FactChecking the Harris-Trump Debate - FactCheck.org

Abstract

The extremely anticipated debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was a combative occasion wherein details had been repeatedly trampled and distorted.

• In a prolonged alternate on the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, Trump made a number of statements that had been both false, deceptive or unsupported, and Harris obtained a few details flawed, too.

• Trump referred to a rumor that started on Fb alleging that immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been stealing and consuming native pets. Metropolis police have mentioned there have been “no credible reviews” of that type of exercise.

• Harris claimed Trump intends to enact what in impact is a “gross sales tax” which she mentioned economists estimate would elevate costs on typical American households by virtually $4,000 a yr. That’s a high-end estimate from a liberal suppose tank about Trump’s plan for “common baseline tariffs” on imports.

• However Trump was additionally flawed when he claimed People wouldn’t pay greater costs on account of tariffs, and that the upper costs can be borne by the nations the tariffs are levied in opposition to. Many nonpartisan economists disagree concerning the quantity that Trump’s proposed tariffs would elevate costs for American households, however most agree it could be substantial.

• Trump falsely claimed that Harris was despatched “to barter peace” between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022. Days earlier than Russia invaded Ukraine that month, Harris met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky in Germany. She didn’t meet with Putin, as Trump mentioned.

• Harris falsely claimed that “Trump left us the worst unemployment because the Nice Despair.” When President Joe Biden and Harris took workplace in January 2021, the unemployment fee was 6.4% — decrease than it was throughout a number of administrations because the Nineteen Thirties.

• Harris and Trump traded jabs on manufacturing job efficiency of their respective administrations, with every claiming the opposite misplaced jobs, however each side are cherry-picking from the statistics.

• Trump repeated his unsupported declare that “thousands and thousands of individuals” are “pouring into our nation from prisons, jails, from psychological establishments and insane asylums.” And he mentioned these migrants had been “taking jobs” from “African People and Hispanics and likewise unions.” Employment and union membership information present no proof of that, both.

• Trump repeated his false declare that everybody — liberals and conservatives — wished to finish Roe v. Wade’s constitutional proper to abortion.

• The previous president repeatedly mentioned Democrats, together with vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, had been in favor of abortion “within the ninth month” — and even after start. Abortion that late is exceedingly uncommon, and abortion after start doesn’t exist. It’s murder, and it’s unlawful.

• Harris repeated the assertion that Trump “will signal a nationwide abortion ban” if reelected, however Trump mentioned that he doesn’t intend to signal such a ban. Harris additionally tried to tie Trump to Mission 2025’s proposal for necessary abortion reporting, however Trump has tried to distance himself from the doc.

• The vice chairman claimed Trump’s financial insurance policies led to “one of many highest” commerce deficits in American historical past. However the annual commerce deficits in the course of the Biden administration have exceeded these underneath Trump.

• Trump once more falsely claimed that fraud was liable for his loss within the 2020 election, and wrongly claimed that none of his lawsuits making that allegation had been selected the deserves.

• Trump mentioned Harris “won’t ever enable fracking in Pennsylvania.” When she was operating for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Harris did say she was “in favor of banning fracking.” However in an Aug. 29 interview on CNN and on the debate, Harris mentioned, “I cannot ban fracking.”

• Harris claimed that Trump’s tax proposal would “present a tax minimize for billionaires and massive companies, which can end in $5 trillion to America’s deficit.” That’s the estimated 10-year price of extending all of the tax cuts in Trump’s 2017 tax legislation, however these tax adjustments benefited folks of all revenue teams.

• Trump falsely claimed that Harris “has a flat plan to confiscate everyone’s weapons.” Harris has not known as for taking away all weapons, and her marketing campaign mentioned she not helps a compulsory buyback program for so-called “assault weapons.”

• Trump claimed that he had “no inflation” throughout his presidency, whereas inflation skilled underneath Biden has been “in all probability the worst in our nation’s historical past.” Inflation was low underneath Trump, nevertheless it wasn’t zero. And whereas Inflation has risen considerably underneath Biden, it’s far under document ranges.

• Trump made the curious declare that he “saved” the Inexpensive Care Act, despite the fact that he tried, and failed, to repeal and change it whereas he was president, and he backed a lawsuit that might have nullified the legislation.

• The previous president wrongly claimed that “crime on this nation is thru the roof,” and that FBI information on the contrary is a “fraud” as a result of “they didn’t embrace the cities with the worst crime.” The newest FBI statistics are primarily based on voluntary reporting from the next participation of cities than any yr throughout Trump’s presidency.

• Trump falsely claimed that the variety of jobs created in the course of the Biden administration “turned out to be a fraud.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics introduced a downward revision within the jobs tally throughout its routine annual revision of jobs information.

