Haley spars with Republican rivals at 3rd primary debate as Trump still looms

The night heavily focused on international affairs.

The third Republican debate of the 2024 presidential primary was held Wednesday night in Miami.

Five candidates took the stage: former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Missing -- again -- was front-runner Donald Trump, who instead hosted a rally not far away, in Hialeah, Florida.

ABC News and the analysts at 538 live-blogged every major moment and highlight from the debate. PolitiFact made real-time fact checks of key statements.


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Candidates target universities amid rising antisemitism

Scott and DeSantis threatened to deport students who voice support for Hamas as experts have said antisemitism is on the rise.

"To every student who've come to our country on a visa to a college campus, your visa is a privilege, not a right," Scott said. "To all the students on visas who are encouraging Jewish genocide, I would deport you from those campuses."

"I was the first presidential candidate to say, 'If you are here on a student visa as a foreign national, you're making common cause with Hamas, I'm canceling your visa, and I'm sending you home, no questions asked,'" DeSantis said.

Haley also went after college administrators for what she said was insufficient action to protect Jewish students.

"No person should ever feel in danger like this. And this is what I would say about our college presidents, is if the KKK were doing this, every college president would be up in arms."

Some of the demonstrations seen in the U.S. have been in support of the Palestinian people living in the Gaza and West Bank territories. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the terror group Hamas is not representative of all Palestinians.

-ABC News' Tal Axelrod


Candidates voice support of Israel

Asked what they would be urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do if they were president, the candidates were united on Israel's right to defend itself against the terrorist group Hamas.

DeSantis said he would tell Netanyahu to "finish the job once and for all with these butchers, Hamas."

"The only thing we should be doing is supporting them in eliminating Hamas," Haley said, while also stressing the need to bring hostages home.

Ramaswamy said he would tell Netanyahu to "smoke those terrorists on his southern border, and I'll tell him as president of the United States, I'll be smoking the terrorists on our southern border."

Scott said he would tell President Joe Biden that diplomacy is a "weak strategy."

"You cannot negotiate with evil. You have to destroy it," he said.

Christie echoed the other candidates, saying, "You must make sure that Hamas can never do this again."

-ABC News' Meredith Deliso


Ramaswamy has a likeability problem

Ramaswamy is being very pointed out of the gate, and it’s a bit of a risky strategy -- he could be seen as more of a bully and it could increase negative perceptions of him. That has already happened to him in one debate so far this year. He came off strong in the first debate, too, and his unfavorable rating increased from 13% to 32% after it, according to a poll by 538/Washington Post/Ipsos.

-Analysis by Nathaniel Rakich of 538


Fact-checking Ramaswamy’s claim ‘Hunter Biden got a $5 million bribe from Ukraine’

This is unverified.

Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., shared information in June she said she read in an FBI form about a bribery allegation involving Joe Biden, then vice president, his son Hunter and a Ukrainian energy executive.

The FBI filled out the form, known as an FD-1023, in June 2020 after hearing allegations from an informant. The FBI has said such forms contain unverified information. Multiple news outlets have reported that law enforcement have been unable to substantiate the allegations.

-Analysis by Aaron Sharockman of PolitiFact