the cats they're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there and this is what's happening in our country and it's a shame as far as rallies are conc concerned as far as the reason they go is they like what I say they want to bring our country back they want to make America great again it's very simple phrase make America great again she's destroying this country and if she becomes president this country doesn't have a chance of success not only success will end up being Venezuela on steroids I just want to clarify here you bring up Springfield Ohio and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there uh he told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed injured or abused by individuals within the Immigrant Community all I've seen people on televis let me just say here this is the people on television say my dog was taken and used for food so maybe he said that and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager I'm not taking this from television the dog was eaten by the people that went there again the Springfield City manager says there's no evidence of that vice president haris I'll let you respond to the rest of what you've heard you talk about extreme um you know I this is I think one of the reasons why in this election I actually have the indorsement of 200 Republicans who have forly worked with President Bush Mitt Romney and John McCain including the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congress member Liz Cheney and if you want to really know the inside track on who the former president is if he didn't make it clear already just ask people who have worked with him his former Chief of Staff a fourstar general has said he has contempt for the Constitution of the United States his former National Security adviser has said he is dangerous and unfit his former Secretary of Defense has said the nation the Republic would never survive another Trump term and when we listen to this kind of rhetoric when the issues that effect the American people are not being addressed I think the choice is clear in this election President Trump I'll give you a quick minute to respond here uh thank you because when I hear that see I'm a different kind of a person I fired most of those people not so graciously they did bad things or a bad job I fired them they never fired one person they didn't fire anybody having to do with Afghanistan and the Taliban and the 13 people who's who's were just killed viciously and violently killed and I got to know the parents and the family they didn't fire they should have fired all those generals all those top people because that was one of the most incompetently handled situations anybody has ever seen so when somebody does a bad job I fire him and you take a guy like esper he was no good I fired him so he writes a book another one writes a book because with me they can write books with nobody else can they but they have done such a poor job and they never fire anybody look at the economy look how look at the inflation they didn't fire any of their economists they have the same people that's a good way not to have books written about you but just to finish I got more votes than any Republican in history by far in fact I got more votes than any president sitting president in history by far let me continue on immigration it was what you wanted to talk about earlier so let's get back to your deportation uh uh proposal that the vice president has reacted to as well president Trump you call this the largest domestic deportation operation in the history of our country you say you would use the National Guard you say things get out of control you'd have no problem using the US military you also said you would use local police uh how would you uh Deport 11 million undocumented immigrants I know you you believe that number is much higher take us through this what does this look like will authorities be going door too in this country yeah it is much higher because of them they allowed criminals many many millions of criminals they allowed terrorists they allowed Common Street criminals they allowed people to come in drug dealers to come into our country and then now in the United States and told by their countries like Venezuela don't ever come back or we're going to kill you do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down you know why because they've taken their criminals off the street and they've given them to her to put into our country and this will be one of the greatest mistakes in history for them to allow and I think they probably did it because they think they're going to get votes but it's not worth it because they're they're destroying the fabric of our country by what they've done there's never been anything done like this at all they've destroyed the fabric of our country millions of people let in and all over the world crime is down all over the world except here crime here is up and through the roof despite their fraudulent statements that they made crime in this country is through the roof and we have a new form of crime it's called migrant crime and it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible president Trump as you know the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country but ex me the FBI defraud they were defrauding statements they they didn't include the worst cities they didn't include the cities with the worst crime it was a a fraud just like their number of 8818 th000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud president Trump thank you I'll let you respond vice president Harris well I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for National Security crimes economic crimes election interference has been found liable for sexual assault and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing and let's be clear where each person stands on the issue of what is important about respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement the former vice president called for defunding federal law enforcement 45,000 agents get this on the day after he was arraigned on 34 felony counts so let's talk about what is important in this race it is important that we move forward that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people address what we need to do about the housing shortage which I have a plan for address what we must do to support our small businesses address Bringing Down the price of groceries but frankly the American people are exhausted with this same old tired Playbook vice president Harris thank you excuse me every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent and I'm winning most of them and I will win the rest on appeal and you saw that with the decision that came down just recently from the Supreme Court I'm winning most of them but those are cases it's called weaponization never happened in this country they weaponized the justice department every one of those cases was involved with the doj from Atlanta and fny Willis to to the uh Attorney General of New York and the da in New York every one of those cases and then they say oh he was he's a criminal they're the ones that made them go after me by the way Joe Biden was found essentially guilty on the documents case and what happened in my documents case they said oh that's the toughest of them all a complete and total Victory two months ago it was thrown out it's weaponization and they used it and it's never happened in this country they used it to try and win an election fake cases president Trump thank you a really quick response here vice president Harris on this notion of weaponization of the justice department well let's talk about extreme and understand the context in which this election in 201 24 is taking place the United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he were to enter the White House again understand this is someone who has openly said he would terminate I'm quoting terminate the Constitution of the United States that he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our military understand what it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the white house with no guard rails because certainly we know now the court won't stop him we know JD Vance is not going