• Trump wrongly claimed that underneath his administration, “we had the best financial system.”

• Harris claimed that Trump “desires to be a dictator on Day 1,” however the former president has mentioned that he was joking when he mentioned he can be a dictator for at some point.

• Trump repeated a preferred speaking level, calling Harris the “border czar.” She was by no means answerable for border safety, quite, she was tasked with addressing root causes of migration from three Central American Nations.

• Trump repeated one other acquainted declare, wrongly saying that the U.S. had left “$85 billion value of brand name new, stunning navy tools” when it left Afghanistan.

The debate was hosted by ABC Information on Sept. 10.

Evaluation

Trump, Harris on Jan. 6 Assault on U.S. Capitol

Co-moderator David Muir kicked off a lengthy back-and-forth between the candidates concerning the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol when he requested Trump if there’s something “you remorse about what you probably did on that day.”

In his response, Trump made a number of statements that had been both false, deceptive or unsupported, and Harris obtained a few details flawed.

The previous president spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, on the Ellipse not removed from the Capitol, the place members of Congress had been gathering to start the method of accepting the electoral votes that might make Joe Biden president. In his speech, Trump advised his supporters that the Democrats stole the election, making quite a few false claims about election fraud in swing states, and known as on then-Vice President Mike Pence to “do the precise factor” and reject electoral votes for Biden, in order that Trump may stay president.

He additionally advised his supporters to march to the Capitol. They stormed the constructing, attacked legislation enforcement officers and interrupted the counting of the electoral votes, which wasn’t accomplished till the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021.

In response to Muir, Trump claimed that he had “nothing to do” with the “Save America” rally “aside from they requested me to make a speech.” Actually, Trump heavily promoted the rally on social media, telling his followers in one post {that a} new report proves it was “[s]tatistically inconceivable to have misplaced the election” and urging them to attend the Jan. 6 rally. “Be there,” he wrote, “will likely be wild!”

Trump baselessly claimed that he “went to Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington, D.C.,” Muriel Bowser, and supplied to offer them “10,000 Nationwide Guard or troopers” for Capitol safety. He additionally falsely claimed that “Nancy Pelosi rejected me,” blaming the then-Home speaker for a scarcity of sufficient safety.

“It will have by no means occurred if Nancy Pelosi and the mayor of Washington did their jobs,” he mentioned. “I wasn’t liable for safety. Nancy Pelosi was accountable. She didn’t do her job.”

As we have written, the declare that Pelosi is liable for Capitol safety is exaggerated. The speaker appoints one member of the four-member Capitol Police Board, which oversees Capitol safety. Then-Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell, a Republican, additionally appointed a member.

As for Trump’s declare that Pelosi turned down his request for 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops, the Home choose committee on the Capitol assault mentioned it discovered “no evidence” of that. In its report, the committee famous that then-Appearing Secretary of Protection Christopher Miller mentioned there was “no direct order from the president” to place 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops on the prepared.

Trump claimed to have new proof, citing a tape of Pelosi discussing the assault on the day that it occurred. “Her daughter has a tape of her saying she is totally liable for what occurred,” Trump claimed. “They wish to eliminate that tape.”

Trump is referring to a video released in June by the Home Republicans. Within the video, which her daughter took on Jan. 6, 2021, Pelosi could be seen questioning the safety plans and taking some accountability for not ensuring that safety was sufficient.

“We now have accountability, Terri. We didn’t have any accountability for what was occurring there, and we must always have,” she mentioned. “Why weren’t the Nationwide Guard there to start with?” When somebody within the automobile mentioned that safety officers thought that they had ample protection, Pelosi angrily responded, “They clearly didn’t know, and I take accountability for not having them simply put together for extra.”

Within the video, Pelosi didn’t say that Trump supplied to offer the Capitol with 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops, and he or she didn’t say, as Trump claimed, that “she is totally liable for what occurred.”

When requested to reply, Harris recalled being on the Capitol that day — however obtained some details flawed.

“On that day, 140 legislation enforcement officers had been injured and a few died, and perceive the previous president has been indicted and impeached for precisely that motive,” Harris mentioned.

Harris is right that 140 legislation enforcement officers had been injured on Jan. 6, 2021, however she was flawed to counsel “some died” that day. As we wrote, not one of the officers who supplied safety on the Capitol on Jan. 6 died that day, though 5 officers did die within the days and months after the riot — together with one which died the following day after struggling two strokes. 4 different law enforcement officials dedicated suicide.

Harris additionally went too far when she mentioned Trump “has been indicted and impeached for precisely that motive,” referring to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault.

