Kamala Harris and Donald Trump began with their talking points, and she threw the first punches.

Asked at the ABC debate by moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis whether the country was better off than four years ago, the VP said she was ‘raised as a middle-class kid,’ wants to raise up those voters, she wants to tackle the housing shortage, and has a ‘passion’ for small business. Trump’s plan, she said, was to cut taxes for his billionaire friends and big corporations.

The former president started on the high road, talking about the tariffs he imposed on China.

But he soon resorted to personal attacks. ‘Everything she believed four years ago, she’s a Marxist.’

And: ‘She hates Israel.’ If she wins, ‘Israel will not exist in two years.’

Trump also said of Joe Biden, without substantiation, ‘He hates her. He can’t stand her.’

Trump pushed a completely debunked rumor that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, ‘they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the pets.’ Muir said the city manager confirmed there were no such reports.

Trump looked angrier as the debate wore on, with Harris at one point laughing at him. She pivoted between looking at him and the cameras; he barely glanced at her.

‘We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic,’ Trump said, which is, well, debatable.  

Harris grew most animated when asked about abortion, and declared that Trump would sign a national abortion ban. 

‘You’re going to hear a bunch of lies,’ the veep said. Pregnant women were being denied emergency care, a 12-year old survivor of incest was forced to carry the baby to term. 

Trump said, as he did to me at Mar-a-Lago, that ‘every legal scholar’ wanted the abortion issue returned to the states. That is not true.

Trump said the Democrats are the radicals because they support abortion through the ninth month, and quoted a dumb comment by the former Virginia governor about making a decision after birth, which is illegal.

‘This is so rich by someone who has been found liable for sexual assault,’ Harris said, referring to the E. Jean Carroll case and rattling off various indictments.

That’s because the administration has ‘weaponized’ law enforcement against him, Trump said in an oft-repeated charge. He added, without substantiation, ‘They’re the ones who made them go after me.’

In another charge without evidence, the ex-president accused Harris of ‘paying people’ to attend her rallies.

Referring to the attempted assassination, Trump said, ‘I probably took a bullet to the head because of their rhetoric.’ Then he said ‘Russia Russia Russia’ – the kind of shorthand that may have puzzled casual viewers.

Harris also said things that weren’t true. She said she made clear in 2020 that she was not against fracking, but what she actually said was that Biden would not ban fracking. She said he had threatened a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses, but he actually said that about the American auto industry.

ABC pressed Trump about Jan. 6, asking why he didn’t make the video earlier asking protestors to go home. He said what was left out was that in his speech he had asked the demonstrators to be ‘peaceful and patriotic.’

Harris countered that Trump had ‘incited a violent mob’ in which 150 law enforcement officials were injured, and ‘some died.’

ABC did press Harris on her past opposition to fracking and for abolishing private health insurance, but she stuck to varying versions of ‘my values haven’t changed.’

On another crucial issue, ABC asked twice: ‘Do you want Ukraine to win this war?’ Trump would not say yes. ‘I want the war to stop,’ he said. ‘I think it’s in the U.S.’s best interest to get this war done, negotiate a deal.’

Harris responded: ‘If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now.’ She said she met with Volodomyr Zelenskyy days before the invasion to share U.S. intelligence.

My scorecard:

Kamala Harris did everything she could have reasonably done to brush off Trump’s attacks, make her case, and repeatedly attack him while largely maintaining her composure.

Trump turned in a strong performance and landed numerous blows, but Harris increasingly got under his skin rather than the other way around.

ABC tilted against Trump, with a series of tougher questions, more followups, more fact-checking, and more corrections by the network. This vindicated Trump’s pregame criticism of ABC as the ‘meanest’ network.

Now the partisan spinning gets under way in earnest.

Former President Trump brought up one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ most memorable debate lines Tuesday night when he told her to ‘wait a minute’ and said ‘I’m talking now’ during a debate exchange. 

‘She gave up at least 12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies, like she was big on defund the police,’ Trump said before it appeared VP Harris attempted to say something. 

‘Wait a minute, I’m talking now,’ Trump shot back. ‘If you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?’

Trump was referencing a debate moment between VP candidates Harris and Mike Pence when she told Pence ‘I’m speaking’ during a 2020 vice presidential debate when he was attempting to talk over her. 

At the time, critics of Harris suggested the quote was an attempt to create a viral moment.

