A split image. On the left is Donald Trump speaking. On the right is Kamala Harris speaking.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debated in Philadelphia. Source: Getty, AFP / Saul Loeb

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Donald Trump and Kamala Harris' presidential debate — as it happened

Here's how the 2024 US Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris unfolded.

A split image. On the left is Donald Trump speaking. On the right is Kamala Harris speaking.

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris debated in Philadelphia. Source: Getty, AFP / Saul Loeb

Published 11 September 2024 10:34am
Updated 11 September 2024 1:02pm
Source: SBS News


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11 Sep 12:58pm
Trump and Harris make their closing statements
Harris ended the debate speaking about her vision for the future.

"I think you've heard tonight two very different visions for our country: One that is focused on the future and the other that has focused on the past, in an attempt to take us backward, she said.

Harris repeated her desire to create "an opportunity economy", including investments in small businesses, families, and protecting seniors.

"I believe in what we can do together that is about sustaining America's standing in the world and ensuring we have the respect that we so rightly deserve including respecting our military and ensuring we have the most lethal fighting force in the world," Harris said.

She said she would "be a president that will protect our fundamental rights and freedoms."

Trump took aim at Harris in his closing statement.

"She started by saying she is going to do this and that, do it all these wonderful things. Why hasn't she done it? She's been there for 3.5 years, they had 3.5 years to fix the border, 3.5 years to create jobs and all the things we talked about, why has she not done it? She should leave right now."

He spoke about how he currently views the US.

"We are a failing nation. We are nation that is in serious decline. We are being laughed at all over the world, all over the world I know the leaders very well, they see me, they call me, we are laughed at all over the world they don't understand what happened to us as a nation, we are not a leader."

Trump ended with a comment on Harris' approach to immigrants, saying: "What these people have done to our country and maybe toughest of all is allowing millions of people to come into our country, many of them are criminals and they are destroying our country, the worst president, the worst vice president in the history of our country."

The Reuters news agency has previously reported that a range of studies by academics and think tanks have shown that immigrants do not commit crimes at a higher rate than native-born Americans.

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 12:52pm
Would Obamacare stay?
Trump long vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare but has more recently said he would keep it as is, "unless we can do something much better.”

Trump said he would keep the Act as is, for now.

"It's still never going to be great and it's too expensive for people and what we will do is we're looking at different plans. If we can come one a plan that's going to cost our people, our population less money and be better health care than Obamacare I would absolutely do it. Until then, I'd run it as good as it can be good."

Harris said Trump has “no plan” and America needs to maintain and grow the Affordable Care Act.

"What the Affordable Care Act does is eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny people with pre-existing condition," Harris said.

"I don't have to tell people, you remember what that was like? Remember when an insurance company could deny if a child had asthma, if someone was a breast cancer survivor, if a grandparent had diabetes?”

She said the Act had been strengthened since she’d been Vice President.

"Over the last four years have strengthened the Affordable Care Act, we have allowed for the first time Medicare to negotiate the drug prices, on behalf of you the American people."

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 12:51pm
US withdrawal from Afghanistan
When Harris was asked if she believed she bears any responsibility , she highlighted the financial and human cost of military occupation.

"We were paying for that endless war and as of today there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century," she said.

Harris said she "agreed" with US President Joe Biden's decision to withdraw troops.

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 12:39pm
The Russia-Ukraine war and NATO
Another war Trump said he would get "settled and fast" is that between .

"I'll get it done before even becoming president if I win, when I'm president-elect," Trump said.

"What I'll do is I'll speak to one, I'll speak to the other. I'll get them together."

He did not elaborate on how he might do that.

Trump said he knew Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia's Vladimir Putin "very well" and had a good relationship with both leaders.

Harris said she believed "the reason that Donald Trump says this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up and that's not who we are as Americans."

She said "Ukraine stands as an independent and free country, if Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now."

