David Muir (35:23):I’ll let you respond. Vice President Harris.
Kamala Harris (35:25):
Well I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference has been found liable for sexual assault. And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing. And let’s 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. So let’s 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 tire playbook.
David Muir (36:40):Vice President Harris, thank you,
Donald Trump (36:42):
Excuse me. Every one of those cases was started by them against their political opponent. And I’m winning most of them. And I will win the rest on appeal. And you saw that with a decision that came down just recently from the Supreme Court. I’m winning most of them. But those are cases, it’s called Weaponization Never happened in this country. They weaponized the Justice Department. Every one of those cases was involved with the DOJ from Atlanta and NY Willis to, to the, uh, attorney General of New York and the DA in New York. Every one of those cases. And then they say, oh, he was, he’s a criminal. They’re the ones that made them go after me. By the way, Joe Biden was found essentially guilty on the documents case. And what happened in my documents case, they said, oh, that’s the toughest of them all. A complete and total victory two months ago. It was thrown out, it’s weaponization and they used it and it’s never happened in this country. They used it to try and win an election. President Trump their fake cases.
David Muir (37:44):President Trump. Thank you. A really quick response here, vice President Harris on this notion of weaponization of the Justice Department.
Kamala Harris (37:49):
Well, let’s talk about extreme and understand the context in which this election in 2024 is taking place. 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, I’m quoting, terminate the Constitution of the United States, that he would weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Someone who has openly expressed disdain for members of our military understand what it would mean if Donald Trump were back in the White House with no guardrails. Because certainly we know now the court won’t stop him. We know JD Vance is not gonna stop him. It’s up to the American people.
David Muir (38:39):Vice President Harris to stop him. Thank you Lindsay.
Lindsay Davis (38:41):Vice President Harris, in your last run for President Weaponized,
Donald Trump (38:44):
Please. We got, this is the one that weaponized not me. She weaponized. I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me. They talk about democracy. I’m a threat to democracy. They’re the threat to democracy. P Trump was a fake. Russia, Russia, Russia investigation. We do have a lot to get. That went nowhere.
David Muir (39:04):We have a lot to get to Lindsey.
Lindsay Davis (39:05):
Vice President Harris. In your last run for president, you said you wanted to ban fracking. Now you don’t. You wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don’t. You supported decriminalizing border crossings. Now you’re taking a harder line. I know you say that your values have not changed. So then why have so many of your policy positions changed?
Kamala Harris (39:26):
So my values have not changed. And I’m going to discuss every one of the, at least every point that you’ve made. But in particular, let’s talk about fracking ’cause we’re here in Pennsylvania. I made that very clear. In 2020 I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice President of the United States. And in fact I was the tie breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking. My position is that 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 over rely on foreign oil as it relates to my values. Lemme tell you, I grew up a middle class kid raised by a hardworking 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 home ownership, knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times is a value that I bring to my work to say we are going to work with the private sector and home builders to increase 3 million homes, increase by 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 by her stepfather. And my focus 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 on longstanding work that I have 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. It’s in lifting people up. I intend to be that president,
Lindsay Davis (41:40):President Trump.
Donald Trump (41:41):
You’re across. Well, first of all, I wasn’t given $400 million. I wish I was. My father was a Brooklyn builder, Brooklyn Queens and a great father. And I learned a lot from him. But I was given a fraction of that, a tiny fraction and have built it into many, many billions of dollars. Many, many billions. And when people see it, they are even surprised. So we don’t have to talk about that fracking. She’s been against it for 12 years. Uh, defund the police. She’s been against that forever. She gave all that stuff up very wrongly, very horribly. And everybody’s laughing at it, okay? They’re 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, I’m talking now if you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?
Kamala Harris (42:31):Don’t lie.
Donald Trump (42:31):
She went out. She went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people that burned down Minneapolis. She went out and raised money to get ’em out of jail. She did things that nobody would ever think of. Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison. This is a radical left liberal that would do this. She wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania if she won the election. Fracking in Pennsylvania will end on day one. Just to finish one thing, so important in my opinion. So I got the oil business going like nobody has ever done before. They took, 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 go to where they were. I would’ve been five times, four times, five times higher because you’re talking about three and a half years ago.