The violent assault on the Capitol was the rationale for his second impeachment, which charged him with “inciting violence in opposition to the Authorities of the USA.” Nevertheless it wasn’t the rationale for the federal indictment. In that case, as we have written, Trump was charged with 4 counts: conspiracy to defraud the USA, conspiracy to impede an official continuing, obstruction of and try to impede an official continuing, and conspiracy in opposition to rights. Notably absent from the indictment, the New York Times reported, was “any depend that instantly accused Mr. Trump of being liable for the violence his supporters dedicated on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”

Harris additionally went on to misleadingly declare that Trump is once more threatening violence. “Donald Trump, the candidate, has mentioned, on this election, there will likely be a massacre if this and the result of this election is to not his liking,” she mentioned. As we have written, Trump made his “massacre” comment at a March 16 rally in Ohio, whereas warning of China constructing auto manufacturing crops in Mexico that can trigger a hemorrhaging of U.S. auto jobs. A marketing campaign spokesperson advised the Washington Put up that Trump was referring to “an financial massacre for the auto business and autoworkers” if he loses the election.

Falsehood About Immigrants Consuming Pets

Within the midst of commenting on immigration, Trump referenced a debunked rumor that has been circulating broadly on social media this week.

Referring to immigrants in a southwestern Ohio metropolis, the previous president said, “In Springfield, they’re consuming the canine, the those that got here in, they’re consuming the cats. They’re consuming, they’re consuming the pets of the those that dwell there.”

However, in keeping with the Springfield News-Sun, the rumor started in an area Fb group. “The unique poster didn’t cite first-hand data of an incident,” the newspaper reported. “As an alternative they claimed that their neighbor’s daughter’s good friend had misplaced her cat and located it hanging from a department at a Haitian neighbor’s house being carved as much as be eaten.”

Metropolis police have mentioned that there’s no proof to help the claims.

“In response to latest rumors alleging legal exercise by the immigrant inhabitants in our metropolis, we want to make clear that there have been no credible reviews or particular claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by people inside the immigrant group,” the Springfield police mentioned in an announcement supplied to several news outlets this week.

And, in an uncommon transfer, one of many debate moderators, Muir, supplied some dwell fact-checking, saying, “ABC Information did attain out to town supervisor there. He advised us there had been no credible reviews of particular claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by people inside the immigrant group.”

Certainly, on Sept. 9, Springfield Metropolis Supervisor Bryan Heck supplied the identical assertion because the police to ABC Information, and said, “Moreover, there have been no verified situations of immigrants participating in unlawful actions akin to squatting or littering in entrance of residents’ properties. Moreover, no reviews have been made concerning members of the immigrant group intentionally disrupting site visitors.”

Regardless that there’s no proof to help the declare, it has been amplified by Trump’s operating mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, who posted on X on Sept. 9, “Stories now present that individuals have had their pets kidnapped and eaten by individuals who shouldn’t be on this nation. The place is our border czar?”

He backtracked the next day, posting on the same platform: “It’s potential, after all, that each one of those rumors will become false.”

Tariffs

Harris claimed Trump intends to enact what in impact is a “gross sales tax,” which she mentioned economists estimate would elevate costs on typical American households by $4,000 a yr. That’s a high-end estimate from a liberal suppose tank about Trump’s plan for “common baseline tariffs” on imports.

However Trump was additionally flawed when he claimed People wouldn’t pay greater costs on account of tariffs, and that the upper costs can be borne by the nations the tariffs are levied in opposition to. Many nonpartisan economists disagree concerning the quantity that Trump’s proposed tariffs would elevate costs for American shoppers, however most agree it could be substantial.

In keeping with Harris, her opponent “has a plan that I name the Trump gross sales tax, which might be a 20% tax on on a regular basis items that you just depend on to get by way of the month.” She mentioned, “Economists have mentioned that that Trump gross sales tax would truly end result for middle-class households in about $4,000 extra a yr.”

As we’ve written, Trump has been inconsistent and opaque about what precisely he’s proposing, however most frequently he has talked a couple of 10% across-the-board import tax mixed with a 60% tariff on Chinese language items. On different events, he has floated a baseline tariff as excessive as 20%.

The estimate cited by Harris, $4,000, comes from a liberal suppose tank, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, primarily based on a 20% across-the-board import tax mixed with a 60% tariff on Chinese language items.

Different nonpartisan teams have are available with decrease estimates. Primarily based on a ten% worldwide tariff and a 60% tax on imported Chinese language items, the Tax Coverage Heart estimated a extra modest $1,350 price to middle-income households. Utilizing those self same parameters, an analysis from the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics concluded Trump’s proposed tariffs would price a typical middle-income family about $1,700 in elevated bills every year. The Tax Basis estimates such tariffs would quantity to an annual tax improve on U.S. households of $625.