to stop him it's up to the American people vice president thank you Lindsay vice president Harris in your last run for president weiz please this is the one that weaponized not me she weaponized I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me they talk about democracy I'm a threat to democracy they're the threat to democracy with a fake Russia Russia Russia investigation that went nowhere we have a lot to get to Lindsay vice president Harris in your last run for president you said you wanted to ban fracking now you don't you wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons now your campaign says you don't you supported decriminalizing border crossings now you're taking a harder line I know you say that your values have not changed so then why have so many of your policy positions changed so my values have not changed and I'm going to discuss every one of the at least every point that you've made but in particular let's talk about fracking because we're here in Pennsylvania I made that very clear in 2020 I will not ban fracking I have not banned fracking as vice president United States and in fact I Was the tiebreaking vote on the inflation reduction act which opened new leases for fracking my position is that we have got to invest in in diverse sources of energy so we reduce our Reliance on foreign oil we have had the largest increase in domestic oil production in history because of an approach that recognizes that we cannot over rely on foreign oil as it relates to my values let me tell you I grew up a middle class kid raised by a hardworking mother who worked and saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager the values I bring to the importance of home ownership knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times is a value that I bring to my work to say we are going to work with the private sector and home builders to increase 3 million homes increase by 3 million homes by the end of my first term my work that is related to having a friend when I was in high school who was sexually assaulted by her stepfather and my focus then on prot protecting women and children from violent crime is based on a value that is deeply grounded in the importance of standing up for those who are most vulnerable my work that is about protecting Social Security and Medicare is based on long-standing work that I have done protecting seniors from have not changed and what is important is that there is a president who actually brings values and a perspective that is about lifting people up and not beating people down down and name calling the true measure of the leader is the leader who actually understands the strength is not in beating people down it's in lifting people up I intend to be that president president Trump your resp well first of all I wasn't given $400 million I wish I was my father was a Brooklyn Builder Brooklyn Queens and a great father and I learned a lot from him but I was given a fraction of that a tiny fraction and have built it into many many billions of dollars many many billions and when people see it they are even surprised so we don't have to talk about that fracking she's been against it for 12 years uh defund the police she's been against that forever she gave all that stuff up very wrongly very horribly and everybody's laughing at it okay they're all laughing at it she gave up at least 12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies like she was big on defund the police in Minnesota she went out wait a minute I'm talking now if you don't mind please does that sound familiar she went out she went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people that burned down Minneapolis she went out and raised money to get him out of jail she did things that nobody would ever think of now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison this is a radical left liberal that would do this she wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania if she won the election fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one just to finish one thing so important in my opinion so I got the oil business going like nobody has ever done before they took when they took over they got rid of it started getting rid of it and the prices were going up the roof they immediately let these guys go to where they were I would have been five times four times five times higher because you're talking about three and a half years ago they got it up to where I was because they had no choice because the prices of energy were were quadrupling and doubling you saw what happened to gasoline so they said let's go back to Trump but if she won the election the day after that election they'll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead fossil fuel will be dead we'll go back to windmills and we'll go back to solar where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come out you ever see a solar plant by the way I'm a big fan of solar but they take 400 500 Acres of desert not good things for the environment understand thank you Lindsay thank you we have an election in just 56 days and I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power which of course we all know is a Cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president uh in a moment of Crisis uh Mr President on January 6th you told your supporters to March to the capital you said you would be right there with them uh the country and the world saw what played out of the capital that day the officers coming under attack AIDS in the west wings say you watched it unfold on television off the Oval Office uh you did send out tweets but it was more than two hours before you sent out that video message uh telling your supporters to go home is there anything you regret about what you did on that day you just said a thing that isn't covered peacefully and patriotically I said during my speech not later on peacefully and patrio Ally and nobody on the other side was killed Ashley babot was shot by an out of control police officer that should have never ever shot her it's a disgrace but we didn't do this group of people that have been treated so badly I ask what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people that she allowed to pour in she was the Bazar remember that she was the Bazar she doesn't want to be called the Bazar because she's embarrassed by the bord fact she said at the beginning oh I'm surprised you're not talking about the Buddha yet that's because she knows what a bad job they've done what about those people what's what are they going to be prosecuted when are these people from countries all over the world not just South America they're coming in from all over the world David all over the world and crime rates are down all over the world because of it when are those David when are those people going to be prosecuted when of the people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted or in Seattle they went and see Seattle they took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle when are those people going to be prosecuted but let me just ask you you might ask her that question you were the president you were watching an unfold on television it's a very simple question as we move forward toward another election is there anything you regret about what you did on that day yeser I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech I showed up for a speech I said I think it's going to be big I went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington DC and the mayor put it back in writing as you know I said you know this is going to be a very big Rally or whatever you want to call it and again it wasn't done by me it was done by others I said I'd like to give you 10,000 National Guard or soldiers they rejected me Nancy Pelosi rejected me it was just two weeks ago her daughter has a tape of her saying she is fully responsible for what happened they want to get rid of that tape it would have never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington did their jobs I wasn't resp responsible for security Nancy Pelosi was responsible she didn't do her job the question was about you as president not about former speaker Pelosi but I do want vice president Harris to respond