Transcripts For MSNBC Presidential Debate Harris v. Trump Hosted by ABC News 20240912

Media learning. Were trying. Were 60 second away from the president ial debate. It is hosted by Abc News, moderated by David Muir and lyndsey davis. The two candidates have never met Face To face and of course, the differences between them couldnt be more stark. If telected Donald Trump would be the oldest person ever inaugurated to the u. S. Presidency. He has spent the last few days threatening to imprison his political enemies. And being derided for just being plainly incoherent. Vice president Kamala Harris is a former prosecutor and u. S. Senator and attorney general. She has had lightning in a bottle. Running a short and highly energized campaign centered around supreme. We know the stakes could not be higher. Everybody says that in every version of a president ial race but this year we know deeply in our guts that that is true. Here now is the president ial debate. Good evening im David Muir and thank you for joining us tonight for Abc East President ial debate. We want to welcome everyone watching Around The World. Vice president Kamala Harris and former cePresident Trump ar minutes away from taking the stage. Tonight could be the most consequential event. For Vice President Kamala Harris this is her first debate since President Biden stepped out. Since then this race has taken an entirely new dynamic. That brings us to the rules of tonights debate. 90 minutes with two commercial breaks. The candidates will have mtwo minutes to answer questions and this is the clock. What theyll be seeing, two minutes for rebuttals and one minute for follow up, clarifications. Their microphones will only be turned r on when they are allow to speak. No prewritten notes. 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 elected the podium to the right. So lets now welcome the candidates to the stage. Vice president Kamala Harris and Vice President Donald Trump. Kamala harris. Good debate. Have fun. Thank you. Welcome to you both. Its wonderful to have you. Its an honor to have you both here tonight. Good evening we are looking forward to a spirited and thoughtful debate. So lets 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 stare you better off than you were four years ago. When it comes to the economy, do you believe americans are better off than 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 hois 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 dthat is why i imagine and have actually a plan to build what i call an Opportunity Economy. Because heres the thing, we know that we have a shortage 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 start ups, small businesses. Knowing they to sare part of Th Backbone of americas economy. My opponent on the other hand, his plan is to do what hes done before. Which dis to provide a Tax Cut for billionaires and big corporations which will result in five trillion dollars to americas deficit. My opponent has Iva Plan that i call the trumps Sales Tax. Which would be a 20 tax on every day 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 in 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, ill give you two minutes. First of reall i have no sal tax. Thats an incorrect statement. She knows that. Were doing tariffs on other countries. Other countries are finally after 75 years pay us back for all that weve done for the world and the tariff will be substantial in wsome cases. I took in billions and billions of dollars as you know from china. In fact, they never took the tariff off. Because it r was so much money they cant. It would totally destroy everything theyre planning to do. Theyve taken in billions from china and other places they kept the tariff on. When i had it they had no tariffs and we had no inflation. We have a terrible economy because inflation, 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 worse in our nations history. We were at 21 but thats 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 theyre coming in and theyre taking jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and hispanics and also unions. Unions are going to be affected very soon. You see whats happening. You see whats happening with towns throughout the united states. You look at springfield, ohio. You look at aurora in colorado. They are taking over the towns. Theyre taking over buildings. Theyre going in violently. These are the people that she and biden let into our country and theyre destroying our country. Theyre dangerous, theyre at the highest level of criminality and we have to get them out. We have rto get them out fast. I created one of the greatest economy in the history of our country. Ill do it again and even better. We are going to get to immigration and Border Security during our debate. But i would like to let Vice President harris respond other the economy here. Lets talk about what Donald Trump left us. Donald trump left us the worse unemployment since the great depression. Donald trump left us the worse public Health Epidemic in a century. Donald trump left us the worse attack on our democracy, since the civil war. And what we have done is clean up Donald Trumps mess. What we have ddone and what i intend to do is build on what we know are the aspirations and the hopes of the american people. But im going to tell you all on this Debate Tonight youre going to hear from the same old tired Play Book A Bunch Of Lies, grievances, and name calling. What youre going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were effected again. I believe very strongly that the american people want a president who understands the importance of bringing us together knowing imthat we have more in common than what separates us. We will give you two minutes to respond. She knows yobetter than anyo i have nothing to do with project 2025. Thats out there, i havent read it. I dont want to read it purposefully. I dont want to read it. This is a group of people that came together, they came up with some ideas, hei guess some good, some bad. It makes no difference. I have nothing to do. Everybody knows im an open book. They know what im going to do. Cut taxes and create a great economy. We had a great economy and we got hit with a pandemic. The pandemic was not since 1917. We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic. 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 has ever seen anything like it. We made ventilators for the entire world. We got gown, we got masks, we did things that Nobody Thought potential and people give me credit for rebuilding the military. They give me credit for a lot of things but not enough credit for the job we did with the pandemic. But the only jobs they got were bounce back jobs. These were jobs bounce back 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 will let you icrespond. Donald trump has no plan for you. When you look at hahis economic plan its all about Tax Breaks for the richest people. I am offering what i describe as an Opportunity Economy and the best economist in our country if not the world have reviewed our relative plans for the future of america. What goldman sachs has said is that Donald Trumps plan would make the economy worse, mine would strengthen the economy. What the Warton School has said is Donald Trumps plan, would actually explode the deficit. 16 Noble Laureattes Ulhave described his plan as something that would scincrease inflation and by the middle of next year would invite a rescission. You just have to look as where we are and where we stand on the issues and i would invite you to know, 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. Thats just a Sound Bite they gave her that to say. I went to the Warton School of finance and many of those professors the top professors think my plan is a brilliant plan. Its a great plan. Its a plan thats going to bring up our worth, our value as a country. Its going to make people want to be able to go and work and create Jobs Wand create a lot good solid money for our country. Just to finish off, she doesnt have a plan. She copied Bidens Plan and its like lafour sentences. Like run spot run. Four sentences that its just, oh well try to lower taxes. She doesnt have a plan. I do want to drill down on something you both brought up. The Vice President brought up your tariffs you responded and lets 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 on foreign imports across the board. You imrecently said you may double your plan with tariffs up to 20 . With tariffs at that level costs are then passed on to the consumer. Vice president harris has argued it will make higher prices on gas, food, clothing, medication, arguing it costs the ditypical family nearly 4,000 a year. Do you believe americans can afford higher prices because of tariffs. Theyre not going to have higher prices. And whos going too much higher prices is china and all of the countries that have been ripping us off for years. I charge, i was the only President E ever, china was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars and so were other countries. If she doesnt like them they should have gone out and should have immediately cut the tariffs but the tariffs are there 31 2 years under their administration. Were going arto take in billio 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 ive never seen a worse period of time. People cant go out and buy Cereal Or Bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what theyve done. Theyve destroyed the economy. And all you have Atto Do Is Loo at a poll, the polls say, 80 and 85 and even 90 that the Trump Economy was great. That their economy hewas terrible. Vice president harris i do want to ask for your response. You heard what the president said there. The biden administration did keep a number of the trump tariffs in place. How would you describe. The trump tariffs have resulted in a trade deficit. He invited trade wars. You want to talk about his deal with china, what he ended up doing is under Donald Trumps 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 Americas Work Force