So Harris has taken benefit of Trump’s inconsistent feedback concerning the quantity of his proposed common tariffs to offer a excessive estimate of its price to People. However Trump’s declare that his tariffs wouldn’t price People in any respect is deceptive.

People are “not going to have greater costs,” Trump mentioned. “Who’s going to have greater costs is China and the entire nations which were ripping us off for years.”

As we famous above, economists say American shoppers, a minimum of within the brief time period, would see greater costs on account of a common tariff.

As Erica York, senior economist and analysis director with the Tax Basis’s Heart for Federal Tax Coverage, advised us earlier this yr, “When the U.S. imposes a tariff, the particular person in the USA who’s importing the great pays a tax to the U.S. authorities once they import the overseas items. U.S. tariffs are taxes on U.S. shoppers of overseas items that should be paid by the importer of the great.”

Harris Did Not Negotiate Ukraine-Russia Peace

Throughout an alternate about U.S. help for Ukraine, Trump falsely claimed that Harris was tasked with negotiating peace between Ukraine and Russia and their respective presidents.

“No person likes to speak about it, however simply so that you perceive, they despatched her to barter peace earlier than this struggle began,” Trump mentioned of Harris. “Three days later, [Russian President Vladimir Putin] went in and began the struggle as a result of all the pieces they mentioned was weak and silly. They mentioned the flawed issues. That struggle ought to have by no means began. She was the emissary. They despatched her in to barter with [Ukrainian President Volodymr] Zelenskyy and Putin.”

That’s not what occurred. As we’ve written, in February 2022, Harris traveled to Germany for the annual Munich Safety Convention to speak with European leaders about world matters, together with Russian aggression towards Ukraine. 

In a Feb. 19 speech, she warned that the U.S. and its allies would “impose important and unprecedented financial prices” if Russia attacked Ukraine. She additionally had in-person conferences with a number of heads of state, together with Zelenskyy and the leaders of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

However Harris didn’t negotiate peace between Putin and Zelenskyy. Russia reportedly didn’t ship a consultant to the safety convention that yr, and Harris additionally didn’t journey to Russia to fulfill with Putin.

“To be trustworthy, I can’t keep in mind a single contact between President Putin and Ms. Harris,” Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for Putin, mentioned in July when requested whether or not Putin had ever talked with Harris.

Previous to the Munich convention, U.S. officers had been warning that Russia deliberate an invasion of Ukraine. In a Feb. 18, 2022, presser, Biden mentioned, “We now have motive to imagine the Russian forces are planning to and intend to assault Ukraine within the coming week — within the coming days.” Then Russia launched its invasion on Feb. 24.

Harris Fallacious About Unemployment

Whereas speaking about what the Biden-Harris administration inherited from the Trump administration, Harris falsely claimed that “Trump left us the worst unemployment because the Nice Despair.”

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the U.S. unemployment fee peaked at 14.8% in April, as companies and different companies shut right down to attempt to gradual the unfold of the coronavirus. However the financial system had begun to get well by the point Biden and Harris took workplace in January 2021, when the unemployment fee had declined to six.4%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That was not the very best unemployment fee because the Great Depression, which adopted the inventory market crash of 1929. The unemployment fee was greater than 6.4% for 65 consecutive months from October 2008 till March 2014, which included intervals underneath Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. The very best fee throughout that interval was 10% in October 2009, a number of months after the “Great Recession,” which started in December 2007, resulted in June 2009.

Earlier than then, the unemployment fee had reached as excessive as 10.8% underneath President Ronald Reagan in November and December 1982.

Manufacturing Jobs

Harris boasted that the U.S. has “created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs, whereas I’ve been vice chairman. … Donald Trump mentioned he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He misplaced manufacturing jobs.” Trump countered that “they misplaced 10,000 manufacturing jobs this final month.”

As we wrote recently, each are cherry-picking information factors.

The financial system added 462,000 manufacturing jobs in Trump’s first two years in workplace, in keeping with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after which misplaced 43,000 in his third yr, earlier than the pandemic-fueled recession hit.

The financial system then shed almost 1.4 million manufacturing jobs within the first few months of the pandemic, somewhat greater than half of which returned earlier than Trump left workplace. So Harris is right that there was a internet lack of manufacturing jobs – 178,000 — over Trump’s full time period, however the overwhelming majority of job losses underneath Trump had been as a result of world pandemic.

As of August, the U.S. has added 739,000 manufacturing jobs underneath Biden and Harris — in need of the 800,000 talked about by Harris. (And people numbers could quickly change in methods that can markedly change the Biden administration’s document. Preliminary estimates of annual revisions to the variety of jobs created over the 12 months ending in March point out that the BLS’ month-to-month estimates could have overshot manufacturing jobs by 115,000.) As for Trump’s declare that “they misplaced 10,000 manufacturing jobs this final month,” that’s truly an undersell. BLS information present a lack of 24,000 manufacturing jobs between July and August, and a internet decline of 39,000 this yr.

