Trump-Harris debate updates: Candidates go on attack in zinger-filled showdown

Harris and Trump sparred in the high-stakes showdown.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Meredith Deliso, Ivan Pereira, Emily Chang, and Brittany Gaddy
Last Updated: September 10, 2024, 11:53 PM EDT

The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump turned into a heated matchup that lasted more than 90 minutes.

The night started with a handshake initiated by Harris, but quickly escalated as the vice president bashed Trump over his policies and comments, contending that it was time to "offer is a new generation of leadership for our country."

Trump criticized Harris throughout the debate on topics such as Afghanistan and immigration issues, drawing comparisons between the vice president and President Joe Biden.

With Election Day just eight weeks away, the debate came at a critical point as polls show a neck-and-neck race between the candidates.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing:
12:12 AM EDT

A transcript of the Harris-Trump debate

Harris and Trump met for their first presidential debate on Tuesday night. The consequential matchup was hosted by ABC News at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

Read a transcript of what was said in the 90-minute debate here.

11:53 PM EDT

CLAIM: Harris: 'The former president said climate change is a hoax'

Fact-check: True

Trump certainly has a lengthy record of using the word "hoax" to describe climate change — mostly before and during his first run for president.

On Dec. 30, 2015, Trump told the crowd at a rally in Hilton Head, South Carolina, "Obama's talking about all of this with the global warming and … a lot of it's a hoax. It's a hoax. I mean, it's a money-making industry, okay? It's a hoax, a lot of it."

On Jan. 25, 2014, Trump tweeted, "NBC News just called it the great freeze — coldest weather in years. Is our country still spending money on the GLOBAL WARMING HOAX?" On Jan. 29, 2014, Trump tweeted: "Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!" That same day, he tweeted, "Give me clean, beautiful and healthy air - not the same old climate change (global warming) b-------! I am tired of hearing this nonsense." Trump also called climate change a "hoax" on the Jan. 6, 2014, edition of Fox & Friends. In addition, he said on the Sept. 24, 2015, edition of CNN’s New Day, "I don’t believe in climate change." And on Jan. 18, 2016, Trump said that climate change "is done for the benefit of China, because China does not do anything to help climate change."

-PolitiFact's Aaron Sharockman

11:42 PM EDT

CLAIM: 'Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had.'

Fact Check: Mostly false, needs context

Trump claimed that if he was in office, Hamas’ October 7th attack on Israel never would have happened because the terror group’s chief sponsor, Iran, “had no money for terror.” However, Iran has been Hamas’ principal backer for decades, including through the Trump presidency. Records retrieved from inside Gaza by the Israeli Defense Forces and verified by independent news outlets indicate Tehran funneled tens of millions of dollars during the Trump administration. Two of Trump’s top advisers for Middle Eastern affairs also claimed that Iran was supplying Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups with $100 million each year in an op-ed published in 2019.

Trump also said that Iran gained $300 billion because the Biden-Harris administration “took off all the sanctions I had” on Iran.

The current administration has maintained and even levied new sanctions against Iran, but during its attempt to renegotiate an Obama-era nuclear deal that Trump exited in 2018, the U.S. did ease the enforcement of some sanctions and restore a U.N waiver that allowed companies from other countries to conduct non-proliferation work at Iranian nuclear sites.

According to shipping data, Iran’s oil exports—its chief source of revenue—have climbed during the last four years. But experts estimate than Tehran has been able to accrue around $100 billion at most during President Biden’s term, which is substantially less than Trump’s figure of $300 billion.

11:29 PM EDT

Trump says he had a great debate

Trump entered the spin room after the debate, claiming he had a great debate and continued to slam Harris over her policies.

He also said he was open to debating Harris again.

11:28 PM EDT

Sen. Murphy says Trump ‘was a puddle by the end of the night,’ Harris looked like a leader

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy offered a scathing critique of Trump’s performance, telling reporters that viewers “only saw one president on stage” and that “Donald Trump was a puddle by the end of the night,” while “Kamala Harris got stronger as the debate went on. She looked like a leader, not just of the United States of America, but of the free world.”

—538's Tia Yang