here I was at the capital on January 6th I was the vice president elect I was also an acting Senator I was there and on that day the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation's capital to desecrate our nation's capital on that day 140 law enforcement officers were injured and some died and understand the former president has been indicted and impeached for exactly that reason but this is not an isolated situation let's remember Charlottesville where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches spewing anti-semitic hate and what did the president then at the time say there were fine people on each side let's remember that when it came to the proud boys a militia the president said the former president said stand back and stand by so for everyone watching who remembers what January 6th was I say we don't have to go back let's not go back we're not going back it's time to turn the page and if that was a bridge too far for you well there is a place in our campaign for you to stand for country to stand for our democracy to stand for rule of law and to end the chaos and to end the approach that is about attacking the foundations of our democracy because you don't like the outcome and be clear on that point Donald Trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a blood bath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking let's turn the page on this let's not go back let's chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past let me just follow up here it was a different term and it was a term that related to energy because they have destroyed our energy business that was where bloodbath was also on Charlottesville that's story has been as you would say debunked Laura Ingram Shan Hannity Jesse all of these people they covered it if they go an extra sentence they will see it was perfect it was debunked in almost every newspaper but they still bring it up just like they bring 2025 up they bring all of this stuff up I ask you this you talk about the capital why are we allowing these millions of people to come through on the southern border how come she's not doing anything and I'll tell you what I would do and I would be very proud to do it I would say we would both leave this debate right now I'd like to see her go down to Washington DC during this debate because we're wasting a lot of time go down to because she's been so bad it's so ridiculous go down to Washington D.C and let her sign a bill to close up the Border because they have the right to do it they don't need bills they have the right to do it the president of the United States you'll get them out of bed you'll wake them up at 4:00 in the afternoon you'll say come on come on down to the office let's sign a bill If he if he signs a bill that the border is closed all he has to do is say it to the border patrol who are phenomenal if they do that the border is closed those people are killing many people unlike j6 we talked immigration here tonight I do want to focus on this next issue to both of you because it really brings us uh this into Focus Truth uh in these times that we're living in uh Mr President for three and a half years after uh you lost the 2020 election you repeatedly falsely claim that you won many times saying you won in landslide in the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate uh you have said quote you lost by a whisker that you quote didn't quite make it that you came up a little bit short are that are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020 I don't acknowledge that at all I said that sarcastically you know that it was said oh we lost by a whisker that was said sarcastically look there's so much proof all you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval I got almost 75 million votes the most votes any president has ever gotten I was told if I got 63 which was what I got in 2016 you can't be beaten the election people should never be thinking about an election is fraudulent we need two things we need walls we need and we have to have it we have to have borders and we have to have good elections our elections are bad and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in they're trying to get them to vote they can't even speak English they don't even know what country they're in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote and that's why they're allowing them to come into our country I did watch all of these pieces of video I didn't detect the sarcasm lost by whisker we didn't quite make it and we should just point out here as clarification and you know this you and your allies 60 cases in front of many judges many of them looked at it and said we didn't have standing that's the other thing they said we didn't have standing a technicality can you imagine a system where a person in an election doesn't have standing the president of the United States doesn't have standing that's how we lost if you look at the facts and I'd love to have you you'll do a special on it I'll show you Georgia and I'll show you Wisconsin and I'll show you Pennsylvania and I'll show you we have so many facts and statistics but you know what that doesn't matter because we have to solve the problem that we have right now that's old news and the problem that we have right now is we have a nation in Decline and they have put it into decline we have a nation that is dying David Mr President thank you uh vice president Harris you heard the president there tonight he said he didn't say that that he lost by whisker so he still uh believes uh he did not lose the election uh that was won by President Biden uh and yourself but I do want to ask you about something that's come up in the last couple of days this was a post from uh president Trump about this upcoming election just weeks away he said when I win those people who cheated and then he lists donors voters election officials he says we'll be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law which will include long-term prison sentence es one of your campaign's top lawyers responded saying we won't let Donald Trump intimidate us we won't let him suppress the vote is that what you believe he's trying to do here Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people so let's be clear about that and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that but we cannot afford to have a president of the United States who attempts as he did in the past to upend the will of the voters in a free and fair election and I'm going to tell you that I have traveled the world as vice president United States and world leaders are laughing at Donald Trump I have talked with military leaders some of whom worked with you and they say you're a disgrace and when you then talk in this way in a presidential debate and deny what over and over again are court cases you have lost because you did in fact lose that election it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have in the candidate to my right the temperament or or the ability to not be confused about fact that's deeply troubling and the American people deserve better I'll give you one minute to respond Mr President let me just tell about world leaders Victor Orban one of the most respected men they call him a strong man he's a he's a tough person smart prime minister of Hungary they said why is the whole world blowing up 3 years ago it wasn't why is it blowing up he said because you need Trump back as president they were afraid of him China was afraid and I don't like to use the word afraid but I'm just quoting him China was afraid of him North Korea was afraid of him look at what's going on with North Korea by the way he said Russia was afraid of him I ended the nordstream 2 Pipeline and Biden put it back on day one but he ended the XL Pipeline the XL pipeline in our country he ended that but he let the Russians build a pipeline going all over Europe and heading into Germany the biggest pipeline in the world look Victor Orban said it he said the most respected most feared person is Donald Trump we had no problems when Trump was president but when this weak pathetic man that you saw at a debate just a few months ago that if he weren't in that he'd be running on set of H he got no votes he