Ramaswamy and Haley traded shots on his Israel and Russia-Ukraine views, with Ramaswamy interrupting Haley and claiming she has been saying misleading things about his proposals on Israel. Ramaswamy has called for winding down aid to Israel after integrating the country more into the region.

"I wish you well on your future career on the boards of Lockheed and Raytheon,” Ramaswamy quipped, referring to the aerospace and defense companies.

Haley struck back: "You have no foreign policy experience and it shows," she said -- and was met with cheers and applause from the audience.

-ABC News’ Abby Cruz

Trump wasted no time attacking other Republican candidates during his pre-taped interview with former Fox News host Carlson.

"I'm saying, do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it's going to be and get harassed by people that shouldn't even be running for president?" Trump said.

The 46-minute interview -- released on Carlson's X account as the GOP debate got underway -- is being seen among the campaigns as an attempt to counter-program the first debate among 2024 Republican presidential candidates on Fox News.

Read more about the interview here.

-ABC News' Lalee Ibssa , Soo Rin Kim and Meredith Deliso

DeSantis expressed support for using the U.S. military to combat drug cartels across the border.

"The president of the United States has to use all available powers as commander in chief to protect our country and the people," DeSantis said.

"When they are coming across, yes we are going to use lethal force," he continued -- a line he's used repeatedly throughout the campaign.

Activists have pushed back that his plan is inhumane and illegal.

-ABC News' Alexandra Hutzler

Martha MacCallum just asked about what to do about migrants already in the United States. In a July poll by The New York Times/Siena College, 39 percent of likely Republican voters say that they supported a “comprehensive immigration reform bill that provides a pathway to citizenship for all undocumented immigrants” in the United States, while 57 percent opposed such a bill. Support was weakest among Trump supporters (29 percent) compared with DeSantis supporters (48 percent) and voters who say they will vote for another candidate (50 percent).
-Analysis by FiveThirtyEight

Members of DeSantis’s campaign are still upset about a debate memo that was prepared and published last week by a super PAC supporting the governor, a source close to the campaign told ABC News on Wednesday, describing those members of his team as “wildly irritated.”

Chief among the complaints is that the memo, which detailed suggested approaches and lines of attack, effectively handcuffs DeSantis by preventing the governor from using any of the advice on stage lest he invite attacks from opponents for using lines manufactured for him by other people.

The memo included research documents that show that Axiom Strategies, a consulting firm tied to the super political action committee, anticipated that the biggest hits to DeSantis would include his battle with Disney -- ABC News' parent company -- past comments on Ukraine, Florida's Black history standard, the culture wars and abortion.

The packet also included past comments made by presidential hopefuls attacking DeSantis on those specific subjects.

DeSantis himself has downplayed the memo, telling Fox News recently, “It’s not mine. I haven’t read it. It’s just -- I think it’s something that we have put off to the side.”

-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Will McDuffie and Olivia Osteen