Former US President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris faced off in their first debate of the 2024 election on Tuesday.
The debate, which aired on ABC News, was moderated by “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir and “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis.
The two candidates shook hands as they walked onto the stage, with Harris moving to Trump's side of the stage to initiate the handshake.
Harris, asked whether Americans are better off financially than they were four years ago, highlighted her working-class roots and pointed to her plans to lift up everyday families through an "opportunity economy."
She mentioned policies to lower the cost of housing and support small businesses though she did not directly address the premise of the question.
Trump fired back and said, "She doesn’t have a plan. She got Biden’s plan, and it’s like four sentences."
Harris mocked Trump’s campaign rallies, saying, “I'm going to actually do something really unusual and I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies. He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about how windmills cause cancer. What you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.”
Trump repeated claims that new Haitian arrivals in US state Ohio were "eating the cats" of residents.
"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs -- the people that came in -- they're eating the cats, they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country," Trump said.
Trump blasted Harris and President Joe Biden for saying that he is a threat to democracy.
"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," Trump said, referring to the assassination attempt against him.
The former President said he was being sarcastic when he recently appeared to concede defeat in the 2020 election.
"Look, there's so much proof. All you have to do is look at it... I got almost 75 million votes, the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can't be beaten in the election," he said.
On the war in Gaza, Harris was asked how to break the stalemate on a hostage release deal and replied, “What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire immediately and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work, around the clock, on that.”
She added 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.”
On the war in Gaza, Harris was asked how to break the stalemate on a hostage release deal and replied, “What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire immediately and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work, around the clock, on that.”
“The one thing I will assure you always: I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran, and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution.”
Trump was asked how he would negotiate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas in order to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more civilians in Gaza.
“If I were President, it would’ve never started. If I were President, Russia would’ve never ever have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people. But when she mentions Israel…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 went to a sorority party,” he replied.
“She hates Israel,” Trump continued. “If she’s President, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now, and I’ve been pretty good with predictions and I hope I’m wrong about that one.”
“The whole place is going to get blown up. Arabs, Jewish people, Israel, Jewish people…Israel will be gone. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has 300 billion dollars because they took off all the sanctions that I had. They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they’re a rich nation and they’re spreading that money around. I will get that settled and fast, and I will get with the war with Ukraine and Russia ended."
Asked about Trump’s comment that she hates Israel, Harris said, “That is 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 distract from the reality, which is: It 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.”
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