got 14 million votes what you did you talk about a threat to democracy he got 14 million votes and they threw him out of office and you know what I'll give you a little secret he hates her he can't stand her but he got 14 million votes they threw him out she got zero votes and when she ran she was the first one to leave because she failed and now she's running I don't understand it but I'm okay with it because your is up think we're going to do very well we've got a lot more get to Turning now to the Israel Hamas War and the hostages who are still being held Americans among them vice president Harris in December you said quote Israel has a right to defend itself but you added quote it matters how saying International humanitarian law must be respected Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians you said that nine months ago now an estimated 40,000 Palestinians are dead nearly 100 hostages remain just last week prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there's not a deal in the making President Biden has not been able to break through the stalemate how would you do it well let's understand how we got here on October 7 Hamas a terrorist organization slaughtered 12200 Israelis many of them young people who were simply attending a concert women were horribly raped and so absolutely I said then I say now Israel has a right to defend it we would and how it does so matters because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed children mothers what we know is that this war must end it must when end immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out and so we will continue to work around the clock on that work around the clock all also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution and in that solution there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians but the one thing I will assure you always I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it rates to as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel but we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza where the Palestinians have security self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve president Trump how would you negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza if I were president it would have never started if I were president Russia would have never ever I know Putin very well he would have never and there was no threat of it either by the way for four years have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up far worse than people understand what's going on over there but when she mentions about Israel all of a sudden she hates Israel she wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech she refused to be there because she was at a sority party of hers she wanted to go to the sority party she hates Israel if she's president I believe that Israel will not exist with within 2 years from now and I've been pretty good at predictions and I hope I'm wrong about that one she hates Israel at the same time in her own way she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up Arabs Jewish people Israel Israel will be gone it would have never happened Iran was broke under Donald Trump now Iran has $300 billion dollar because they took off all the sanctions that I had Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different uh spheres of Terror and they are spheres of Terror horrible Terror they had no money it was a big story and you know it you covered it very well actually they had no money for Terror they were broke now they're a rich nation and now what they're doing is they're spreading that money around look at what's happening with the houis and Yemen look at what's going on in the Middle East this would have never happened I will get that settled and fast and I'll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended if I'm president-elect I'll get it done before even becoming president vice president Harris he says you hate Israel that's absolutely not true I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people he knows that he's trying to again divide and and distract from the reality which is it is is very well known that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on National Security and foreign policy it is well known that he admires dictators wants to be a dictator on day one according to himself it is well known that he said of Putin that he can do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine it is well known that he said when Russia went into Ukraine it was brilliant it is is well known he exchanged love letters with Kim Jong-un and it is absolutely welln that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they're so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favors and that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace that is why we understand that we have to have a president who is not consistently weak and wrong on National Security including the importance of upholding and respecting in highest regard our military vice president Harris thank you they're the ones and she's the one that caused it that's weak on National Security by allowing Every Nation last month for the year 168 different countries sending people into our country their crime weights are way down Putin endorsed her last week said I hope she wins and I think he meant it because what he's gotten away with is absolutely incredible it wouldn't have happened with me the leaders of other countries think that they're weak and incompetent and they are they're grossly incompetent and I just ask one question why does Biden go in and kill the Keystone Pipeline and approve the single biggest deal that Russia's ever made nordstream 2 the biggest pipeline anywhere in the world going to Germany and all over Europe because they're weak and they're ineffective and Biden by the way gets paid a lot of money thank you we have a lot of issues to get to we'll be right back with much more of this historic ABC News presidential debate from the national Constitution Center right here in Philadelphia back in a moment the ABC News presidential debate will continue after this they tried to kick Trump off your B they even tried to end his campaign and take him out for good but president Trump will never stop fighting and neither can you get out and vote for president Trump this year Wix gives you the freedom to tell your story [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] top story Live from Paris live in Tel Aviv we are here in Butler Pennsylvania every week night it's your news playlist top story with Tom yamas streaming week nights at 7 on NBC news now we're back with tonight's debate between KLA Harris and Donald Trump when it ends in just a few minutes join us for an analysis of tonight's key moments our team will break down how it could shake up the final Sprint to election day for now though let's go back to the debate live in Philadelphia live from the national Constitution Center in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Here Again David new and Lindsey Davis welcome back to this historic ABC News presidential debate tonight we're going to continue here and I want to turn to the war in Ukraine we're now two and a half years uh into this conflict Mr President it has been the position of the Biden Administration that we must defend Ukraine from Russia from Vladimir Putin to defend their sovereignty their democracy that it's an American America's best interest to do so arguing that if Putin wins he may be embolden to move even further into other countries you have said you would solve this war in 24 hours you said so just before the break tonight how exactly would you do that and I want to ask you a very simple question tonight do you want Ukraine to win this War I want the war to stop I want to save lives that are being uselessly people being killed by the millions it's the millions it's so much worse than the numbers that you're getting which are fake numbers look we're in for 250 billion or more because they don't ask Europe which is a much bigger beneficiary to getting this thing done than we are they're in for $150 billion doll less because Biden and you don't have the courage to ask Europe like I did with NATO they