Trump repeated his stance on NATO, claiming the US was providing the majority of funding to and the US would not protect those who did not "pay up".

A fact check by the Reuters news agency in May found the US was contributing to about one-sixth of NATO's annual budget and not two-thirds as had been claimed in social media posts circulating at the time.

Harris claimed that NATO allies were "thankful" Trump was no longer president.

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 12:15pm
Hamas-Israel war
Harris was asked how she would negotiate a ceasefire in the .

She did not answer directly, instead saying Israel had a right to defend itself but that too many innocent Palestinians had been killed since the war erupted — which she has said before.

"[The war] must end immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out," Harris said.

"And so we will continue to work around the clock on that; work around the clock also understanding that we must chart a course to and in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians."
Trump was also asked how he would negotiate and did not answer directly, saying he would "get that settled and fast" without providing further details.

He also claimed Harris "hates" Israel and the Arab population. Harris said that was "absolutely not true".

"He's trying to, again, divide 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," Harris said.

More than 1,200 people were killed in the 7 October attack led by Hamas — the militant rules of the Palestinian enclave Gaza — on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Militants took more than 250 people hostage. Some 97 are still believed to be held in Gaza, including 33 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel's offensive in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry.

The war has left large swathes of Gaza in ruins and displaced the vast majority of its 2.4 million people at least once.

— David Aidone
11 Sep 12:05pm
Trump still believes he won 2020 election
Trump repeated misleading claims he has previously made that he actually won the 2020 presidential election.

"There is so much proof. All you have to do is look at it and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval," he added.

The comments followed questions from moderators in which they introduced saying "we have an election in just 56 days, I want to talk about the peaceful transfer of power".

When Trump was asked if he regretted anything from 6 January when the Capitol Riot took place, he said: "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 going to be big," he said.
Harris said: “Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people.”

“Let's be clear about that and clearly he's having a very difficult time processing that.”

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:50am
Baseless claims about immigrants eating pets
While discussing immigration, Trump brought up baseless claims that had originally been made by his about Haitian immigrants stealing pet dogs to eat them.

"They're eating the pets of the people that live there and this is what is happening in our country and it's a shame," Trump said.

Officials from the city of which the false claims are centred on Tuesday (local time) attempted to set the record straight by saying there were zero verified reports of specific claims, according to local media.

"Rumors like this are taking away from the real issues such as issues involving our housing or school resources and our overwhelmed healthcare system," Springfield Mayor Rob Rue said, according to the Springfield News-Sun.

Also on Tuesday, Vance acknowledged the false claims might not be true.

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:50am
Trump on assassination attempt
Trump raised his attempted assassination when replying to Harris's comments on

Harris said "he would weaponise the Department of Justice against his political enemies".

Trump said: "This is the one that weaponised, not me."

"I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me. They talk about I'm a threat to democracy. They're the threat to democracy."
— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:32am
Debate on abortion
While speaking on the topic of abortion, Trump wrongly claimed it was legal for a baby to be killed after birth in the United States.

Harris said she would "absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe versus Wade"/

Roe v Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established access to abortion as a constitutional right until the foetus is viable outside the womb, typically 22 to 24 weeks.

When asked about his position on abortions within six weeks, Trump said he was not planning on signing a ban on the matter.

“There's no reason to sign a ban. We've gotten what everybody wanted, Democrats, Republicans and everybody else and every legal scholar wanted it to be brought back to the States.”
— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:22am
Project 2025
Harris claims that Trump will implement a "dangerous plan called Project 2025" if he is re-elected.

Project 2025 is a series of detailed policy proposals by hundreds of high-profile conservatives that the project's participants hope Trump will adopt if he wins power.

Trump has recently tried to distance himself from Project 2025, even though many of his closest policy advisers are deeply involved.

Donald Trump standing at a lectern and speaking in front of a microphone.
Donald Trump has distanced himself from the conservative Project 2025. Source: AAP,AP / Alex Brandon

Trump responded by saying he has had "nothing to do" with Project 2025 — overseen by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

"I haven't read it," Trump said. "Purposely, I don't want to".

