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The first debate between Trump and Harris
US presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump held a televised debate live on ABC News.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris held the first and possibly the last debate before the US presidential election in November. The candidates repeatedly accused each other of lying. Russia's war against Ukraine became a separate block of discussion.
For Trump, this was the seventh pre-election debate since his candidacy in 2016. It was the first experience for Harris. Moreover, the two candidates have never met in person or spoken to each other.
The debate took place at the National Center for the Study of the Constitution in Philadelphia (in the largest city of the state of Pennsylvania, which is key in the current election) and lasted 90 minutes with two commercial breaks.
War in Ukraine
Trump has said that the war must end, and he can make it happen. He reiterated that he intends to do so before taking office if he wins the election. According to him, he knows Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky well, and they respect him.
"They respect me and they don't respect Biden. Why should he be respected?” - he said.
In response, Harris reminded Trump that he was fighting her in the election, not Biden.
"Our NATO allies are very grateful that you are no longer president," Harris said to Trump. "If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now, looking at the rest of Europe, starting with Poland."
According to her, Putin is "a dictator who will eat Trump for lunch."
Trump called Harris the worst vice president in history and said she failed to prevent war as vice president.
Harris used the word "shame" several times when addressing Trump and commenting on his remarks.
"World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I've talked to military leaders, some of whom have worked with you, and they say you're a disgrace,” Harris said, turning to the former president.
Mutual accusations
Harris, as the former attorney general of California, raised the issue of Trump's criminal record in response to his words about "crime by migrants." "This is coming from someone who has been prosecuted for national security crimes, economic crimes, election interference," she said. In response, Trump said that all cases against him are fake.
Trump refused to admit that he lost the last election and said that he has no regrets about storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021. "I received almost 75 million votes, more votes than any sitting president has ever received," he said. Trump also blamed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for security problems during the storming of the Capitol.
The candidates accused each other of lying several times. At the start of the debate, Harris said viewers would hear "a bunch of lies, complaints and name-calling" from Trump.
Trump called Kamala Harris a "Marxist", trying to connect her activities with the work of her father, a former economist at Stanford University.