paid billions and billions hundreds of billions of dollars when I said either you pay up or we're not going to protect you anymore so that's maybe one of the reasons I don't like me as much as they like weak people but you take a look at what's happening we're in for 250 to 275 billion they're into 100 to 150 they should be forced to equalize with that being said I want to get the War settled I know zalinski very well and I know Putin very well I have a good relationship and they respect your president okay they respect me they don't respect Biden how would you respect him why for what reason he hasn't even made a phone call in two years to Putin hasn't spoken to anybody they don't even try and get it that is a war that's dying to be settled I will get it settled before I even become president if I win when I'm president-elect and what I'll do is I'll speak to one I'll speak to the other I'll get them together that war would have never happened and in fact when I saw Putin after I left unfortunately left because our our country has gone to hell but after I left when I saw him building up soldiers he did it after I left I said oh he must be negotiating it must be a good strong point of negotiation well it wasn't because Biden had no idea how to talk to him he had no idea how to stop it and now you have millions of people dead and it's only getting worse and it could lead to World War I don't kid yourself David we're playing with World War III and we have a president that we don't even know if he's where is our president we don't even know if he's a president and just to clarify they threw him out of a campaign like a dog we don't even know is he our president but we have a president that doesn't know he's alive your time is up and it would just to clarifying the question do you believe it's in the US best interest for Ukraine to win this war yes or no I think it's the US best interest to get this war finished and just get it done negotiate a deal because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed I want to take this to vice president Harris I want to get your thoughts on support for Ukraine in this moment but also so as commander-in-chief if elected how would you deal with Vladimir Putin and would it be any different from what we're seeing from President Biden well first of all it's important to remind the former president you're not running against Joe Biden you're running against me I believe the reason that Donald Trump says that this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up and that's not who we are as Americans let's understand what happened here um I actually met with zinsky a few days before Russia invaded tried through Force to change territorial boundaries to defy one of the most important International rules and Norms which is the importance of sovereignty and territorial integrity and I met with President zansky I shared with him American intelligence about how he could defend himself days later I went to NATO's Eastern flank to Poland and Romania and through the work that I and others did we brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defense and because of our support because of the air defense the ammunition the artillery the javelins the Abrams tanks that we have provided Ukraine stands as an independent and free country if Donald Trump were President Putin would be sitting in keev right now and understand what that would mean because Putin's agenda is not just about Ukraine understand why the European allies and our NATO allies are so thankful that you are no longer president and that we understand the importance of the greatest military Alliance the world has ever known which is NATO and what we have done to preserve the ability of zalinski and the ukrainians to fight for their independence otherwise Putin would be sitting in keev with his eyes on the rest of Europe starting with Poland and why don't you tell the 800,000 polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch vice president Harris thank you we've heard from both of you on Ukraine tonight Afghanistan came up in the last hour I I wanted her to respond to something you said earlier and I please I'll I'll give you a minute here Putin would be sitting in Moscow and he wouldn't have lost 300,000 men and women but he would have been sitting in Moscow quiet please he would have been sitting in Moscow much happier than he is right now but eventually you know he's got a thing that other people don't have he's got nuclear weapons they don't ever talk about that he got nuclear weapons nobody ever thinks about that and eventually uh maybe he'll use him and maybe hasn't been that threatening but he does have that something we don't even like to talk about nobody likes to talk about it but just so you understand they sent her to negotiate iate peace before this war started 3 days later he went in and he started the war because everything they said was weak and stupid they said the wrong things that war should have never started she was the Emissary they sent her in to negotiate with zalinski and Putin and she did and the war started three days later and that's the kind of talent we have with her she's worse than Biden in my opinion I think he's the worst president in the history of our country she goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country but let me tell you something she is a horrible negotiator they sent her in to negotiate as soon as they left Putin did The Invasion president Trump thank you you did bring up something you said she went to negotiate with Vladimir Putin vice president Harris have you ever met Vladimir Putin can you clarify tonight yet again I said it at the beginning of this debate you're going to hear a bunch of Lies coming from this fellow and that is another one when I went to meet with President zeni I've now met with him over five times the reality is it has been about standing as America always should as a leader upholding International rules and Norms as a leader who shows strength understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on our ability to look out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strong men instead of caring about democracy and that is very much what is at stake here the president of the United States is commanderin-chief and the American people have a right to rely on a president who understands the significance of America's role and responsibility in terms of ensuring that there is stability and ensuring we stand up for our principles and not sell them for the for the benefit of personal flattery we've talked about Ukraine and Vladimir Putin I do want to talk about Afghanistan it came up in in the first hour of this debate I I wanted to move on to Afghanistan Stenberg said Trump did the most amazing thing I've ever seen he got these countries the 28 countries at the time to pay up he said I've never seen he's the head of NATO he said I've never seen for years we were paying almost all of NATO we were being ripped off by European nations both on trade and on NATO I got them to pay up by saying one of the statements you made before if you don't pay we're not going to protect you otherwise we would have never gotten it he said it was one of the most incredible jobs that he's ever seen done thank you I want to turn to Afghanistan it came up in the first hour of the debate and we witnessed a a poignant moment today on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan I do want to ask the vice president uh do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out well I will tell you I agreed with President Biden's decision to pull out of Afghanistan for presidents said they would and Joe Biden did and as a result America's taxpayers are not paying the $300 million a day we were paying for that endless war and as of today there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world the first time this Century but let's understand how we got to where we are Donald Trump when he was president negoti ated one of the weakest deals you can imagine he calls himself a dealmaker even his National Security advisor said it was a weak terrible deal and here's how it went down he bypassed the Afghan government he negotiated directly with a terrorist