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Walz-Vance debate updates: VP candidates tangle on abortion, immigration and Jan. 6

Walz and Vance squared off for the first and only time this election cycle.

Vice presidential candidates Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance squared off for the first and only time this election season.

Unlike the last two presidential debates, the candidates appeared to be more cordial. However, both running mates criticized the presidential candidates on a host of issues including gun violence, reproductive rights, immigration and climate change.

Walz appeared to have nerves in the opening of debate, but went on the attack as the night went on. Vance took aim at Harris and her policies and pushed Trump's policies.


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Walz warns of dangers of GOP plans for reproductive rights

Walz talked about the dangers that women have faced since Roe. v Wade was overturned and claimed that one of Project 2025's policies was to have a registry of pregnancies.

"It's going to make it more difficult if not impossible, to get contraception and limit access, if not eliminate access to infertility treatments," he said.

Vance denied the claims and reiterated his claims that he wanted to make America "pro-family."

"And I want to talk about this issue because I know a lot of Americans care about and I know a lot of Americans don't agree with everything that I've ever said on this topic," he said.

When asked about his past comments on a national abortion ban, Vance denied that he was pushing for it, and again claimed that the Trump administration is trying to help families including "making childcare more accessible, making fertility treatments more accessible."


Claim: 'Iran, which launched this attack, has received over $100 billion in unfrozen assets thanks to the Kamala Harris administration. What do they use that money for? They use it to buy weapons that they're now launching against our allies.'

Fact Check: False.

Vance might be referring to Iran’s claims that it was able to access $100 billion in previously frozen funds when it officially entered an Obama-era nuclear pact in 2016. However, the Obama White House estimated the total sanctions relief Iran could see was around $50 billion.

And while President Biden was vice president at the time the deal was brokered, Vice President Harris was California’s attorney general and had nothing to do with the agreement, which former President Trump exited in 2018.

Another GOP claim has been that Biden and Harris have allowed Iran to access $16 billion—not $100 billion—of its frozen revenue during Biden’s time in office. However, that assertion is also complicated.

In July 2023, the Biden administration expanded a waiver President Trump had initially put in place that allowed Iraq to purchase energy from Iran without running afoul of sanctions, according to the administration. That move greenlit some of roughly $10 billion in Iraqi payments to be transferred to third-party countries, primarily Oman, and used by Tehran to purchase non-sanctioned goods. According to U.S. officials, those funds are protected by a vetting system to ensure they cannot be put toward nefarious purposes.

Biden administration officials have testified that Iran has been able to withdraw at least some of the money held in Oman, but it’s unclear how much it has accessed and how that money was spent.

Two months later, in September, the U.S. and Iran executed a []() that included the release of $6 billion dollars of Iranian cash that had been sanctioned and held in South Korean banks. Iran was set to receive access to the money as a condition of the prisoner exchange, according to administration officials. The deal also mandated Iran could only use the funds for Iran for humanitarian purposes. To enforce that rule, distribution of the funds was controlled by the government of Qatar.

However, after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, the U.S. and Qatar reached an agreement to freeze the funds indefinitely, and a State Department official confirms that Iran has not been able to access any the $6 billion.

—Shannon Kingston


Walz pressed on Hong Kong discrepancy, says he 'misspoke'

When asked why Walz previously said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre, Walz only glancingly responded, only saying that he's "a knucklehead at times" and that his extensive travel to China "is about trying to understand the world, it's about trying to do the best you can for the community."

When pressed further, he conceded that he "misspoke" and that he was in Hong Kong the year of the massacre but not at the time it happened.


Vance's past criticisms of Trump are highlighted. He defends himself

Walz repeatedly poked at Vance's past criticisms of Trump and now the CBS moderator is asking him to explain

"Because I've always been open and sometimes, of course, I've disagreed with the president but I've also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump," Vance said.

Vance blamed the media for its coverage of Trump and then said he changed his mind in part because of Trump's record in office.