so that we dont end up having on the short end of the stick in terms of workers rights. But what Donald Trump did lets talk about this with covid, is he actually thanked President Xi for what he did during covid. Look at his tweet, thank you president Xi Exclamation point when we know that xi was responsible for lacking and not giving us transparency about the origins of covid. First of awful they bought their chips from taiwan. We hardly make chips anymore because of philosophies like they have. And policies like they have. I dont say her because she has no policy. Everything that she believed three years ago and four years ago is out the window. Shes going to my philosophy now. I was going to send her a maga hat. Shes d gone to my philosophy. If she ever got elected she would change it and it will be The End of our country. Shes a marxist. Her father is a marxist professor. When you look at what shes done to our country and the millions of people pouring into our country monthly. I believe its 21 Million people not i the 15 that people say. I think its a lot higher than the 21 thats bigger than new York State pouring in. Just bilook at what theyre doi to our country. They are criminals. Many of these people coming in are criminals and thats bad for our economy too. You mentioned before, well talk about immigration later. Well bad immigration is the worse thing that can happen to our economy. They have and she has destroyed our country with policy thats insane. Almost policy that you say they have to hate our country. President trump. Thank you. Lyndsey. I want to turn to the issue of abortion. You tout that you were able to kill rowe v. Wade. You said your administration would be great for womens rights. You surprised people with the Abortion Ban because you said it was too short. You said im 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 week ban. Vice president Harris Susays women shouldnt trust you on the issue of abortion because youve changed your position so many times, therefor why should they trust you. The reason im doing that vote, the plan is, as you know the vote is. They owhave abortion in the nin month. They even have you can look at the governor of west virginia. The previous governor of west virginia. Not the current governor, hes doing a wonderful job. He said the baby will be born and thwell decide what to do with the baby. Meaning well execute the baby. Theyre radical. The democrats are radical in that and her vice Vice President ial pick, which i think is radical. He says execution after birth. Its an execution no longer abortion because the N Baby is born is okay. And thats not okay with me. Hence the vote. But what i did is something for 52 years theyve been trying to get rowe v. Wade into the states. Through the Genius And Heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we were able to do that. Now i believe in the exceptions for rape insist 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 tait and now states are voting on it. And for the first time, youre going to see. Look this is an issue thats torn our country apart for 52 years. Every legal scholar, every democrat, every republican, liberal, conservative they all wanted this issue to be debe brought back to the states where the people could vote and thats what happened, happened. Now ohio, the vote was some what liberal. Kansas, the vote was some what liberal. Much more liberal than people would have thought. Each individual state is voting. Its the Vote Plof the people now. Its not tied up in the federal government. I did a great service in doing it. It took courage to do it. 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 its born. Maam Vice President i want to get your response to President Trump. Like i said youre going to get A Bunch Of Lies. Thats not a surprising fact. Lets understand hold up we got here. Donald Trump Hand selected three members of the Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo rowe v. Wade and thats what theyve done. There thare trump Abortion Bans that make It Criminal to provide abortion in states. Bans that make no exception even for rape and insist 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 Estheir Faith or deeply held belief to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly meshould not be telli 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 shes bleeding out in a cari in a Parking Lot. She didnt want that. Her husband didnt want that. A 12 or 13yearold survivor of incest being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. They dont want that. And i pledge to you, when congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe V. 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 Nahis Project 202 there would be a national Abortion Monitor that would be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages. I mothink the american people believe that certain freedoms in liparticularly the Freedom T make Decisions Y about ones ow body, should not be made by the government. Thank you, Vice President harris. There she goes again. Its a lie. Im not signing a ban and theres no G Reason to sign a b because weve 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 aare voting. And it may take a little time, but for 52 years this issue has torn our country apart and they wanted it back in the states and i did Something Nobody Thought was possible. The thstates are now voting. What she says ais an absolute lie and as far as the Abortion Ban, no. Im not in favor of Abortion Ban but it doesnt matter. Because this issue has now been taken over by the states. Would thyou veto a national Abortion Ban. I wont have to. Two things, Number One she says shell go back to congress she will never get the vote. Its impossible to get the vote especially now with the 5050 essentially 5050 in both senate and the house. Shes not h going to get the vote. She cant get the vote. She wont even come close to it. Its just talk. You know what it reminds me of when they said they were going to get Student Loans terminated and it ended up being a total catastrophe. The Student Loans and her, i think probably her boss, if you call him a boss. He spends all his time at the beach. But her boss went out and said well do it again. Well do idit a different way. He went out and got rejected again t by the Supreme Court. All these students got 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 tof people who had to pay off their Student Loans. They didnt get it for free. But they were saying its 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. D. Vance said you would veto if it would come to your desk. I didnt discuss it with jd. I dont mind scif he has a view but i really didnt. We dont have to discuss it because she wouldnt be able to get it just like she couldnt get Student Loans. They didnt even get close to getting Student Loans. They taunted young people and a lot of people who had loans. They couldnt get this approved. It doesnt matter when they say they will take it to congress. For years they wanted to get it out of congress and out of the federal government and we did something that everybody said couldnt be done and now, you have a vote of the people on abortion. Vice president harris want to give you some time to respond. I do want to ask, would you support any restrictions on a womans rights to abortion. I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe V. Wade. And nowhere in america is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening, its insulting to the women of america. And understand what has been happening under Donald Trumps Abortion Bans. Couples Who Onpray 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 womans right to make decisions about her own body. S that is why in each state where this has been on the ballots the people of america have voted for freedom. Excuse me, i have to respond. Another lie. Its another lie. I have been a leader on ivf 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 have been a leader on it. They know that, Erand Everybody else knows it. I have been a leader on fertilization ivf. The other thing, they, you should ask, will she allow abortion in the eighth month, ninth month, seventh month. Would you do that. Why dont you answer the question. Would you veto. Answer the question. You ancan do abortion the seventh month, eighth month, ninth month and probably after birth. Just look at the former governor of virginia. The governor of virginia said we put othe baby aside then we decide what we do with the baby. We want to turn to immigration. 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 tonumbers since the have dropped significantly. But my question to you tonight, is why did the administration wait until six months before s the election to act. And would you have done anything differently from President Biden on this . So esim the only person on this stage who has prosecuted Transnational Criminal Organizations for the trafficking of gun, 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 Bo Security bill which i supported. And that bill would have put 1,500 more Border Agents on the border to help those folks who are working there right now overtime trying to do their job. It would have allowed us to stem the flow of fentanyl coming into the united states, i know there are so many families watching tonight who have been personally inaffected by the surge of fentanyl in our country. That bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute Transnational Criminal Organizations for drug, guns and human beings. And you know what happened, Donald Trump got on the phone and asked them kill the bill. 