In different phrases, the pattern underneath each Trump and Biden adopted the same sample: two years of development following an financial downturn, adopted by job losses within the third yr.

No Proof for ‘Prisons,’ ‘Psychological Establishments’ Declare

Echoing a whopper of a claim he has been making since final yr, Trump claimed that “thousands and thousands of individuals” crossing the southern border illegally are “pouring into our nation from prisons, jails, from psychological establishments and insane asylums.”

Immigration consultants advised us there’s merely no proof for that. One skilled mentioned Trump’s declare gave the impression to be “a complete fabrication.”

Trump has repeated the declare many instances, however he hasn’t supplied any credible help for it.

In June, we looked into Trump’s declare because it pertains to Venezuela, as a result of he has repeatedly linked a drop in crime there together with his declare about nations emptying their prisons and sending inmates to the U.S. As soon as once more, in the course of the debate, Trump stated: “Have you learnt that crime in Venezuela and crime in nations all around the world is manner down? You already know why? As a result of they’ve taken their criminals off the road and so they’ve given them to her to place into our nation,” referring to Harris. Reported crime is trending down in Venezuela, however crime consultants within the nation say there are quite a few causes for that and so they don’t have anything to do with sending criminals to the U.S.

“We now have no proof that the Venezuelan authorities is emptying the prisons or psychological hospitals to ship them in a foreign country, whether or not to the USA or every other nation,” Roberto Briceño-León, founder and director of the impartial Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, advised us.

He mentioned the drop in crime is partly on account of worsening financial and dwelling situations, which have prompted nearly 8 million folks to depart the nation since 2014. The vast majority have settled in close by South American nations.

Trump additionally claimed that these coming into the nation had been “taking jobs which can be occupied proper now by African People and Hispanics and likewise unions.” We beforehand found no proof for that, both, in employment and union membership information.

Overturning of Roe v. Wade

In discussing abortion, Trump once again repeated his false declare that everybody wished to finish Roe v. Wade’s constitutional proper to abortion.

“Each authorized scholar, each Democrat, each Republican, liberal, conservative, all of them wished this problem to be introduced again to the states the place the folks may vote — and that’s what occurred,” he mentioned, additionally incorrectly crediting six justices on two events.

In 2022, after Trump appointed three conservative judges to the court docket, the Supreme Courtroom overturned the 1973 determination in a 5-4 ruling, instantly putting in restrictions on abortion in nearly half of states. Since then, as Trump went on to notice, several states have voted to enshrine abortion rights of their state constitutions or reject additional restrictions.

Consultants have beforehand told us that Trump’s declare is “utter nonsense” and “patently absurd.” Opposite to his declare, most People opposed the ending of Roe v. Wade. And despite the fact that some students have been essential of a few of the authorized reasoning within the determination, many didn’t want to finish Roe.

No Abortions ‘After Beginning’

In casting his opponent as “radical” on abortion, Trump repeatedly claimed Democrats help abortion “within the ninth month” or later.

“They’ve abortion within the ninth month,” he said, earlier than alluding to misconstrued feedback by former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. “He mentioned, the child will likely be born and we’ll determine what to do with the child. In different phrases, we’ll execute the child.” (Trump initially misidentified him as the previous governor of West Virginia.)

“Her vice presidential choose says abortion within the ninth month is totally wonderful,” Trump continued, referring to Walz. “He additionally says, execution after start. It’s execution, not abortion, as a result of the child is born.”

Trump hit the identical level once more later, once more invoking Northam. “You would do abortions within the seventh month, the eighth month, the ninth month, and possibly after start,” he said. “Simply take a look at the governor, former governor of Virginia. The governor of Virginia mentioned, we put the child apart, after which we decide what we wish to do with the child.”

Because the moderator famous, no state permits folks to kill infants after start. That will be infanticide, and it’s illegal. 

Some states do not need gestational limits on abortion, including Minnesota. Final yr, Gov. Walz signed a invoice defending abortion following 2022’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. The legislation eradicated almost all restrictions on abortion, together with gestational limits. 

It additionally removed a requirement that medical personnel “protect the life and well being” of an toddler born alive as the results of an abortion. As one obstetrician explained in an editorial within the Minnesota Star Tribune, that is so that oldsters of a dying toddler can maintain their child and say goodbye, and never be pressured to look at whereas the kid receives futile medical intervention (the legislation nonetheless requires the toddler be given correct medical care and be “totally acknowledged as a human particular person and accorded rapid safety underneath the legislation”).