The Harris and Trump campaigns went back and forth in the weeks leading up to the debate about whether the microphones should be muted for the candidate not speaking during the debate. Ultimately, the decision was made to mute the mics.  

The moment was noticed by conservatives on social media, including commentator Dana Loesch who remarked on X, ‘Good quip.’

‘She went out in Minnesota and wanted to let criminals that killed people that burned down Minneapolis,’ Trump said immediately after asking Harris to let him finish speaking. ‘She went out and raised money to get them 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.’

Trump is maintaining his lead nationally, seemingly shrugging off a burst of enthusiasm for Democrats after Harris entered the race, according to recent polling.

Trump garnered the support of 48% of likely voters, compared to 47% who indicated support for Harris, according to the latest results of a New York Times/Siena poll released Sunday.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood and Michael Lee contributed to this report

Former President Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris traded blows on the issue of crime in the United States in the first presidential debate, with Harris defending accusations that migrant crime has increased under her watch by citing Trump’s legal issues.

‘Yeah, it is much higher because of them,’ Trump said during the debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania discussing crime committed by illegal immigrants in the U.S., some of which entered the country under Biden’s watch. 

‘They allowed criminals, many, many millions of criminals,’ Trump continued, ‘They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in drug dealers to come into our country. And then now in the United States and told by their countries like Venezuela, don’t ever come back or we’re going to kill you. Do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down?’

Trump continued, ‘Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It’s called migrant crime. And it’s happening at levels that nobody thought possible.’

ABC’s David Muir then interjected and said that ‘the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country’ without noting that those statistics are down from historic highs or that several large cities did not include their data. 

‘They were defrauding statements,’ Trump responded. ‘They they didn’t include the worst cities. They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud. Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.’

Harris responded by bringing up Trump’s criminal convictions and pending indictments.

‘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,’ Harris said. 

‘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.’

Harris continued: ‘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.’

Former President Donald Trump cited his assassination attempt during his debate against Vice President Kamala Harris, saying he ‘probably took a bullet to the head’ due to rhetoric from Harris and Democrats. 

‘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,’ Trump said from the debate stage in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. 

Trump faced an assassination attempt in July during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooter, Matthew Crooks, shot Trump in the ear, injured two audience members and fatally shot local dad and fireman Corey Comperatore. 

‘This is the one that weaponized, not me,’ Trump said, referring to Harris. ‘She weaponized.’

Trump’s remark that he was shot ‘probably’ due to Democratic rhetoric was followed by Harris saying that Trump would ‘weaponize the Department of Justice’ against his political enemies. 

‘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,’ she said. 

‘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, that it means if Donald Trump were back in the White House with no guard rails, because certainly we know now the court won’t stop him,’ Harris added. 

Trump has since recovered from the assassination attempt, after he was seen wearing a bandage over his ear during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee just days after the attempt unfolded. 

Trump and Harris joined the same debate stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. The debate marks the first time the pair squared off against one another, following President Biden dropping out of the race amid mounting concerns over his mental acuity. 

Trump has said he will return to Butler County, Pennsylvania, in October for another rally following the attempt. 

Vice President Kamala Harris claimed former President Trump would install a national abortion ban that would allow for no exceptions despite Trump saying moments before he believes in exceptions for abortion. 

‘Now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state. It provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception, even for rape and incest, which understand what that means,’ Harris said Tuesday evening from Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.  

‘A survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body. That is immoral, and one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body,

‘Understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign the national abortion ban.’ 

Moments before, Trump said he believes in exceptions for abortion, similar to former President Reagan. 

‘I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother,’ Trump said during the debate. ‘I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. Eighty-five percent of Republicans knew exceptions are very important,’ he said. 

Trump added in his rebuttal that he does not support a national abortion ban and that Harris’ comments were an ‘absolute lie.’ 

‘As far as the abortion ban, no, I’m not in favor of an abortion ban, but it doesn’t matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states,’ Trump said. 

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, and Trump praised the decision. His campaign says abortion laws and issues should be left up to individual states after the Dobbs decision. 

Earlier this year, Trump drew the condemnation of some pro-life conservatives for the GOP’s more muted language on abortion this election cycle and for saying last month that Florida’s six-week abortion ban ‘is too short.’ He has since said he will vote against a Florida amendment that would legalize abortion through the ninth month of pregnancy and has doubled down that abortion laws and issues should be left up to states to decide.