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 from a problem instead of fixing a problem. Hes going to talk about immigration a O Lot even when its n not the Subject Being raised. Im going to ctactually do something real unusual im going to invite you to attend a Trump Rally because its a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional character, windmills cause cancer. What you will start seeing is people are leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. The one thing you will not hear him talk about is you. You hiwill not hear him talking about your needs, dreams and desires. You deserve a president that puts you first and i pledge to you that i will. I would like to get your response. Why etdid you try to kill that bill, successfully so that would have put hundreds of agents. Vefirst i want to respond about the rallies. Nobody is leaving. And nobody will go to hers. She pays people to go. We have ysthe most incredible rallies in the history of politics thats because people want to take their country back. Our country is being lost. Were a failing nation and it happened g 31 2 years ago and what is going on here, youre going to end up in World War ii 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 whats happening to the towns all over the united states. A lot of towns dont want to talk. Not going to be aurora or springfield. A lot of towns dont want to talk about it because theyre so embarrassed about it. In springfield, theyre eating the dogs, theyre eating the cats. The people that came in. Theyre eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is whats happening in our country. And its a shame. As far as rallies are 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. Its a simple phrase, make america great again. Shes destroying this country. If she becomes grpresident this country doesnt have a chance of success. Not only success, well end up being venezuela on steroids. I ssjust want to clarify her you bring up springfield, ohio. And Abc News did reach out to the City Manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of Petting Being harmed,e injured or abused within the immigrant community. Ive seen people juon television. The people on television say my dog was taken and used for food. So, maybe he said that. Maybe thats oda good thing to say for a City Manager. Im not taking this from television. Im taking it from the City Manager. The dog was eaten by the people who went there. The Pespringfield City Manag said theres no everyday of that. Vice president harris, i will let you respond to what you just heard. Talk about extreme. This is one of the reasons why in this election, i actually have The Endorsement of 200 republicans who have formally worked with president bush, mitt romney, and John Mccain. Including The Endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and congressing woman liz cheney. If you want to look the inside track of who the former president is. Just ask people who have worked with him. His former chief of staff, a four Star General has said he has contempt for the constitution of the united states. His former national Tusecurity Advisor has said he is dangerous and unfit. His former Secretary Of Defense has said the nation, the Republic Idwould never survive another trump term. When we listened to this kind of rhetoric, when the issues that affect the american people are not being addressed, i think the choice is clear in this election. President trump i will give you a quick minute to respond here. See im a different kind of a person. I refired most of those people. Not so graciously. They did bad things or a bad job. I fired them. They never fired one person. They didnt Fire Anybody having to do with afghanistan and the taliban and the 13 people who were just killed viciously and violently killed and i go t got to know the families and the parents. They should have fired all those people because that is the most incompetent. When someone does something bad i omfire them. And they write books. Because with me they can write book. They didnt fire any of their they have the same people. Thats a good way not to have books written about you. But just boto finish, i got mor 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 is what you wanted to talk about wearlier so lets get ba to your Deportation Proposal that the Vice President has reacted to as well. President trump you call third degree the largest domestic deportation. You said you eswould have no problem using the u. S. Military. Local police, yes. You also ussaid you would us local police. How would you deport millions of immigrants. You believe that number is higher. What will that look like . Will authorities be begoing doo to door in this country. Theyve allowed s 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 now in the united states and told by their countries like venezuela dont ever come back or were going to kill you. Do you know the crime in venezuela and crimes in countries All Over The World is bay down. You know why . Because theyve taken the criminals off the Street And Theyve given s them to her to put into our country. This will be one of the greatest mistakes in history allow and i think they probably did it because they think theyre going to get votes, but its not worth it. Because theyre destroying Noth Fabric of our country by what theyve done. Theres never been anything done like this at all. Theyve destroyed the fabric of our country. Millions oof 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 atcountry is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime its called Migrant Crime and its happening at levels Nobody Thought possible. President trump as you know the fbi says violent crime is actually coming down in this country. Excuse me the fbi, they were defrauding statements. They , didnt include the worse cities. They didnt include the cities with the worse crime. It was a fraud. Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out 81to be fraud. President trump. Thank you. I will let you respond Vice President harris. I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for National Security crimes. Economic crimes, election interference. Been found liable for Sexual Assault and his next big Court Appearance is in november at his own criminal sentencing. And lets 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. Lets 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 the same old retired Play Book. Vice president harris, thank you. Excuse me. Every one yoof those Cases Was started by them against their political opponent and im 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. Im winning most of them. But those are cases, its called weaponnization. Never happened in this country. They weaponnize the justice department. Every one veryof those Cases Wa involved with the doj from atlanta, and Fanny Willis to the Thattorney General of new york. And the da in new york. Every one of those cases and then they say, oh, he was, hes a criminal. Theyre the ones hthat made the go after me. By the way, Joe Biden was found essentially guilty on the documents case. And what tyhappened in my documents case. They said, oh thats the toughest of them all. A complete and total victory. Two months ago it was thrown out. Its weaponization they used it to try to win an election. They are fake cases. President trump, thank you. A really quick response this on this notion of weponization of the justice department. Lets talk about extreme. 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, im quoting terminate the constitution of the united tistates. That he would weponize the department of justice against his political enemies. Someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our military. Understand mewhat it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the White House with no guardrails. Because certainly we know now the Court Wont Stop him. We know j. D. Vance is not going to stop him. Its up to the american people to stop n him. Vice president harris, thank you. Vice president , in your last. This is the one that weapon sized. I probably took a bullet to the head because of things they say about me. Theyre the fake democracy. Have a lot to get to. Lyndsey. Vice president harris in your Lylast Run for President Y said you wanted to ban fraking now you dont. You supported decriminalizing Border Crossings now youre taking a harder line. I know you said your values have not changed why have so many of your policy positions changed . So my values have not changed and im going to discuss every one of the, at least every point that youve made. But in particular lets talk about Fraki Ing because were here in pennsylvania. I will not ban fraking. I was the tie breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act which opened new leases for fraking. My position is we have got to invest 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 overrely izon foreign oil. As it relates to my values, let me tell you, i grew up a Middle Class kid, raised by a hard working 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 homeownership knowing not everybody got handed th 400 Million on a Silv Platter and then filed bankruptcy six times, is a value that i bring to my work to say bwe are going to work with the private sector to buy 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 bid her stepfather. My alfocus then on 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 seon long standing Work D ive done protecting seniors from scams. My values 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. And name calling. The true measure of the leader is the leader who actually understands the strength is not in beating people down. Its in lifting people up. I intend to be that president. President trump. I wasnt given 400 Million. My father was a brooklyn builder, from queens. Great father. I was given a fraction of that and i built it into many many billions of dollars. When people see it they are even surprised. So we dont have to talk about that. Fraking shes been against it for 12 years. Defund the police. Shes been against that forever. She gave all that stuff up very wrongly, very horribly and everybody is laughing at it. Okay. Theyre 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 im talking now. If you dont 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 ran out and raised money to get them out of jail. She went out and did things. Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal immigrants that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this. She wants to confiscate your guns and would not vote for fraking. I got the Oil Business like nobody has ever before. 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 were to where they were. I would have been five times, four time times higher. Youre talking about 31 2 years ago. That i have got it up to where i was because they had no choice. Because the prices of energy were quadrupling and doubling. That i have said lets go back to trump. If she won the election the day after that election, they will go eback up to destroying our country. Oil will be dead. Fossil fuel will be dead. Well go back to windmills and solar. Where you need a whole desert. Im a big fan of solar. But they take, 400, 500 acres of desert soil. President trump we have a lot of issues that we have to get to. Lyndsey, thank you. We have an election in just 56 days. I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power. We all know is a Corner Stone of our democracy. Mr. President on January 6th you told your supporters to march to the capital. You said you would be right there with you. Aids said you watched it infold on television off the oval office. You did send out tweets but it was more than two hours before you sent out that Video Message telling your supporters to go home. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day . You just said, a thing that isnt covered. Peacefully and g patriotically. I said during my speech. Not later on. Peacefully and patriotically. And nobody on The Other Side was killed. Ashley babbot was shot by an Out Of Control Police Officer that Onshould Have never ever shot her. Its a disgrace. But we didnt do this group of people that had 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 Border Czar remember that. She doesnt want to be called the Border Czar, she said at the beginning im surprised youre not e talking about the border yet. Thats because she knows what a bad Job Theyve done. What about those people. What are they going to be prosz cuted. When do these people from All Over The World not just south america. Theyre coming in from Nall Ov the world david. All over the world. Crime rates daare down All Over The World because of it. David, thwhen are those people going to be prosecuted. When are the people that burned Down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted. Or seattle. They took over a big percentage of the city of seattle. When are those people going to be prosecuted. You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. Its a very simple question as we move forward to anotheR Election. Is there anything you regret about that day. I didnt do any of that. Other than they asked me to make a speech. I went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of wards. I said peyou know this is going to be a very Bill Rally or whatever you want to call it. It wasnt done by me it was done by others. I said i would 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 wasnt responsible for security. Nancy pelosi was responsible. She didnt do her job. Or the question was about you as president not about former speaker pelosi. But i do awant Vice President harris to respond. I was at Sithe 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 Nations Capitol. To desecrate our Nations Capitol 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. Lets remember, charlottesville. Where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches, spewing antisemitic hate. And cawhat did the president th at the time say . They were atfine people on each side. Lets remember. That when siit came to the prou boys a militia said stand back and stand by. We dont have to go back. Lets not go back. Not going back. Its 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 dont like the outcome. And be clear, on that point. Donald trump the Oncandidate Ha said in this election, there will be a Blood Bath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Lets turn the page on this. Lets not go back. Lets chart a course for the future and not go back ward to the back. It was a different term and it was a term that related to energy. Because they have destroyed our energy business. That was where Blood Bath was. Also, on charlottesville. That story has been as you would say debunked. Laura ingram, hannity. They covered it. If they go an extra sentence they will see it was perfect. It was debunked in every newspaper. 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 capitol. Why are we allowing Yothese Millions Arof people to come through on the southern border . How come shes not doing. I tell you what i would do and i would be very proud to do it. Are phenomenal. If they do that the border are closed, because people are killing many people i do want to focus on this s next issue with both of you because it brings this into focus. Truth in these times that we are living in. Mister president , for 3 1 2 years after he lost the 2020 election you repeatedly falsely claimed that you one, many times saying that you won in a landslide. In the past couple weeks you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker. You did not quite make it. That you came up a little bit short. Are you now acknowledging that o you lost in 2020 . No, i say that sarcastically. Oh, we lost by a whisker. That was said sarcastically. Look, there is so much proof. All you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for t approval. I got the most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if ini got 63, which got in 2016, you cant be beaten. The election people should never be thinking about an R Election as fraudulent. We need two things. 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 are trying to get them to vote. They cant even speak english, they dont even know what country they are in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote and that is why they are allowing them to come into our country. I did watch all of these pieces of video. I did not detect sarcasm and we should point out as clarification and you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges. No judge looked at it. They said we did not have standing, thats the other thing. A technicality. Can you imagine Nga System wher a person in an election doesnt have standing . The President Of The United States doesnt have standing, thats how we lost. If you look at the facts and i would love to have you do a special on it. I will show you georgia and i will show you wisconsin and i will show you pennsylvania. We have so many facts and statistics, but you know what . That doesnt matter because we have to solve the problem that we have right now. That is 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. Mister president , thank you. Vice president harris, you heard the president say he did not say that, so he still believes he did not lose the election. That was one by President Biden and yourself. But i do want to ask you about something that has come up in the past couple of days. Pa this was opposed by President Trump about the upcoming election weeks ago. Ng he says when i win those people who cheated and he lists donors and election officials, He Saysl will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law which will include longterm prison sentences. One of your campaigns top lawyers responded saying We E will not let Donald Trump intimidate us. We will not let him suppress the vote. Is that what you believe he is trying to do here . Donald trump was fired by 81 Million people, so lets be n 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 am going to tell you, i have traveled the world as Vice President of the united states and World Leaders are laughing o at Donald Trump. I have talked with Military Leaders, some of whom worked with you and they say you are a disgrace. And when you then talk in this way, in a president ial 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 the ability to not be confused about fact. That is deeply troubling and the american people deserve better. I will give you one minute to respond. Let me just say about World Leaders. Viktor orban, they call him a strongman. He is a tough person. Smart. Prime minister of hungary. They said why is the whole world blowing up . Three years ago it wasnt. Ye why is it blowing up . He said, because you need trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid and i dont like to use the word afraid, but i was just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North korea was afraid of him. Look at what was going on with north korea, by the way. He said russia was afraid of him. I ended the nord Stream 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 over europe and into germany, the biggest pipeline in the world. Look, Viktor Orban said it. He said the most respected, the most feared persons Donald Trump. We had no problems when trump was president , but when this weak, pathetic man that you saw at a debate a few months ago, that if you werent in that debate 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 will give you a secret, he hates her. He cant stand her. But he had 14 Million votes, they threw them out. She got zero votes and when she ran, she was the first one to leave because she failed and now she is running. I dont understand it, but im okay with that. I think were going to do very well. We have a lot more ahead. Turning now to the israel and Hamas War and hostages still being held, americans among them. Vice president harris, you said israel has a right to defend itself, but you added 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. 100 hostages remain. Pray Minister Netanyahu said there is not a deal in the making. President biden has not been able to break through the stalemate. How would you do it . Lets understand how we got here. On october 7, hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1200 israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped, so absolutely i said then and i say now israel has a right to defend itself. 