Most abortions are carried out early in being pregnant. In keeping with the latest statistics from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, that are for 2021, 80.8% of abortions had been carried out at or earlier than 9 weeks of gestation, and 93.5% had been carried out at or earlier than 13 weeks. Fewer than 1% had been carried out at 21 weeks or later. The figures are voluntarily reported and apply to authorized abortions in 48 reporting areas within the U.S. (D.C, New York Metropolis and all states apart from California, Maryland, New Hampshire and New Jersey). 

In Minnesota, 88% of induced abortions occurred at or earlier than 12 weeks of being pregnant in 2022, according to the newest out there information from the Minnesota Division of Well being. No abortions occurred within the ninth month.

Trump’s references to Northam are distortions of feedback the previous governor made in a radio interview in 2019. Trump has beforehand misrepresented the feedback in his State of the Union handle that yr.

Within the interview, Northam, who’s a doctor, mentioned third-trimester abortion is “performed in instances the place there could also be extreme deformities. There could also be a fetus that’s nonviable. So on this specific instance, if a mom’s in labor, I can let you know precisely what would occur. The toddler can be delivered, the toddler can be stored comfy, the toddler can be resuscitated if that’s what the mom and the household desired. After which a dialogue would ensue between the physicians and the mom.”

Northam later clarified that he was not suggesting infanticide, and a spokesperson mentioned Northam was “centered on the tragic and intensely uncommon case wherein a lady with a nonviable being pregnant or extreme fetal abnormalities went into labor.”

Trump’s Stance on Nationwide Abortion Ban, Being pregnant Monitoring

As she has mentioned before, Harris predicted that Trump “will signal a nationwide abortion ban” if reelected. However Trump has said this yr and said once more in the course of the debate that he wouldn’t signal such a ban.

“It’s a lie,” Trump mentioned in response to Harris’ debate declare. “I’m not signing a ban, and there’s no motive to signal a ban, as a result of we’ve gotten what everyone wished” — for abortion “to be introduced again into the states.” Trump was referring to the Supreme Courtroom ruling in 2022 that overturned Roe v. Wade.

He later once more denied plans to signal a nationwide abortion ban, saying, “And so far as the abortion ban, no, I’m not in favor of [an] abortion ban, nevertheless it doesn’t matter, as a result of this problem has now been taken over by the states.”

Nevertheless it does matter if Congress sends a nationwide abortion ban invoice to the following president’s desk. Trump did say throughout his first presidential campaign and presidency that he would help a federal ban on abortion previous 20 weeks usually, and he has reportedly extra lately privately expressed help for a 16-week abortion ban.

Harris additionally referenced Project 2025, a conservative doc Trump has tried to distance himself from. “Perceive, in his Mission 2025 there can be a nationwide abortion — a monitor that might be monitoring your pregnancies, your miscarriages,” Harris mentioned.

As we’ve written previously, Mission 2025 does suggest necessary reporting from states to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention on miscarriages and abortions. However Trump’s marketing campaign has said that Mission 2025 “shouldn’t be related to the marketing campaign.” Trump has lately claimed to “know nothing” about Mission 2025, though elements of it had been written by former members of his administration.

When asked in April about whether or not states with abortion bans “ought to monitor girls’s pregnancies to allow them to know in the event that they’ve gotten an abortion after the ban,” Trump mentioned such monitoring must be left as much as the person states.

Commerce Deficit Greater Underneath Biden

Moderator Muir requested Harris concerning the Biden administration’s determination to maintain in place a variety of the tariffs levied by Trump on different nations.

Harris responded: “Nicely, let’s be clear that the Trump administration resulted in a commerce deficit — one of many highest we’ve ever seen within the historical past of America.”

However as we previously wrote, the commerce deficit underneath the Biden administration has exceeded the deficit throughout Trump’s time period.

As of Could, the U.S. items and companies deficit over the earlier 12 months was $799.3 billion, according to information revealed in early July by the Bureau of Financial Evaluation. The commerce deficit that interval was about $145.6 billion greater, or about 22.3% extra, than in 2020, when Trump was president. The commerce deficit in 2020 was the very best annual deficit underneath Trump, at $653.7 billion.

Trump Refuses to ‘Acknowledge’ 2020 Loss

Trump misplaced the 2020 presidential election. Within the popular vote, Biden acquired a complete of 81 million votes to Trump’s 74 million. In electoral votes, Biden garnered 306 to Trump’s 232.

However the former president has continued to spread disinformation undermining the integrity of the election, saying that he would have received if there hadn’t been widespread fraud.

Debate moderator Muir asked Trump, “Are you now acknowledging that you just misplaced in 2020?”

“No, I don’t acknowledge that in any respect,” Trump responded, occurring to wrongly declare that his election-related lawsuits had been rejected on a “technicality.”

“They mentioned we didn’t have standing,” Trump claimed.

