VERIFY | Breaking down claims in Trump-Harris presidential debate

The first and maybe only presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump lived up to the hype a lot on the line for the candidates. 90 minutes of political drama that begin with a handshake and a brief introduction. The two rivals had never met before. It didn't take long though, for both candidates to attack each other as they work to sway those critical undecided voters that will determine this election. We verified there are many claims on the issues that matter most to voters. Let's start with the economy. Here's former President Donald Trump on inflation. We have inflation like very few people have ever seen before. Probably the worst in our nation's history. We were at 21% but that's being generous because many things are 50 60 70 80% higher than they were just a few years ago. While it's true, inflation has been worse under Biden than Trump. The former president is wrong to suggest it's the worst in our nation's history that came in 1917 under President Woodrow Wilson when inflation topped at 17.8% and while prices are higher than they were years ago, inflation has cooled to its lowest level since March 2021. So this Trump claim on record inflation is misleading. Next, let's take a look at Harris and her claim on unemployment. I would love to let's talk about what Donald Trump left us. Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression. Our source here is the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Under Trump unemployment skyrocketed to 14.8%. Thanks in large part to the pandemic. That was the highest rate since 1939. But at the time, Trump left office in January 2021 the official unemployment rate had fallen to 6.4%. So we can verify harris' claim here on the unemployment rate when Trump left office is false. Now let's turn to abortion 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 ok and that's not ok with me. It's true. Some democrats do support broad access to abortion regardless of gestational age but killing a baby after it's born known as infanticide is illegal across the United States. It's worth noting for the CDC, just 1% of abortions are performed after 21 weeks. So Trump's claim here is false. Here's Vice President Harris. Now on abortion bans understand if Donald Trump were to be real elected, he will sign a national abortion ban. 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. Trump has gone back and forth on supporting a ban as early as March. He suggested a 15 or 16 week ban would be something he'd consider when pressed last night on whether he'd commit to veto a ban. If it came to his desk, he did not answer yes or no. So this Harris claim is inconclusive. Let's turn now to another top issue for voters, immigration and border security. 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 our source. Here is us, customs and border protection. Migrant encounters at the border have reached record level under Biden CBP. Recorded over 8 million encounters at the US Mexico border since 2021 not the exaggerated total mentioned by Trump. And data show CBP has never recorded millions of migrant encounters a month monthly crossings peaked at over 300,000 in December 2023. So we can verify Trump's claim here on migrant crossings is false. Here's Kamala Harris on a bipartisan immigration bill that failed earlier this year. 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. This was Trump when that bill was being debated in Congress respectfully, they're blaming it. I said that's ok. Please blame it on me, please. Because they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill so we can verify Harris's claim on Trump killing the border bill is true. Let's turn to energy. Now, here's Vice President Harris on fracking. I made that very clear in 2020. I will not ban fracking. Let's listen to Vice President Harris back in 2020 Joe Biden will not ban fracking. That is a fact. The vice president never explicitly stated her own position in that debate in 2019. She told democratic voters quote, there's no question, I'm in favor of banning fracking. Although Harris now says she does not support banning fracking her claim on her position in 2020 is misleading. Let's go back to President Trump. 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 while it's true. Gas prices did go up under the Biden administration, the US ei A reports. The US is producing more oil. Now than ever before. So Trump's claim is misleading. Let's turn now to the issue of elections. Here's Trump, 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 for the federal election commission. Trump received more than 74 million votes in 2020. That's the highest number of votes for a Republican or a sitting president ever. Biden received more than 81 million votes winning that election the most votes ever cast for a US presidential candidate. So we can verify Trump's claim. Here is true. Here's Vice President Harris Donald Trump, the candidate has said in this election, there will be a bloodbath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Let's turn the page on this. This was Trump at a rally in March. If I get elected. Now, if I don't get elected, it's going to be a bloodbath for the whole, that's going to be the least of it. It's going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But Trump made that statement in reference to the auto industry and what would happen if his proposals aren't enacted. So Harris's claim here is misleading. And finally, the one claim that ignited social media about your pets 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. This all stems from a conspiracy theory claiming Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets. City leaders in Springfield, Ohio today, making clear there are no credible reports of this happening. So just to be crystal clear, this is false, immigrants are not eating your cats and dogs. That's it for now. But for more fact checks on this and a variety of other topics, you can head on over to our dedicated verify section on Khou 11 plus.