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 this war must end. It must end immediately and the way it will end is we need a Ceasefire Deal and we need the Hostages Out. So we will continue to work around the clock on that. Work around the clock 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 ensure 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 post to israel, but we must have a two State Solution where we can rebuild gaza. Where the palestinians have security, selfdetermination 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. There were no threat of it either by the way for years, have gone into ukraine and killed millions of people. When you added up, far worse than people understand whats going on over there. But when she mentions about israel, All Of A Sudden she hates israel. She would not even meet with netanyahu when he went to ah congress to make a very re important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a Sorority Party of hers. She wanted to go to the Sorority Party. She hates israel. If she were president i believe that israel would not exist within two years of now and i have been pretty good at predictions. I hope im 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. Is israel will be gone. It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now iran has 300 Billion because they took off all the sanctions that i had. Iran had no money for hamas or hezbollah or the different 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 are a rich nation and now what they are doing is they are spreading that money around. Look at what is happening with i yemen. Look at what is that going on in the middle east. I will get that settled and fast and i will get the war with Ukraine And Russia ended. If i am President Elect, i will get it done before even becoming president. Vice president harris, he says you haters says you hate israel. That is absolutely not true. My whole Career And Life i have supported israel and the d israeli people. He knows that. He is trying again to divide and distract from the reality, which is it is very well known that Donald Trump is weakened wrong on National Security and foreign policy. It is wellknown 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 he wants and go into ukraine. It is well known that he said when russia went into ukraine, it was brilliant. It is well known he exchanged Love Letters with kim jongun and it is absolutely wellknown that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again, because they are 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 weakened wrong on National Security, includingl the importance of upholding and respecting in highest regard our military. Vice president harris, thank you. Shes the one that caused it. That is weak on National Security, by allowing every nation last month of the year, 168 different countries, sending people into our country. Their Crime Rates are way down. Putin endorsed her last week and said i hope she wins and i think he meant it, because what he has gotten away with it is that is absolutely incredible. The leaders of other countries think that they are weak and incompetent and they are. They are grossly incompetent and i just ask one question. Why does Biden Go in and kill the Keystone Pipeline and approve the single biggest Deal Russia has ever made, the biggest pipeline in the world going to germany and all over europe . Because they are weak and ineffective and biden, by the way, was paid a lot of money. Thank you, we have a lot of issues to get to. We will be right back with more of this historic president ial debate from right here in philadelphia. Back in a moment. If you thought the first debate was highstakes, how about this second one . We are glad you are watching it here with us on msnbc. Vice president ial nominee Tim Walz is going to join us after the debate, right here on msnbc, so do, please, stay with us. With us. Protect against rsv with arexvy. Arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. Arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. Those with weakened Immune Systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. The most common Side Effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. Arexvy is Number One in Rsv Vaccine shots. Rsv . Make it arexvy. University of maryland global campus is a school for real life, one that values the successes youve already achieved. Earn up to 90 Undergraduate Credits for relevant experience and get the support you need from your first day to Graduation Day and beyond. What will your next success be . man this whale is unaware its being exploited to Graduation Day and beyond. For financial advertising. Look at this silly little sailboat. These men of means with their silver spoons, eating up the financial favors of the 1 . What would become of them when they discover robinhood gold allows others to earn their very liberal rates on idle cash and unlimited Deposit Bonuses . They would descend into chaos. Merciless chaos. You are looking at a live image of the Philadelphia Skyline as We Expect to be abc News President ial debate to pick back up momentarily. This is a 90 Minute Debate overall. They just had the first of what will be to commercial breaks in total. Now back to the national Constitution Center. We will continue here and i want to turn to the war in ukraine. We are now 2 1 2 years into this conflict. It has been the position of the biden administration that we must defend ukraine from russia, from vladimir putin. That it is in americas Best Interest to do so, arguing that if putin wins he may be emboldened to move further into other countries. You said you would solve this war in 24 hours. You said so before the break tonight. How exactly would you do that and i will ask you a simple question, do you want ukraine to win this war . I want the war to stop. I want to save lives. People being killed by the millions, the millions. It is so much worse than the numbers you are getting, which are fake numbers. Look, we are in for 250 Billion or more because they dont ask europe, which is a much bigger beneficiary to getting this thing done, then we are. They are in for 150 Billion less because biden and you dont 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 are not going to protect you anymore, so that is maybe one of the reasons they dont like me as much as they like weak people, but you take a look at what is happening. We are in for 250 they are in for 100 to 150. They should be forced to equalize. With that being said, i want to get the war settled. I know zelenskyy very well and i know putin very well. I have a good relationship and they respect your president , okay . They respect me. They dont respect biden. How would they respect him . He has not even made a Phone Call in two years. They dont even try. That is a war that is dying to be settled. I will get it settled before i even become president. If i win, when i am President Elect, what i will do is i will speak to one, i will speak to the other, i will get them together. That war would have never happened and in fact when i saw putin after i left, unfortunately left because our country has gone to hell, but when i saw him building up shoulders soldiers, i said he must be negotiating. It must be strong negotiation, but it wasnt, 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 getting worse and it could lead to World War iii. Dont kid yourself, david. We are playing with World War iii and we have a president where is our president . We dont even know if he is president. They threw him out of the campaign like a dog. We dont even know, is your president . We have a president that doesnt know he is alive. Your time is up. Just to clarify the question do you believe it is in u. S. Best interest for ukraine to win this war . I think it is in the u. S. Best interest to get it finished, get it done, negotiated 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, but also as commanderinchief if elected, how would you deal with vladimir putin and would it be different from what we are seeing with President Biden . First of all it is important to remind the former president , youre not running against Joe Biden, you are running against me. I believe the reason Donald Trump says the reason this war would be over in 24 hours is because he would give it up and that is not who we are as americans. Lets understand what happened. I actually met with the zelenskyy 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 Zelenskyy. I shared with him american intelligence about how he could defend himself. Days later i went to natos 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 kyiv right now and understand what that would mean, because Putins 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 zelenskyy and the ukrainians to fight for their independence. Otherwise putin would be sitting in kyiv, with his eyes on the rest of europe, starting with poland and why dont you tell the 800,000 polands americans 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. Weve heard from both of you on ukraine tonight. Afghanistan came up in the last quiet, please. He would be sitting in moscow, much happier than he is right now, but eventually hes got a thing other people dont have. He has nuclear weapons. They dont talk about that. Nobody ever thinks about that and eventually, maybe he will use them and maybe he has not been that threatening, but he does have that. Something we dont even like to talk about. Nobody likes to talk about it, but just so you understand they sent her to negotiate peace before this war started and three days later he went in and 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 Zelenskyy And Putin and she did end the war started three days later and that is the kind of talent we have with her. She is worse than biden. I think he is 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 they left. Putin did the invasion. President trump, thank you. You did bring up something. You said she went to negotiate. Have you met vladimir putin . Can you clarify tonight . I said at the