However a list of lawsuits alleging fraud within the 2020 election, compiled by the nonpartisan Marketing campaign Authorized Heart, exhibits a number of instances that had been selected the deserves — together with some introduced by the Trump marketing campaign.

And, as we have written, native, state and federal judges have mentioned that Trump’s attorneys supplied no proof of fraud.

For instance, Bucks County Courtroom of Frequent Pleas Decide Robert Baldi in Pennsylvania rejected the Trump marketing campaign’s try to toss out absentee ballots in Bucks County, a suburb of Philadelphia. In doing so, Baldi, a Republican, wrote “that there exists no proof of any fraud, misconduct, or any impropriety with respect to the challenged ballots.” The Trump marketing campaign appealed, however Commonwealth Courtroom Decide Renée Cohn Jubelirer upheld the lower court ruling and likewise famous that Trump’s attorneys made “completely no allegations of any fraud.”

Trump’s personal election safety officers on the time additionally called the 2020 election “probably the most safe in American historical past.”

Fracking

Trump repeatedly mentioned that Harris would ban fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a way that makes use of water, sand or chemical compounds to extract oil and pure gasoline from underground rock formations. Harris mentioned she wouldn’t.

Fracking can influence the atmosphere, together with potential contamination of groundwater, in keeping with the U.S. Geological Survey.

“She is going to by no means enable fracking in Pennsylvania,” Trump said in the course of the debate in Philadelphia. “If she received the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will finish on day one.”

Moderator Linsey Davis additionally requested Harris about how her place has modified on fracking. Responding to Davis, Harris said, ”Let’s discuss fracking, as a result of we’re right here in Pennsylvania. I made that very clear in 2020 I cannot ban fracking. I’ve not banned fracking as vice chairman of the USA, and actually, I used to be the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Discount Act, which opened new leases for fracking. My place is that we’ve obtained to spend money on numerous sources of power so we cut back our reliance on overseas oil.”

However when she was a candidate within the 2020 race for president, Harris mentioned that she was against fracking. Throughout a September 2019 CNN city corridor, Harris was requested by a local weather activist if she would decide to a federal ban on fracking due to environmental issues for native communities. Harris answered, “There’s no query I’m in favor of banning fracking, so sure.”

Harris didn’t precisely make her place clear in 2020, as she mentioned within the debate. As an alternative, within the 2020 vice presidential debate, she said, “Joe Biden won’t ban fracking.”

Extra lately, in an Aug. 29 interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, Harris said, “As vice chairman, I didn’t ban fracking. As president, I cannot ban fracking.”

The Inflation Discount Act doesn’t refer particularly to fracking, nevertheless it does open up federal land to oil and gas leases, which might contain the use of fracking to extract pure gasoline on a few of that land.

Trump Tax Cuts

Harris misleadingly claimed that Trump’s tax proposal seeks to “present a tax minimize for billionaires and massive companies, which can end in $5 trillion [added] to America’s deficit.” 

That’s the estimated 10-year price of extending all of the tax cuts in Trump’s 2017 tax legislation, however these tax adjustments benefited folks of all revenue teams.

As we’ve written, the vice chairman is referring to a 10-year cost estimate of extending all of the revenue and company tax cuts included within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which Trump signed in December 2017. If Congress doesn’t act, lots of the tax cuts, together with the person revenue tax cuts, will expire after 2025. Trump has proposed preserving them.

However extending the tax cuts wouldn’t simply profit giant companies and billionaires, as Harris recommended.

Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow on the Tax Coverage Heart, wrote in a July 8 blog item that it could price an estimated $4 trillion over 10 years to increase the TCJA’s expiring tax minimize provisions. If that occurs, lower than half — about 45% — of the tax minimize advantages would go to taxpayers incomes $450,000 or extra, Gleckman mentioned.

For instance, underneath the TCJA, the child tax credit doubled from $1,000 to $2,000 per youngster, and the primary $1,400 was made refundable, that means the credit score may cut back a household’s tax legal responsibility to zero and it could nonetheless be capable to obtain a tax refund, in keeping with a Tax Coverage Heart analysis. The revenue cutoff for the kid tax credit score, or CTC, additionally elevated from $110,000 to $400,000 for married {couples} submitting collectively. These incomes lower than $400,000 additionally profit from adjustments made in 2017 to the person tax charges and brackets — which additionally will expire after 2025 until Congress acts.

General, the Tax Coverage Heart’s distributional analysis discovered that the tax burden of a typical family within the center revenue quintile would lower by 1.1% ought to Congress lengthen the TCJA’s provisions, as in contrast with a 1.7% lower within the tax burden for a typical family within the high revenue quintile. 

False Gun Confiscation Declare

Harris, Trump claimed, “has a flat plan to confiscate everyone’s weapons.” That’s false. Harris has no such plan.