They got it up to where I was because they had no choice because the prices of energy were were quadrupling and doubling. You saw what happened to gasoline. So they said, let’s go back to Trump. But if she won the election the day after that election, they’ll go back to destroying our country and oil will be dead. Fossil fuel will be dead. We’ll go back to windmills and we’ll go back to solar where they need a whole desert to get some energy to come at it. You ever see a solar plant, by the way? I’m a big fan of solar, but they take 400, 500 acres of desert soil. President Trump, we have a lot of issues. Are not good things for the environment that she understands.
Lindsay Davis (44:08):Thank you
David Muir (44:09):
Lindsay. Thank you. We have an election in just 56 days and, and I wanna talk about the peaceful transfer of power, which of course we all know is a cornerstone of our democracy and the role of a president. Uh, in a moment of crisis, uh, Mr. President on January 6th, you told your supporters to march to the Capitol. You said you would be right there with them. Uh, the country and the world saw what played out of the capitol that day. The officers coming under attack aids in the West Wing. Say you watched it unfold on television off the Oval Office. Uh, you did send out tweets, but it was more than two hours before you sent out that video message, uh, telling your supporters to go home. Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?
Donald Trump (44:45):
You just said a thing that isn’t covered peacefully and patriotically. I said during my speech, not later on peacefully and patriotically and nobody on the other side was killed. Ashley Babbitt was shot by an out of control police officer that should have never ever shot her. It’s a disgrace. But we didn’t do this group of people that have been treated so badly. I asked, what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people that she allowed to pour in? She was the bozar. Remember that? She was the bozar. She doesn’t want to be called the boar because she’s embarrassed by the border. In fact, she said at the beginning, well, I’m surprised you’re not talking about the body yet. That’s because she knows what a bad job they’ve done. What about those people? What’s, what Are they gonna be prosecuted? When are these people from countries all over the world, not just South America. They’re coming in from all over the world, David, all over the world and crime rates are down all over the world because of it. But lemme just ask you, but one of those, David, one of those people gonna be prosecuted, one of the people that burned down Minneapolis gonna be prosecuted or in Seattle. They went into Seattle. They took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle. One, are those people gonna be prosecuted?
David Muir (46:01):But let me just ask
Donald Trump (46:02):You, you might ask her that question.
David Muir (46:03):
You were the president. You were watching it unfold on television. It’s a very simple question. As we move forward toward another election, is there anything you regret about what you did on that day? Yes or
Donald Trump (46:13):
No? I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech. I said, I think it’s gonna be big. I went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington DC and the mayor put it back in writing as you know. I said, you know, this is gonna be a very big rally or whatever you want to call it. And again, it wasn’t done by me, it was done by others. I said, I’d 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 wanna get rid of that tape. It would’ve never happened if Nancy Pelosi and the Mayor of Washington did their jobs. I wasn’t responsible for security. Nancy Pelosi was responsible. She didn’t do her job.
David Muir (47:00):
The question was about you as president, not about former Speaker Pelosi. But I do want Vice President Harris to respond here.
Kamala Harris (47:07):
I was at the capitol 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 nation’s capital, to desecrate our nation’s capital. 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. Let’s remember Charlottesville where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches, spewing anti-Semitic hate. And what did the president then at the time say? There were fine people on each side. Let’s remember that when it came to the proud boys a militia, the president said, the former president said, stand back and stand by. So for everyone watching who remembers what January 6th was, I say, we don’t have to go back.
Let’s not go back. We’re not going back. It’s 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. ’cause you don’t like the outcome. And be clear on that point, Donald Trump, the candidate has said in this election there will be a bloodbath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Let’s turn the page on this. Let’s not go back. Let’s chart a course for the future and not go backwards to the past.
Donald Trump (49:13):Let me just follow up here.