organization called the Taliban the negotiation involved the Taliban getting 5,000 terrorist Taliban terrorists released and get this no get this and the president at the time invited the Taliban to Camp David a place of stored significance for us as Americans a place where we honor the importance of American diplomacy where we invite and receive respected world leaders and this former president as president invited them to Camp David because he does not again appreciate the role and responsibility of the president of the United States to be commanderin-chief with a level of respect and this gets back to the point of how he has consistently disparaged and demeaned members of our military fallen soldiers and the work that we must do to uphold the strength and the respect of the United States of America around the world vice president Harris thank you president Trump your response to her saying that you began the negotiations with the Taliban so if you take a look at that period of time the Taliban was killing our soldiers a lot of them with snipers and I got involved with the Taliban because the Taliban was doing the killing that's the Fighting Force within Afghanistan they don't bother doing that because you know they deal with the wrong people all the time but I got involved and Abdul is the head of the Taliban he is still the head of the Taliban and I told Abdul don't do it anymore you do it anymore you're going to have problems and he said why do you send me a picture of my house I said you're going to have to figure that out Abdul and for 18 months we had nobody killed we did have an agreement negotiated by Mike Pompeo it was a very good agreement the reason it was good it was we were getting out we would have been out faster than them but we wouldn't have lost the soldiers we wouldn't have left many Americans behind and we wouldn't have left we wouldn't have left $85 billion worth of brand new beautiful military equipment behind and just a to finish they blew it the agreement said you have to do this this this this this and they didn't do it they didn't do it the agreement was was terminated by us because they didn't do what they were supposed to do and these people did the worst withdrawal and in my opinion the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country and by the way that's why Russia attacked Ukraine because they saw how incompetent she and her boss are President Trump thank you I want to move on now to race and politics in this country Mr President you recently said a vice president Harris quote I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black I want to ask a bigger picture question here tonight why do you believe it's appropriate to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent I don't and I don't care I don't care what she is I don't care uh you make a big deal out of something I couldn't care less whatever she wants to be is okay with me but those were your words so I'm ask I don't know I don't know I mean all I can say is I read where she was not black that she put out and I'll say that and then I read that she was black and that's okay either one was okay with me that's up to her that's up to her vice president Harris your thoughts on this I think it's I mean honestly I think it's a a a tragedy that we have um someone who wants to be president president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people you know I do believe that the vast majority of us know that we have so much more in common than what separates us and we don't want this kind of approach that is just constantly trying to divide us and especially by race and let's remember how Donald Trump started he was a a a a land he owned land he owned buildings and he he was investigated because he refused to rent property to black families let's remember this is the same individual who took out a full page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five young black and Latino boys who were innocent the Central Park 5 took out a full page ad calling for their execution this is the same individual ual who spread bir or lies about the first black president of the United States and I think the American people want better than that want better than this want someone who understands as I do I travel our country we see in each other a friend we see in each other a neighbor we don't want a leader who is constantly trying to have Americans Point their fingers at each each other I meet with people all the time who tell me can we please just have discourse about how we're going to invest in the aspirations and the Ambitions and the dreams of the American people knowing that regardless of people's color or the language their grandmother speaks we all have the same dreams and aspirations and Want a President Who invests in those not in hate and division vice president Harris thank you Lindsay president Trump this is now your third time this is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country there's never been anything like it they're destroying our country and they come up with things like what she just said going back many many years when a lot of people including May Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park 5 they admitted they said they plead guilty and I said well if they pled guilty they'd badly hurt a person killed a person ultimately and if they plad guilty then they plad were not guilty but this is a person that has to stretch back years 40 50 years ago because there's nothing now I built one of the greatest economies in the history of the world and I'm going to build it again it's going to be bigger better and stronger but they're destroying our economy they have no idea what a good economy is they oil policies every single policy and remember this she is Biden you know she's trying to get get away from Biden I don't know the gentleman she says she is Biden the worst inflation we've ever had a horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can't get away with that thank you your time is up I want to respond to that though I want to just respond briefly clearly I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump and what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country one who believes in what is possible one who brings a sense of optimism about what we can do instead of always disparaging the American people I believe in what we can do to strengthen our small businesses which is why I have a plan let's talk about our plans and and let's compare the plans I have a plan to give startup businesses $50,000 tax deduction to pursue their Ambitions their Innovation their ideas their hard work I have a plan $6,000 for young families for the first year of your child's life to help you in that most critical stage of your child's development I have a plan that is about allowing people to be able to pursue what has been fleeting in terms of the American dream by offering a help with down payment of $25,000 down payment assistance for firsttime home buyers that's the kind of conversation I believe David that people really want tonight as opposed to a conversation that is constantly about belittling and name calling let's turn the page president haris thank you let's turn to Poli let's turn move on President Trump country let's turn to policy please has a plan to defund the police she has a plan to confiscate everybody's gun has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else that's what her plan is until just recent I just need to resp the former president has said something twice that I need to respond I'm sorry we're going we're going to move on vice president president Trump this is now your third time running for president you have long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare you have failed to accomplish that you now say you're going to keep Obamacare quote unless we can do something much better last month you said quote we're working on it so tonight 9 years after you first started running do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is Obamacare was lousy Health Care always was it's not very good today and what I said that if we come up with something and we are working on things we're going to do it and we're going to replace