beginning of this debate that you will hear A Bunch Of Lies coming from this fella and that is another one. When i went to meet with President Zelenskyy and i met with him over five times. The reality is that it has been about standing as america always should, as a leader upholding international rules and norms. As a ruler who shows strength, understanding that the alliances we have Around The World are dependent on our ability to look out for our friends. You favor our enemies because you adore strongmen instead of caring about democracy and that is very much at stake here. The President Of The United States is Commander In Chief and the american people have a right to rely on a president who understands the significance of Americas Role and responsibility, in terms of ensuring that there is stability and ensuring that we stand up for our principles and not sell them for the benefit of flattery. We talked about ukraine and vladimir putin. I do want to talk about afghanistan. I want to move on to afghanistan. Trumpeted the most amazing thing ive ever seen. He got these countries, the 28 countries at the time to pay up. He said i have never seen it. The head of nato. Ive never seen, paying almost we were being ripped off by European Nations On Trade and on nato. I got them to pay up by saying one of the statements you made before. If you dont pay we are not going to protect you, otherwise we would have never gotten it. He said it was one of the most incredible jobs he has ever seen done. Thank you. I want to turn to afghanistan. We witnessed a poignant moment on Capitol Hill honoring the soldiers who died in the chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan. I do it to ask the Vice President , do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way the withdrawal played out . I will tell you i agreed with President Bidens decision to pull out of afghanistan. For president said they would and Joe Biden did and as a result americas taxpayers are not paying the 300 Million per day that we were paying for that endless war and as of today there is not one member of the united States Military who is active duty understand how we got to where we are. Donald trump when he was president negotiated 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 is how it went down. He bypassed the afghan government. He negotiated with the terrorist organization called the taliban. The negotiation involved the taliban getting 5000 terrorists released and get this, no, get this. And the president at the time invited the taliban significant 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 commanderinchief 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 Respect of the united states of america Around The World. Vice president harris, thank you. Your response to 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 is the Fighting Force in afghanistan. They deal with their own 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 dont do it anymore, if you do it anymore you will have problems and he said why do you send me a picture of my house . I see you have to figure that out, abdul. For 18 months we had no one killed. We had an agreement negotiated by mike pompeo, a very good agreement. The reason it was good, we were getting out. We wouldve been out faster than them, but we would not have lost the soldiers. We would not have left 85 Billion of brandnew, beautiful Military Equipment behind and just to finish, they blew it. The agreement said this, this, this, this and they did not do it. The agreement was terminated by us because they didnt do what they were supposed to do. I want to move on. And these people did the worst withdrawal. In my opinion the most embarrassing moment of the history of our country and by the way, that is why russian 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. You recently said of Vice President harris, i did not know she was black and tell years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. I want to ask the bigger questight. Why do you think it is important to weigh in on the racial identity of your opponent . I dont and i dont care. I dont care what she has. I dont care. You make a big deal out of something, i couldnt care less. Whatever she wants to be is okay with me. But those are your words. I dont know. I dont know. All he can say is i read where she was not black, that she put out and i will say that and then i read that she was black and thats okay. Either one was okay with me. Thats up to her. Thats up to her. Vice president harris, your thoughts on this. Honestly i think it is a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be 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 dont want this kind of approach that is constantly trying to divide us and especially by race. Lets remember how Donald Trump started. Land he had owned, buildings, and he was investigated because he refused to rent property to black families. Lets 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 five. Took out a fullPage Ad calling for their execution. This is the same individual who spread birth 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 dont want a leader who is constantly trying to have americans point their fingers at Each Other. I meet with people all the time who tell me, can we please just have discourse about how we are going to invest in the aspirations and ambitions and dreams of the american people . Knowing that regardless of Peoples Color or the language their grandmother speaks, we all have the same dreams and aspirations. People want the president to invest in those, not in hate and division. Vice president harris, thank you. Linsey. This is now your third time this is the most divisive presidency in the history of our country. Theres never been anything like it. They are 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 Mayor Bloomberg agreed with me on the central park five. They admitted, they said, they pled guilty and i said if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately and if they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty, but this is a person that has to stretch back years, 40, 50 years ago because there is nothing now. I built one of the greatest economies in the History Of The World and im going to build it again. It is going to be bigger, better, stronger, but they are destroying our economy. They have no idea what a good economy is. Every single policy and remember this, she is biden. She was trying to get away from biden. I dont know the gentleman, she says. She is biden. The worst Inflation Weve ever had. A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she cant get away with that. I want to 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. Lets talk about our plans and lets compare the plans. I have a plan to give Startup Businesses 50,000 Tax Deductions. To pursue their ambitions, their innovation, their ideas. I have a plan, 6000, for young families for the first year of your Childs Life to help you in that most critical stage of your childs 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 help with a Down Payment for firsttime homebuyers. That is 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. Lets turn the Page And Move forward. Thank you. President trump lets turn to policy please. She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everyones gun. Mister president , we have to move on. She will not allow fracking in pennsylvania or anywhere else. The former president has said something twice and i need to respond. I need to respond one time. 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 failed to accomplish that and you now say you will keep obamacare, quote, unless we can do something much better. Last month you said you are working on it. So tonight, nine years after you first started running do you have a plan and can you tell us what it is . Obamacare was lousy healthcare. It always was and it is not very good today. I said if we come up with something and we are working on things, we are going to do it and we are going to replace it. I inherited obamacare because democrats would not change it. They would not vote for it. They were unanimous. They would not vote to change it. If they wouldve done that we wouldve had a much better plan, but the democrats would not 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 . I felt i had an obligation even though politically it wouldve been good to just let It Rot and let it go away. I decided and i told my people, the top people and very good people. I have a lot of good people in that administration. We read about the bad ones and we had bad ones and so did they. The difference is they dont get rid of them, but let me 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 is still never going to be great and it is too expensive for people and what we will do is we are looking at different plans. If we can come up with a plan that is going to cost our people, our population less money and be better healthcare than obamacare, then i would absolutely do it. Until then i would 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. Im not president right now, but if we come up with something, i would only change it if we come up with something that is better and less expensive and there are concepts and options we have to do that and you will be hearing about it in the nottoodistant future. Vice president harris in 2017 you supported Bernie Sanders Proposal to do away with private insurance and create a governmentrun healthcare system. Two years later you proposed a plan that included a private option. What is your Plan Today . First of all absolutely supported over the last four years as Vice President , private healthcare options, but what we need to do is maintain and grow the affordable Care Act. I need to respond to a previous point that the former president has made. I made very clear my position on fracking and then this business about taking everyones guns away, Tim Walz and i are both gunowners. We are not taking anyones guns away, so stop with the continuous lying about