(49:15)
It was a different term and it was a term that related to energy because they have destroyed our energy business. That was where bloodbath was also on Charlottesville. That story has been, as you would say, debunked Laura Ingram, Sean Hannity, Jesse, all of these people, they covered it. If they go an extra sentence, they will see it was perfect. It was debunked in almost every newspaper. But they still bring it up just like they bring 20, 25 up. They bring all of this stuff up. I ask you this, you talk about the capitol. Why are we allowing these millions of people to come through on the southern border? How come she’s not doing anything? And I’ll tell you what I would do and I would be very proud to do it. I would say we would both leave this debate right now. I’d like to see her go down to Washington DC during this debate.
’cause we’re wasting a lot of time. Go down to, ’cause she’s been so bad, it’s so ridiculous. Go down to Washington DC and let her sign a bill to close up the border because they have the right to do it. They don’t need bills. They have the right to do it. The president of the United States, you’ll get him outta bed. You’ll wake him up at four o’clock in the afternoon. Alright? You’ll say, come on, come on down to the office. Let’s sign a bill. If he, if he signs a bill that the border is closed, all he has to do is say it to the border patrol who are phenomenal. If they do that, the border is closed.
David Muir (50:35):Mr.
Donald Trump (50:35):President, those people are killing many people. Unlike J six.
David Muir (50:39):
We talked immigration here tonight. I do want to focus on this next issue to both of you because it really brings us, uh, this into focus truth. Uh, in these times that we’re living in, uh, Mr. President for three and a half years after, uh, you lost the 2020 election, you repeatedly, uh, falsely claimed that you won many times saying you won in a landslide. In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, uh, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker that you quote didn’t quite make it, that you came up a little bit short.
Donald Trump (51:05):I said that,
David Muir (51:05):Are you now acknowledging that you lost in
Donald Trump (51:08):
2020? No, I don’t acknowledge that at all. Say that. I said that sarcastically. You know that. And we said, oh, we lost by a whisker that was said sarcastically. Look, there’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval. I got almost 75 million votes. The most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can’t be beaten. Uh, the election people should never be thinking about. An election is fraudulent. We need two things. We need walls. We need 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’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically. And these people are trying to get them to vote. And that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country. I did
David Muir (51:58):
Watch all of these pieces of video. I I didn’t detect the sarcasm lost by whisker. We didn’t quite make it. And we should just point out here as clarification. And you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges, many of them Republican. No judge looked
Donald Trump (52:11):At it
David Muir (52:11):And said
Donald Trump (52:12):
There was no widespread fraud. Didn’t have standing. That’s the other thing they said. We didn’t have standing a technicality. Can you imagine a system where a person in an election doesn’t have standing? The president of the United States doesn’t have standing. That’s how we lost. If you look at the facts, and I’d love to have you, you’ll do a special on it. I’ll show you Georgia and I’ll show you Wisconsin and I’ll show you Pennsylvania and I’ll show you. We have so many facts and statistics, but you know what? That doesn’t matter because we have to solve the problem that we have right now. That’s 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,
David Muir (52:54):
Mr. President. Thank you. Uh, vice President Harris. Uh, you heard the president there tonight. He said he didn’t say that, that he lost by whisker. So he still, uh, believes, uh, he did not lose the election. Uh, that was won by President Biden, uh, and yourself. Uh, but I do wanna ask you about something that’s come up in the last couple of days. This was a post from, uh, president Trump, uh, about this upcoming election. Uh, just weeks away. He said, when I win, those people who cheated, and then he lists donors, voters, election officials, he says, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long-term prison sentences. One of your campaign’s, top lawyers responded saying, we won’t let Donald Trump intimidate us. We won’t let him suppress the vote. Is that what you believe he’s trying to do here?
Kamala Harris (53:36):
Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people. So let’s be 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’m gonna tell you that I, I have traveled the world as vice President of the United States, and world leaders are laughing 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 presidential 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, or the ability to not be confused about fact that’s deeply troubling. And the American people deserve better.
David Muir (54:45):I’ll give you one minute to respond, Mr.
