The presidential debate on Tuesday between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump saw a number of testy moments between the two candidates.
The debate, which was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the first and possibly only debate between Harris and Trump. The Harris campaign quickly said ‘Harris is ready for a second debate,’ but Trump said on Wednesday morning during a ‘Fox and Friends’ interview that he ‘won the debate’ and is ‘less inclined to’ do another debate with Harris.
Here are some of the top clashes of the night:
Abortion fight
One of the early clashes between the two was over abortion. Harris accused Trump of opening the door to ‘Trump abortion bans’ due to his nomination of justices who eventually overturned Roe v Wade.
‘If Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban,’ she said.
Trump responded by calling that a ‘lie.’ The two would eventually challenge each other on the topic, with Trump asking if Harris would support late-term abortions, and Harris challenging Trump to say if he would veto a federal abortion ban.
‘Will she allow abortion in the eighth month? Ninth month? Seventh month?’ Trump asked.
‘Come on,’ Harris said.
‘OK, would you do that?’ he responded.
‘Why don’t you ask her that question?’ Trump appealed to the moderators.
‘Why don’t you answer the question, would you veto?’ Harris asked Trump.
Are Trump’s rallies boring?
Harris upset former Trump when she accused him of holding boring rallies and accused him of talking about ‘windmills causing cancer.’
‘What you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom. And I will tell you, the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you.’
Trump soon shot back: ‘People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go. And the people that do go, she’s busing them in and paying them to be there. And then showing them in a different light. So she can’t talk about that. People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.’
‘I’m talking now’
Trump used a quip on Tuesday evening similar to one made famous in 2020 by Harris during the vice presidential debate, in which she repeatedly told then-Vice President Mike Pence, ‘I’m speaking.’
‘Wait a minute, I’m talking now if you don’t mind. Please,’ Trump said. ‘Does that sound familiar?’
Harris smiled as she clearly got the reference.
‘I am not Joe Biden’
‘Remember this, she is Biden. You know, she’s trying to get away from Biden. ‘I don’t know the gentleman,’ she says. She is Biden. The worst inflation we’ve ever had. A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can’t get away with it,’ he said.
Harris shot back: ‘Clearly, I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump. And what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country.’
Spar over Russia
Harris and Trump attacked one another over Russian President Vladimir Putin.
‘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 the Ukraine, it was brilliant,’ she said.
Trump pushed back, accusing Harris of being ‘weak on national security’ and said she had the endorsement of Putin.
‘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,’ he said.
Fox News’ Matteo Cina contributed to this report.