it but remember this I inherited Obamacare because Democrats wouldn't change it they wouldn't vote for it they were unanimous they wouldn't vote to change it if they would have done that we would have had a much better plan than Obamacare but the Democrats came up they wouldn't vote for it I had a choice to make when I was President do I save it and make it as good as it can be never going to be great or do I let it rot and I felt I had an obligation even though politically it would have been good to just let it rot and let it go away I decided and I told my people the top people and they're very good people I have a lot of good people in this that Administration we read about the bad ones we had some real bad ones too and so do they they have really bad ones the difference is they don't get rid of them but let me just explain I had a choice to make do I save it and make it as good as it can be or do I let it rot and I saved it I did the right thing but it's still never going to be great and it's too expensive for people and what we will do is we're looking at different plans if we can come up with a plan that's going to cost our people our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare then I would absolutely do it but until then I'd run it as good as it can be run so just yes or no you still do not have a plan I have concepts of a plan I'm not president right now but if we come up with something I would only change it if we come up with something that's better and less expensive and there are Concepts and options we we have to do that and you'll be hearing about it in the not too distant future vice president Harris in 2017 you supported Bernie Sanders proposal to do away with private insurance and create a government-run Health Care system two years later you proposed a plan that included a private insurance option what is your plan today well first of all I absolutely support and over the last four years as vice president private healthc care options but what we need to do is maintain and grow the Affordable Care Act but I I I'll get to that Lindsay I just need to respond to a previous point that the former president has made I've made very clear my position on fracking and then this business about taking everyone's guns away Tim Walls and I are both gun owners we're not taking anybody's guns away so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff as it relates to the Affordable Care Act understand let just look at the history to know where people stand when Donald Trump was President 60 times he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act 60 times I was a Senator at the time when I will never forget the early morning hours when it was up for a vote in the United State Senate and the late great John McCain who you have disparaged as being you don't like him you said at the time because he got caught he was an American hero the late great John McCain I will never forget that night walked onto the senate floor and said no you don't no you don't no you don't get rid of the Affordable Care Act you have no plan and what the Affordable Care Act has done is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing conditions I don't have to tell the people watching tonight you're remember what that was like remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma if someone was a breast cancer survivor if a if a grandparent had diabetes and thankfully as I've been vice president and we over the last four years have strengthened the Affordable Care Act we have allowed for the first time Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of you the American people Donald Trump said he was going to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices he never did we did and now we have capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month since I've been Vice President we have capped the cost of prescription medication for seniors at $2,000 a year and when I am President we will do that for all people understanding that the value I bring to this is that access to health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it and the plan has to be to strengthen the Affordable Care Act not get rid of it in terms of where Donald Trump stands on that I want to move to an issue that's important for a lot made a mistake at number one John McCain fought Obamacare for 10 years but it wasn't only him it were all of the Democrats that kept it going and you know what we can do much better than Obamacare much less money but she won't improve private insurance for people private medical insurance that's another thing she doesn't want to get people are paying privately for insurance that have worked hard and made money and they want to have private she wants everybody to be on government insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need immediately president Trump thank you we have another issue that we'd like to get to that's important for a number of Americans in particular younger voters and that's climate change president Trump with regard to the environment you say that we have to have clean air and clean water vice president Harris you call climate change an existential threat the question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change and vice president Harris we'll start with you one minute for you each well the former president had said the climate change is a hoax and what we know is that it is very real you ask anyone who lives in a state who has experienced these extreme weather occurrences who now is either being denied home insurance or it's being jacked up you ask anybody who has been um the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home having nowhere to go we know that we can actually deal with this issue the young people of America care deeply about this issue and I am proud that as vice president over the last four years we have invested a trillion dollars in a clean energy economy while we have also increased domestic gas production to Historic levels we have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been Vice President we have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening up factories around the world Donald Trump said he was was going to create manufacturing jobs he lost manufacturing jobs and I'm also proud to have the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and Shan feain who also know that part of building a clean energy economy includes investing in American made products American automobiles it includes growing what we can do around American manufacturing and opening up Auto plants not closing them like happened under Donald Trump vice president Harris thank you that didn't happen under Donald Trump let me just tell you they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month it's going they're all leaving uh they building big Auto plants in Mexico in many cases owned by China they're building these massive plants and they think they're going to sell their cars into the United States because of these people what they have given to China is unbelievable but we're not going to let that we'll put tariffs on those cars so they can't come into our country because they will kill the United Auto workers and any aut worker whether it's in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place what they've done to business and Manufacturing in this country is horrible we have nothing because they they refuse you know Biden doesn't go after people because supposedly China paid a millions of dollars he's afraid to do it between him and his son they get all this money from Ukraine they get all this money from all of these different countries and then you wonder why is he so loyal to this one that one you Ukraine China why is he why did he get $3.5 million from the mayor of moscow's wife why did he get why did she pay him $3.5 million this is a crooked Administration and they're selling our country down the tubes president Trump thank you thank you we'll be right back with closing statements from both of our candidates in historic night this ABC News presidential debate from Philadelphia back in a moment [Music] the ABC News presidential debate will continue after this Z you can stream local news sports and events from