this stuff. As it relates to the affordable Care Act, 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, in the united States Senate and the late, great John Mccain, who you have disparaged as being, you dont 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 dont. No you dont. No you dont 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 of preexisting conditions. I dont have to tell people watching tonight. You remember what that was like. Remember when an Insurance Company could deny when a child has asthma . If a grandparent had diabetes. We 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 would allow medicare to negotiate Drug Prices and he never did. Now we kept the price of insulin at 35 a month. Since i have been Vice President we capped the price of Prescription Medication for seniors at 2000 per 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 healthcare 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. Thank you. Well, she made a mistake. Number one, John Mccain fought obamacare for 10 years. But it wasnt only him. It was all of the democrats that kept it going and you know what . We can do much better than obamacare. Much less money, but she wont approve private insurance for people. Private medical insurance. That is another thing. People are paying privately for insurance that you worked hard and made money and they want to have private. She wants everyone to be on Government Insurance where you wait six months for an operation that you need to. President trump, thank you. We have another issue we want to get to that is important for young americans and younger voters and that is climate change. President trump with regard to the environment you say we have to have clean air and clean water. Vice president harris you call climate change and existential threat. The question to you both tonight is what would you do to fight climate change and Vice President harris we will start with you. One minute each. The former president said climate change is a hoax and we know it is very real. You ask anyone who lives in a state that has experienced extreme weather occurrences, now being denied Home Insurance or it is being jacked up. You ask anyone who has been the victim of what that means in terms of losing their home, having nowhere to go. We can deal with this issue. The young people of America Care about this issue and im proud as Vice President over the last four years we have invested 1 Trillion in a clean Energy Economy, while we have also increased domestic Gas Production to historic levels. We have created over 800,000 manufacturing jobs while i have been Vice President. We have invested in clean energy to the point that we are opening factories Around The World. Donald trump said he would create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs and i am also proud to have The Endorsement of the united auto workers and shawn fain, who also know that part of building a clean Energy Economy includes investing in americanmade products, american automobiles. It includes growing what we can do around american Manufacturing And Opening auto plants, not closing them like happened under Donald Trump. That didnt happen under Donald Trump. Let me tell you they lost 10,000 manufacturing jobs this last month. Its going, they are all leaving. They are building big auto plants in mexico. In many cases owned by china. They are building these massive plants and they think they are going to sell cars into the united states because of these people. What they have given to china is unbelievable, but we are not going to let that. They will put tariffs on those cards so they cant come into our country because they will kill the united auto workers and any autoworker whether it is detroit, south carolina or any other place. What they have done to Business And Manufacturing in this country is horrible. We have nothing, because they refuse. You know, biden doesnt go after people, because supposedly china paid him millions of dollars. He is afraid to do it. Between him and his son. They get all this money from ukraine. They get all of this money from all of these different countries and then you wonder why is he so loyal to this one, that one, ukraine, china . Why did he get 3. 5 million from the mayor of Moscows Wife . Why did she pay him 3. 5 million . This is a Cricket Administration and they are selling our country down the tubes. President trump, thank you. Inc. You. We will be back with Closing Statements from both candidates on this historic night. The president ial debate from philadelphia. Whatever you expected, whatever any of us expected, this debate is as highstakes as it gets. We are grateful to have you watching with us. I hope you stay with us when it is over. Governor Tim Walz is going to join us afterwards, right here on msnbc. Bc. Im not old enough to vote yet, but i learned how one out of six of us will someday be raped. So please think about me when you vote. I learned how our Freedom To have an abortion was taken away. Even in cases of rape or incest, even to travel to get an abortion. Please think about me. You know who got rid of Roe V wade. Now women are being refused lifesaving care at hospitals, and politicians are trying to ban birth control. Please think about me. My parents call me their Miracle Daughter because i was born with ivf. But ivf could be banned, too. Do they think were less than human . Do they think we cant make decisions . About our own bodies . About our own lives . When you vote, please think about me. And me. And me. Because the politician who got rid of Roe V wade, he couldnt care less. This one is for you. I came to bayview hunters point, where there was only one pediatrician to serve more than 10,000 children. Daniel lurie said, im going to help. We opened a clinic for our most vulnerable children. I have worked shoulder to shoulder with him as we have brought solutions where people thought the problem was unsolvable. Daniel doesnt take excuses. He holds himself accountable. And i know that he can do it for the city of san francisco. Why choose a mobile network built for places youll probably never be. Instead of for where you are most of the time . Xfinity mobile was designed for where you need it most. Now Xfinity Internet customers can buy one line of unlimited and get one free for a year. Lets say youre deep in a show or a game or the game. On a train, at home, at work. Okay, maybe not at work. Point is at xfinity. Were constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. Thats what i do. Is that Love Island . Welcome back for the final segment of this president ial debate between former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It is at the national Constitution Center in philadelphia. The final segment starts now. The time has come for Closing Statements and Vice President harris, we begin with you. So i think you have 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 are 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 aspirations, 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 americas standing in the world and making sure we have the respect 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 defend 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 will tell you i started my career as a prosecutor. I was at d. A. attorney general, united States Senator and now Vice President. I have only had one client, the people. As a prosecutor i never asked a victim or a witness, are you a republican or a democrat . The only thing i ever asked to them, are you okay . That is the kind of president we need right now. Someone who cares about you and is not putting themselves first. I intend to be 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 shes going to do this, shes going to do that, shes going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasnt she done it . Shes been there 3 1 2 years. They had 3 1 2 years to fix the border. They had 3 1 2 years to create jobs and all the things we talked about. Why hasnt she done it . She should leave right now, go down to the beautiful White House, go to the capital, get everyone together and do the things you want to do, but you have not done it and you wont do it because you believe in things that the american people dont believe in. Things like fossil fuel. We are 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 arent ready for it. We Cant Sacrifice our country for the sake of bad vision, but i just ask one simple question. Why didnt she do it . We are a failing nation. We are a nation that is in serious decline. We are being laughed at All Over The World. I know the leaders very well. They are coming to see me. They called me. Laughed at All Over The World. They dont understand what happened to us as a nation. We are not a leader. We dont have any idea what is going on. We have wars in the middle east. We have wars going on with russia and ukraine. We are going to end up in a third World War and it will be a war like no other because of nuclear weapons. The power of weaponry. I rebuilt their 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, many of them are criminals and they are 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 President ial debate from here in philadelphia at the national Constitution Center. I am Linsey Davis. And i am David Muir. Thank you for watching and from all of us at Abc News, good night. Linsey davis and David Muir, wrapping up this president ial debate between former president Donald Trump and Vice President of the united states, Kamala Harris. You could not have two more different candidates with two more different approaches to the task at hand. I had a Television Executive once tell me that everything you need to know about a live event on television, you can tell with the sound off and if you have the sound off for this debate, which im sure nobody did, what you wouldve seen his trump looking physically hunched, angry, squinting. I never saw the whites of his eyes the entire debate. Shouting. Constantly interrupting himself. Not just going on tangents, but being unable