He said some of the ideas it contained were good, and others bad.

You can .

— David Aidone
11 Sep 11:20am
Trump denies claims on sales tax
While explaining that, as president, she would provide a $50,000 tax deduction to start-up small businesses, she took aim at Trump.

“My opponent on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before. To provide a tax cut for billionaires and it will add $5 trillion to America's deficit. My opponent has what I call the Trump sales tax, a 20 per cent tax on everyday goods you rely on to get through the month.

“Economists said that Trump sales tax would result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year.”

However Trump said he had no plans for a sales tax.

“That is an incorrect statement, she knows that.”

He said instead he would focus on tariffs being paid to the US by other countries.

“The tariff will be substantial in some cases. I took in billions and billions of dollars from China. They never took the tariff off. It was so much money, they can't I would totally destroy everything they set out to do. They're taking in billions of dollars from China and other places, they have left the tariffs on. I had tariffs and yet had no inflation.”

He described the US economy under Harris as Vice President as “terrible”.

“We've had inflation like few have seen before, probably the worst in our nation's history. We were at 21%, but that is generous, many things are 80% higher than a few years ago. This has been a disaster (not just) for the middle class but for every class.”

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:09am
First up, Kamala Harris on the economy
The first question has gone to Harris.

She has been asked how Americans are better off than four years ago when she became Vice President.

"I imagine and have a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy, because here is the thing... We have a shortage of homes and housing," Harris said.

"The cost is too expensive for far too many people. We know young families need support to raise children. I intend on extending a tax cut to those families of $6,000, the largest child tax credit we have given in a long time, so that those young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, clothes for their children."

— Aleisha Orr
11 Sep 11:02am
Watch the debate live
11 Sep 10:51am
Visualised: How Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are tracking ahead of the November election
US national polls
Source: SBS
Voter sentiment Kamala Harris
Source: SBS
Voter sentiment Donald Trump
Source: SBS
11 Sep 10:45am
The burning issues on the minds of Americans
With less than two months before the November election, there are "wide differences" when it comes to pressing issues between voters who support Harris and Trump, according to the Pew Research Center.

Its latest national survey was conducted among 9,720 adults — including 8,044 registered voters — from 26 August to 2 September.

The survey found that while some issues have long been pressing, others have become increasingly important since the 2020 presidential election.

With concerns around the state of the economy and inflation, 81 per cent of registered voters said the economy will be very important in this year's election.

And about two thirds (65 per cent) of all voters, healthcare is very important to their vote

SBS News journalist Emma Brancatisano has wrapped up the issues on the minds of Americans, and you can .
11 Sep 10:36am
How will the debate work?
As with the June debate between Trump and Biden, there will be no studio audience and no opening statements.

Harris and Trump will be given two minutes to answer each question, two minutes for rebuttals, and one minute for follow-ups, responses to rebuttals, or clarifications.

Closing statements will also be limited to two minutes each.

Anyone hoping for any spicy hot mic moments is out of luck. Microphones will only be on for the candidate whose turn it is to speak, and only moderators will be allowed to ask questions.

Harris and Trump won't be allowed any props or pre-written notes on stage, and must stand behind the podiums throughout the debate.

They will each be given a pen, paper, and a bottle of water,

While there will be two ad breaks during the debate, campaign staff won't be allowed to interact with either candidate during that time.
— Amy Hall
11 Sep 10:34am
Welcome to SBS News' US presidential debate live blog
Good morning, and thanks for joining SBS News' live coverage of the US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

It's set to kick off at 11am AEST and will be hosted by US broadcaster ABC News — and it will be broadcast live from 11am SBS and on .

Trump in June before the US president .

This could be only the debate between Trump and Harris, now the, which takes place just eight weeks before the election.

— David Aidone
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