all over the country Z always local always free [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now is raw how hard is it to see it like this our house is no longer here but we are here now is real let's break down what we know and then the big question is still outstanding news for the generation of now is NBC news now we're back with tonight's debate between kamla Harris and Donald Trump and when it ends please join us for analysis of tonight's key moments our team will break it down as we enter the final Sprint to election day we'll go back to the debate and closing statements live from the national Constitution Center in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Here Again David mure and Lindsey Davis welcome back tonight the time has come for closing statements and vice president Harris we begin with you so I think you've heard tonight two very different Visions for our country one that is focused on the future and the other that is focused on the past and an attempt to take us backward but we're not going back and I do believe that the American people know we all have so much more in common than what separates us and we can chart a new way forward and a vision of that includes having a plan understanding the aspiration ations the dreams the hopes the ambition of the American people which is why I intend to create an opportunity economy investing in small businesses in new families in what we can do around protecting seniors what we can do that is about giving hardworking folks a break and bringing down the cost of living I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America's standing in the world and ensuring that we have the respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world I will be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms including the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do I'll tell you I started my career as a prosecutor I was a DA I was an attorney general a United States Senator and now Vice President I've only had one client the people and I'll tell you as a prosecutor I never asked a victim or a witness are you a Republican or a Democrat the only thing I ever asked them are you okay and that's the kind of President we need right now someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first I intend to be a president for all Americans and focus on what we can do over the next 10 and 20 years to build back up our country by investing right now in you the American people vice president Harris thank you president Trump so she just started by saying she's going to do this she's going to do that she's going to do all these wonderful things why hasn't she done it she's been there for three and A2 years they've had three and A2 years to fix the Border they've had three and A2 years to create jobs and all the things we talked about why hasn't she done it she should leave right now go down to that beautiful white house go to the capital get everyone together and do the things you want to do but you haven't done it and you won't do it because you believe in things that the American people don't believe in you believe in things like we're not going to Frack we're not going to take fossil fuel we're not going to do things that are going to make this country strong whether you like it or not Germany tried that and within one year they were back to building normal energy plants we're not ready for we can't sacrifice our country for the sake of bad Vision but I just ask one simple question why didn't she do it we're a failing Nation We're a nation that's in serious decline we're being laughed at all over the world all over the world they're left I know the leaders very well they're coming to see me they call me we're laughed at all over the world they don't understand what happened to us as a nation we're not a leader we don't have any idea what's going on on we have wars going on in the Middle East we have wars going on with Russia and Ukraine we're going to end up in a third world war and it'll be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons the power of Weaponry I rebuilt our entire military she gave a lot of it away to the Taliban she gave it to Afghanistan what these people have done to our country and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country country many of them are criminals and they're destroying our country the worst president the worst vice president in the history of our country president Trump thank you and that is our ABC News presidential debate from here in Philadelphia at the national Constitution Center I'm lindsy Davis and I'm David mure thank you for watching here in the US and all over the world and from all of us here at ABC News good night you and welcome back to NBC news coverage of the debate pick your adjective um I would go with fiery to begin but it goes from there both the candidates You could argue executing on their strategy going in for keris that was to get under the former president's skin which she did quite often for the former president his his option was of course to go after the economy after Afghanistan the the administration's position on the withdrawal in Afghanistan and uh and immigration of course um this is exactly what they wanted the question is how they got there and along the way I think well people are going to be talking about this debate for a long time and is this the final debate is this the only one we're going to see will there be another well it depends on how each candidate feels they did tonight let's bring back our moderator Meet the Press Christen Welker our senior Washington correspondent Hy Jackson boy do we have a lot to Che over here I mean let's talk about first of all it does seem that kamla Harris was trying to hit every trigger point she could think of to try to get Donald Trump to respond to her and uh and to kind of fall in to bait him into that trap do you think it was effective well let's just name a few abortion January 6th his former officials who are now critical of him John McCain which is a big trigger point one rally size rally size one of the biggest ones that gets under his skin one of his allies said she trly clearly tried to get under his skin he's being defensive way too much he's losing his answers for example instead of bordar we had eating pets of course that theory that Springfield officials in Ohio are saying there's no proof that undocumented immigrants are eating pets something that we've heard from uh Trump and and his campaign and I think that allies are expressing concern about the fact that he didn't do what they were hoping he would do which is to stay on message to talk about his strength there were some unanswered questions as well it's worth noting out on both sides Harris never answered uh whether you're better off than you were four years ago she also didn't say what she would have done differently on immigration Trump by the way didn't answer the critical question would he veto a National Abortion ban if it came to his death I asked JD Vans if Trump would do that he said yes he would Trump said tonight well he didn't check with me before saying that so some differences there again how does this play with those swing voters what are Republicans saying tonight that you you're monitoring I think there's immense frustration on the part of those uh allied with Donald Trump about the moderators that is something that you some here after debates I think that is certainly a through line here there is some frustration I think from spoke with one Republican who called former president Trump wild and uncontrolled and said that the vice president was successfully pushing him his buttons and getting him him angry another Ally said listen she is doing what they thought you would do avoiding the issues and going on attack against former president Trump she did that as you have laid out she baited him again and again we talk about substance and style being the two kind of buckets in any debate if that's the style you look at substance here she was pressed on her shift away from some of those more Progressive positions in that crowded primary she says my values haven't changed and it wasn't just of course the issue of abortion access and whether