PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania — Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris engaged in a heated debate Tuesday night on abortion, immigration, Israel, the economy and a range of other issues, but Trump also sparred with ABC News hosts who were quick to challenge and “fact-check” the 45th president without addressing Harris' numerous distortions.
Trump and Harris held their first and likely only debate of the 2024 general election cycle on Tuesday night at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in a highly anticipated 90-minute showdown in which the two exchanged sharp rebukes and repeatedly accused each other of lying.
The two met for the first time on the debate stage on Tuesday night, with the Vice President introducing herself to Harris as “Kamala Harris” as they shook hands, and making it his priority to rile up Harris throughout the debate.
The debate began with questions from ABC News' David Muir and Lindsey Davis, who continued to challenge Trump throughout the debate.
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Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of the ABC News presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris (Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of the ABC News presidential debate)
“That was the best debate I've ever had, especially with it being three to one,” Trump told Fox News Digital shortly after the debate finished.
The hosts began talking about the economy, first asking the Vice President, “Are Americans better off than they were four years ago?”
Harris did not directly answer the question. Inflation has risen under the Biden-Harris administration.
Instead, Harris falsely claimed Trump wanted to institute a “sales tax” on everyday items, a claim Trump denied as a “false statement.”
The hosts echoed this, suggesting that President Trump's plans to impose tariffs on other countries would mean passing on higher costs to consumers.
But Trump fired back, pointing to high inflation rates under the Biden-Harris administration, calling them “the worst in American history” and boasting about record economic growth under his administration.
Trump also criticized Harris for not having a clear policy agenda, saying her past record and “everything she believed in three or four years ago has gone to waste.”
“She's on board with my philosophy now,” he said. “In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat.”
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Donald Trump has claimed that Israel could disappear under a President Harris administration. (Associated Press)
Trump has accused Harris of being a “Marxist” and said that if she was elected policy would “change” and “it would be the end of our country.”
Trump accused Harris of not having an economic plan, particularly one to combat rising inflation.
“She copied Biden's plan, and it's like four sentences: 'Run, run, run,' just trying to lower taxes,” Trump said. “She has no plan.”
Harris hit back, saying Trump had “no plan for you” and instead offered Americans an “economy of opportunity.”
Trump then turned to the issue of border security and illegal immigration into the US, calling the Biden-Harris administration's policies a “disaster” for a country with record numbers of illegal immigrants.
Trump suggested these policies have “destroyed our country” and said he has “policies that make you 'hate our country.'”
Migrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in Lukeville, Arizona, on Dec. 7, 2023. Jesus Enrique Ramirez Cabrera entered the country illegally through Arizona in December 2023, was arrested and released into the United States, according to federal sources. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
President Trump also slammed Harris for her role in the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021. He blamed Harris and President Biden for “13 people who were brutally and violently murdered.” President Trump said he “got to know the parents and the family.”
Trump said the withdrawal, under Biden and Harris' leadership, was “the most incompetent response I've ever seen.”
Harris then jumped on the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, claiming that Trump “is going to execute” what she called a “detailed and dangerous plan.”
President Trump has repeatedly denied any involvement with the plan, and on Tuesday insisted he had “nothing to do with Project 2025.”
But Trump has once again shifted his focus to illegal immigration, with allegations circulating that immigrants were eating pets in an Ohio town.
“In Springfield, they're eating dogs, they're eating the people who come there, they're eating cats, they're eating the pets of the people who live there,” Trump said, but throughout the debate the moderators seemed to try to fact-check him, which he pushed back against.
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But when challenged by the presenter, Trump stood his ground, saying, “People are on TV saying, 'My dog was taken and eaten.'”
Regarding abortion, Harris claimed that Trump would enact a nationwide ban on abortion with no exceptions, despite Trump having previously said that there should be exceptions to abortion in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother.
President Trump has repeatedly said he would not sign a nationwide abortion ban and has praised the Supreme Court for overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision and sending the issue back to states.
In his rebuttal, Trump said he does not support a nationwide abortion ban, adding that Harris' comments were a “total lie.”
“When it comes to banning abortion, I'm not in favor of it, but that doesn't matter, because that issue is now up to the states,” Trump said.
Despite President Trump having said he would not support a nationwide abortion ban, the ABC host pressed him on whether he would veto any anti-abortion legislation.
When asked, Harris also declined to say whether she would support restricting abortion up until birth.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris debated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. (Getty)
Harris then falsely claimed that if Trump were elected, abortion would be banned nationwide and there would be “monitors to monitor pregnancies and miscarriages.”
Harris challenged Trump throughout Tuesday night's debate, including by claiming that people left Trump's large rallies before they were over, blasting his legal challenges and referencing the late Sen. John McCain and the events of January 6.
Regarding January 6, Harris accused Trump of inciting a “violent mob.”
But Trump stressed that he had urged protesters to demonstrate “peacefully and patriotically,” and blamed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser for ignoring his offer to send in 10,000 National Guard troops. Trump said Pelosi was “responsible” for what happened on January 6.
After the debate, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Harris' surrogate, claimed to Fox News Digital that tonight had been a bad one. [Trump] “I know that. He was easily manipulated, because it's easy to manipulate. His performance was the weakest of any presidential candidate I've ever seen.”
Senator Tom Cotton, a surrogate for Trump, stressed that “tonight, many voters will be reminded that things were good under Donald Trump, but not so good under Kamala Harris, and they will want to go back to the good times when President Trump was in office and honestly forget about the last four years of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
Cotton also alleged that the moderators were biased in favor of Harris.
“The hosts were asking biased questions and especially the so-called fact-checking, but where was the fact-checking on Kamala Harris and all the lies she told,” he charged.
Biden's disastrous debate defeat to Trump sparked doubts about whether he had the physical and mental strength to serve in the White House for another four years and prompted calls from within his party for the 81-year-old president to not seek a second term. Amid growing pressure from Democrats, Biden made a dramatic announcement on July 21 that he was ending his reelection campaign and endorsing his vice president.
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Democrats quickly rallied around Harris, who enjoyed a surge in her approval ratings and fundraising in late July and August, but Republicans say Americans' enthusiasm for her is waning.
Harris spent five days from Thursday through Monday holed up in a hotel in Pittsburgh for an intensive “debate camp” that included numerous mock debates. She arrived in Philadelphia the night before the debate.
Trump spent much of the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, participating in private “policy sessions” with aides and allies, but he also headlined a campaign rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin on Saturday.
Trump met with advisers at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, before flying to Philadelphia just hours before the debate began.
“Mr. Trump's experience with unscripted press conferences and interviews during his campaign means he's well-equipped to handle a variety of styles,” Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told reporters on the eve of the debate.
Former President Trump said Democrats are “extremist” on abortion. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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The former president and his allies have repeatedly criticized Harris for weeks for giving just one interview and not holding a press conference since replacing Biden as Democratic leader, and on the eve of the debate, the Trump campaign announced that Harris would hold another press conference on Friday in Los Angeles.
With the debate over, Harris will quickly return to the campaign trail, starting with two rallies in North Carolina on Thursday and making stops in several key battleground states.
“This is certainly a pivotal moment in the campaign, but it's a fleeting moment,” Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist and presidential campaign veteran, told Fox News Digital ahead of the debate. “It was within the margin of error going into the debate and it will be that way after.”
Trump will also soon be back on the campaign trail, with a stop in the battleground state of Arizona on Thursday.
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