The US presidential candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, are facing off in a debate hosted by ABC in Philadelphia
Final preparations for the ABC News Presidential Debate at the Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 9, 2024. © Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The two main US presidential candidates, Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, are facing off in their first – but this election campaign’s second – TV debate, hosted by ABC in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Trump easily won his party’s primaries to seek a rematch of the 2020 contest with Joe Biden, only to see the Democrats force Biden to drop out of the race just weeks after their June 27 debate on CNN. The Democratic Party then acclaimed Harris, Biden’s vice president, as their chosen candidate.
The debate is being held under the rules demanded by Biden’s campaign. This includes no studio audience and no interruptions, which Harris tried to change without success.
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11 September 2024
01:44 GMT
Trump has slammed the Democrats’ border policies, claiming that immigrants are “taking over the towns… they’re going in violently.” He also referred to a bizarre rumor that Haitian migrants have been murdering and eating pet cats in Ohio, which previously embroiled his vice presidential candidate, J.D. Vance, in controversy.
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Americans claim immigrants eating cats”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, and it’s a shame,” the former president said.
The moderator said that ABC News reached out to the city manager, who insisted there have been «no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
People who were allowed to enter our country are EATING PETS in Springfield — Trump#TheABCNewsPresidentialDebatepic.twitter.com/QcLkkaopYP
— RT (@RT_com) September 11, 2024
- 01:30 GMT
Harris did not answer why the Biden administration kept some Trump-era tariffs in place, but instead has blasted Trump’s policy on China, suggesting that his administration allowed the sale of microchips to China, allowing Beijing to boost its military.
She also claimed that Trump “thanked” President Xi Jinping for the approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, despite allegedly knowing “that Xi was responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of Covid.”
Portraying Harris as “Marxist,” Trump responded by saying that the US hardly makes its own chips, mostly due to the policies of the Democratic administration.
- 01:19 GMT
In his rebuttal, Trump accused the current US government of failing to rein in inflation.
“Look, we’ve had a terrible economy because inflation… 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,” he said.
“She doesn’t have a plan,” Trump stated. “She copied Biden’s plan. And it’s like four sentences like ‘Run, Spot, Run’ for 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.”
- 01:10 GMT
The first question is about the economy and whether Harris believes that “Americans are better off than they were four years ago?”
The Vice President said she was “raised as a middle class kid” and thus is “the only person on this stage who has a plan” about lifting up the working class.
“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,” Harris said.
To achieve that, she said she plans to make housing more affordable, expand the child tax credit and put in place tax deductions for start-up small businesses. She also said that the Biden administration had to “clean up Donald Trump’s mess” after the Republican’s term in office.
- 01:00 GMT
Harris and Trump have walked onto the debate stage and shook hands. The event is expected to last around 90 minutes. According to the rules, candidates are not allowed to make opening statements, bring prewritten notes, or ask questions of each other.
- 00:58 GMT
The Harris debate team has prepared her to counter Trump’s most popular lines of attack, including those targeting Biden administration policies on border security and the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, CNN reported, citing sources. According to the network, Harris’s aides expect the candidate to portray Trump as “unserious” and to launch her own counterattacks targeting her rival’s record as president, rather than take the bait. Regarding immigration, CNN sources suggested that the Democrat “has more than enough in terms of making the case” on this topic.
- 00:46 GMT
ABC producers could potentially unmute the microphones of both candidates if something “really newsworthy” or “editorially significant happens,” according to CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter. He noted, however, that no agreements have been made with Harris and Trump’s teams to change the rules.
- 00:28 GMT
Ahead of the debate, Rick Klein, ABC’s political director, indicated that the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, are “not making a commitment to fact-check everything or to fact-check nothing in either direction.”
He told the New York Times that the moderators intend “to keep a conversation going and to facilitate a good solid debate.”
“That entails a lot in terms of asking questions, moving the conversation along, and ensuring that it’s civilized,” Klein added.
- 00:12 GMT
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran unsuccessfully against Trump in the 2016 election, assisted Harris in developing a debate strategy, NBC News has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Clinton allegedly advised Harris to resist any attempts by Trump to “bait” her and to try and turn those provocations back on him.
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10 September 2024
23:24 GMT
Former First Lady Melania Trump has called for answers to “uncover the truth” behind the attempted assassination of her husband in a short video clip posted on X (formerly Twitter) ahead of the debate on Tuesday.
“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience. Now, the silence around it feels heavy. I can’t help but wonder: Why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” she said. “There is definitely more to this story and we need to uncover the truth.”
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