to finish a thought. Seeming very frustrated, very angry, very negative and very tired. In contrast, Kamala Harris appeared to be light on her feet. Quite puzzled by him. The shot of him squinting and hunching and seeming to be having physical trouble squeezing the words out. Certainly squeezing the sentences out. She just looked at him absolutely puzzled by where was he was going. I think that visual may be as much of a take away is anything that was said. That said, boy, what was said . Trump repeatedly coming back to the same lines over and over again about world Crime Rates being low and that being the explanation for america having high Crime Rates. He said strange things like all democrats want Roe Versus wade overturned. He said it is legal to kill children in the united states. He insisted that he saw something on television about eating dogs. That was one of the weird moments on the debate that he saw it on television and knows it is true and therefore what the police say cannot be true. Kamala harris kept going back to the plan, the campaign, but also going directly at him. She told him that Military Leaders who worked with him have told her that Donald Trump is a disgrace. She said to him, you are a disgrace. She described him as confused and unable to understand that he lost the election. She said he was fired by 81 Million people and hes having a difficult time processing that. She said he was handed 400 Million on a Silver Platter and filed bankruptcy six times. She said people leave his rallies early due to exhaustion and boredom. Talking about the russia ukraine war, she said putin would be sitting in kyiv if he were president with his eyes on the rest of europe, starting with poland and why dont you tell the 800,000 polish americans 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 . Ive never seen a starker Contrast And Presentation from two candidates in any debate, in any type of contest, in any political race. We do not know the outcome of the election, but if these matter at all in the outcome of said elections, it should be over. She didnt just prevail in every exchange, she prevailed at being human. Questions that were deeply personal she turned into questions not about herself, not about the campaign, not the democratic party and not even Donald Trump, but about the whole country. The beginning, i dont know if he noticed, the synapses did not seem to be firing but she got out her entire economic agenda. The thing chris christie suggested she do. She did it in about the first eight minutes. It was all out there. You know, to the degree that trump has support because supporters are scared or nostalgic about an america that is slipping away, i suppose that was somewhere in there. For what it was worth the Drudge Report has a picture of him with a cap saying it is over. To the degree that it is a job to cover what the campaigns do and the political apparatus, the Trump Campaign is going to plan b, c, and d. They are dark and dirty what do you mean . The threats, the retribution, the placement of allies on election boards as they have done in the state of georgia. Because this did not win trump any new voters. Lawrence. We are now seeing maybe the second president ial debate in american history where poland might be the deciding issue. The point you isolated, 800,000 polish people in the state of pennsylvania. Kamala harris reached out directly to those voters. If she got 10,000 of them to focus on the threat to poland that vladimir putin represents, she may have won the president ial election and that particular response. Lets start at the beginning. When they entered i was wondering what was going to happen. Would there be a handshake . We will see that video more than once. It is Donald Trump running away from her. It is Donald Trump trying to turn away as the adult in the room approaches and crosses to do what every president ial candidate before her has done in that situation, which is to extend her hand to the other candidate and Donald Trump runs away until he cant. She literally has to corner him to shake his hand and she does it. Two things i would point out quickly about it. You heard him say to the american people, i wasnt responsible for security. President of the united states, commanderinchief is what this job is about and he is saying when they were attacking the capital and im doing nothing for two hours, i wasnt responsible for security. Another thing you isolated is where he said people wanted Roe V. Wade overturned. This was his worst lie of the night because he was lying to the voters about the voters. He was lying about you and you know it. More than 60 of the country was saying he is lying about me. I am a republican. He actually lied directly to the voters about the voters. Joy. I think the moment the debate went sideways for Donald Trump was the moment when Vice President harris was very smart. This was the answer about immigration. David muir asked about illegal Border Crossings. We knew that was coming, that they would talk about it being highend numbers dropped. She said im the only one who prosecuted transnational gangs, trafficking of human beings. She talked about the bill on the table that Donald Trump called republicans and he did not want to solve the problem, he wanted the issue for the election and then she did what i think was the smartest thing of the night and the thing we got from Hillary Clinton that she was being advised to do. Get him with the one thing that will destabilize him for the rest of the debate and it did. You named it before. Essentially she said that we need a leader who focuses on solutions. Hes going to talk about immigration when it is not even the subject, because he kept going back to the millions of people and they are all criminals. He kept doing it and she called him on it. He will talk about immigration when it is not the question and i invite you to attend one of his rallies where he talks about hannibal lecter and i want you to know that people at these rallies start leaving early. What you wont hear him talk about is you. That ended Donald Trump, the cheese being firmly affixed to the cracker. He literally after that could not stop interrupting. He could not stop going right back to his special place where he went on about immigration. He argued and turned around and interrupted and tried to keep arguing about crowd size. He tried to say we are going to World War iii. He said multiple times they are eating dogs and cats. After that he went into dogs and cats. David muir breaks in and says no sir, there is no credible reporting about that. He kept rambling. I think what Vice President harris managed to do was what everyone before said they wanted her to do. She got her policy points out. When people think about Vice President harris, 25,000 for building a first home. 50,000 for a new business. The tax credit. Because she kept saying it and what he kept saying was rambling, bizarre nonsense that made him look old. It made him look unstable. It made him look not just unpresident ial, but the look on her face. The look said pity. She looked like she pitied him and kept looking at him like are you okay . She finally said i think you are having a hard time connecting with reality. Donald trump got destroyed in this debate because he Cant Control his mind and you dont want a President Of The United States that is not in full control of his mind. It was by far the best Debate Performance against Donald Trump by anyone, i think. It may very well be the best televised Debate Performance ever. I Cant Think of a better one. I agree. I thought it was the best anyone has ever done. Primaries and those big brawls and oneonone, although biden and hillary acquitted themselves well against him. The thing that almost became like comical every single time. He would swim up to the bait and always a thing that Donald Trump is obsessed with about himself. A grievance, a thing of the past. Things weve heard him go on and on about. Nancy pelosi was the reason January 6 got attacked, Yada Yada yada, and everyone emphasized that the guy is old and obsessed with old grievances. I have no idea, like you could come out of this and you could tell me that some group of swing voters was like i dont know. I dont know. I am humble on that. I think that we have all been tough and critical of the press. Abc did a fine job. They did reporting on the eating of pets. Which is important, you have got to say it. I think sometimes people are reluctant to put themselves in the story. David muir didnt hesitate to say i went back and watched the tape and you did not sound sarcastic to me when you said and then he said, i said sarcastically so what the american people heard was three sides of the outcome of 2020 and David Muir and Linsey Davis kudos to them, because they did just enough fact checking to be part of the debate, but to make sure really egregious lies were shut down. The one thing i would ask very smart. That she has interacted with him. That puts her at a stature so far above him. She said im not saying you are a disgrace, im saying that the Military Leaders who have worked with you, who attacked me, that you are a disgrace. He Cant Bear it. Then in his own defense he goes to Viktor Orban and you could almost hear the entire audience laughing, like you have got to be kidding. His other good one when he tried to explain how it was his idea to get out of afghanistan and a terrible idea, he says, you know, he names a random name and says that god loves me. He didnt have anyone he could. 2. He also invented a head of the taliban named abdul. He just randomly named him. One more thing and on the abortion answer, which was, to me, was like the worst moment in the debate. He just did not deliver the answer that is right there. She destroyed him on the abortion answer. She talked about why we are here. She talked about the consequences of women bleeding out in a Parking Lot waiting to get care because they have a miscarriage and cannot be treated. She destroyed him on it. She sort of gave him no territory to wiggle away from