Donald Trump (54:46):
President, let me just tell you about world leaders. Victor Orban, one of the most respected men. They call him a strong man. He’s a, he’s a tough person, smart prime minister of Hungary. They said, why is the whole world blowing up three years ago? It wasn’t. Why is it blowing up? He said, because you need Trump back as president. They were afraid of him. China was afraid, and I don’t like to use the word afraid, but I’m just quoting him. China was afraid of him. North Korea was afraid of him. Look at what’s going on with North Korea. By the way, he said Russia was afraid of him. I ended the Nord Stream two pipeline and Biden put it back on day one. But he ended the Excel pipeline, the Excel pipeline in our country. He ended that. But he let the Russians build a pipeline going all over Europe and heading into Germany, the biggest pipeline in the world.
Look, Victor Orban said it. He said, the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president, but when this weak, pathetic man that you saw at a debate just a few months ago that if you weren’t in that debate, he’d be running instead of her. She got no votes. He 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’ll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can’t stand her, Mr. President, but he got 14 million votes. They threw ’em out. She got zero votes. And when she ran, she was the first one to leave because she failed. And now she’s running. I don’t understand it, but I’m, I’m okay with it because
David Muir (56:22):Mr. Your time is up. Thank you.
Donald Trump (56:23):I think we’re gonna do very well.
David Muir (56:24):We’ve got a lot more to get to.
Lindsay Davis (56:25):
Turning now to the Israel Hamas War and the hostages who are still being held Americans, among them, vice President Harris in December. You said Israel has a right to defend itself, but you added quote, 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. Nearly 100 hostages remain. Just last week, prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there’s not a deal in the making. President Biden has not been able to break through this stalemate. How would you do it?
Kamala Harris (57:01):
Well, let’s understand how we got here. On October seven, Hamas, a terrorist organization slaughtered 1200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And so, absolutely, I said, then 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 that this war must end. It must when end immediately. And the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. And 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 an equal measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you, always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself in particular as it relates to, as it relates to Iran, and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.
Lindsay Davis (58:33):Uh, 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?
Donald Trump (58:43):
If I were president, it would’ve never started. If I were president, Russia would’ve never, ever, I know Putin very well. He would’ve never. And there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years, have gone into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you ended up far worse than people understand what’s going on over there. But when she mentions about Israel, all of a sudden she hates Israel. She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu. When he went to Congress to make a very important speech, she refused to be there. ’cause she was at a sorority party of hers. She wanted to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel. If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now. And I’ve been pretty good at predictions, and I hope I’m 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 gonna get blown up. Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone. It would’ve 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 any of the 28 different, uh, 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’re a rich nation. And now what they’re doing is they’re spreading that money around. Look at what’s happening with the Houthis and Yemen. Look at what’s going on in the Middle East. This would’ve never happened. I will get that settled and fast, and I’ll get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m president elect, I’ll get it done. Before even becoming president.
Lindsay Davis (01:00:37):
Vice President Harris, he says, you hate Israel.
Kamala Harris (01:00:40):
Oh, that’s absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people. He knows that he’s trying to again, divide and, and distract from the reality, which is it is very well known that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy. It is well known 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 the hell 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 Jong un. And it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they’re 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 weak and wrong on national president security, including the importance of upholding and respecting in highest regard. Our military
Lindsay Davis (01:02:06):Vice President Harris, thank you. They’re the
Donald Trump (01:02:08):
Ones and she’s the one that caused it, that’s weak on national security by allowing every nation last month for the year, 168 different countries sending people into our country, their crime weights are way down. Putin endorsed her last week, said, I hope she wins. And I think he meant it because what he’s gotten away with is absolutely incredible. It wouldn’t have happened with me. The leaders of other countries think that they’re weak and incompetent, and they are, they’re grossly incompetent. And I just asked one question. Why does Biden go in and kill the keystone pipeline and approve the single biggest deal that Russia has ever made? Nord Stream two, the biggest pipeline anywhere in the world going to Germany and all over Europe because they’re weak and they’re ineffective. And Biden, by the way, Trump gets
Lindsay Davis (01:02:58):Paid a lot of money. President Trump, thank you. We have a lot of issues to get to.
David Muir (01:03:01):
We’ll be right back with much more of this historic A, b, C news presidential debate from the National Constitution Center right here in Philadelphia. Back in a moment,
Announcer (01:03:14):The ABC news presidential debate will continue after this.