In 2019, throughout her first marketing campaign for president, Harris mentioned that she would help a compulsory buyback program for so-called “assault weapons” — however not all firearms.

“There are specific varieties of weapons that shouldn’t be on the streets of a civil society,” Harris said, referring to assault weapons, which she known as “weapons of struggle,” in a November 2019 NBC News interview, for instance. Whereas Harris nonetheless supports a ban on buying assault weapons, her marketing campaign advised us that, as of 2024, she is no longer advocating that People be required to surrender the assault weapons that they beforehand bought.

Inflation

Trump made false claims about inflation throughout his tenure in workplace and Biden’s.

Throughout an alternate over Trump’s proposed tariff coverage, the previous president said that underneath his administration there was “no inflation, just about no inflation,” and that the present administration “had the very best inflation maybe within the historical past of our nation.”

Inflation was low throughout Trump’s presidency, nevertheless it wasn’t zero. 

As we wrote in “Trump’s Final Numbers,” the Consumer Price Index rose 7.6% underneath Trump — a mean of 1.9% in every of his 4 years in workplace. That continued a protracted interval of low inflation, together with in the course of the Obama administration (1.8% annual common) and underneath George W. Bush (2.4% common).

It isn’t true that underneath Biden the U.S. has experienced inflation “like only a few folks have ever seen earlier than. Most likely the worst in our nation’s historical past,” as Trump claimed. 

The most important 12-month improve within the Shopper Value Index occurred from June 1919 to June 1920, when the CPI rose 23.7%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in a 2014 publication marking the one hundredth anniversary of the company’s monitoring worth adjustments.

Underneath Biden, the most important improve occurred throughout a 12-month interval ending in June 2022, when the CPI rose 9.1% (earlier than seasonal adjustment). BLS said it was the most important improve because the 12 months ending in November 1981.

Inflation has cooled since then. Extra lately, the CPI rose 2.9% within the 12 months ending in July, according to the BLS.

Altogether underneath Biden’s presidency, the CPI has risen 19.4%.

Inexpensive Care Act

Trump made the curious declare that he “saved” the Inexpensive Care Act, despite the fact that he tried, and failed, to repeal and change it whereas he was president. His administration additionally supported a lawsuit that might have nullified the complete legislation.

The Supreme Courtroom finally ruled in 2021 that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to convey the go well with.

If he “saved” the ACA, it was not for lack of attempting to finish it.

Within the debate, moderator Davis requested Trump about his recent statement that, if elected, he would hold the ACA, generally known as Obamacare, “until we will do one thing a lot better.” Davis requested if Trump had a plan to exchange the legislation.

Trump said, “I’ve ideas of a plan” that “you’ll be listening to about it within the not too distant future” and that “I’d solely change it if we provide you with one thing that’s higher and cheaper.”

The previous president has made related feedback earlier than. In the course of the 2020 marketing campaign, he said, “What we’d love to do is completely kill it, however come up — earlier than we do this — with one thing that’s nice.” He has but to launch a alternative plan for the ACA.

What’s “higher” is a matter of opinion, after all. One of many primary provisions of the ACA is that it prohibits insurers from denying protection or charging folks extra primarily based on their preexisting well being situations, provisions that almost all notably have affected these searching for to purchase their very own protection on the person market. Trump has expressed help for preexisting situations protections, however his document exhibits he has backed concepts that might weaken the legislation’s provisions.

Trump supported a 2017 GOP invoice that would have included some, however not all, of the ACA’s protections for these with preexisting situations. He additionally pushed the expansion of cheaper short-term well being plans that wouldn’t need to abide by the ACA’s prohibitions in opposition to denying or pricing protection primarily based on well being standing.

In late September 2020, Trump signed an executive order that made the final proclamation: “It has been and can proceed to be the coverage of the USA … to make sure that People with pre-existing situations can acquire the insurance coverage of their selection at reasonably priced charges.” He said the order put the difficulty of preexisting situations “to relaxation.”

It didn’t. Karen Pollitz, who was then a senior fellow at KFF, told us on the time that the order was “aspirational” and had “no pressure of legislation.”

Regardless of Trump’s feedback that he should change the ACA, a number of high Republicans have said the difficulty is a non-starter in Congress.

Crime

Trump wrongly claimed that “crime on this nation is thru the roof,” and that FBI information on the contrary is a “fraud” as a result of “they didn’t embrace the cities with the worst crime.” FBI information for 2023 relies on reporting from the next participation of cities than any yr throughout Trump’s presidency, and the figures present violent crime is trending down.

As we have written, in Trump’s final yr in workplace — 2020 — murders and violent crime went up, and there was a smaller increase the next yr, Biden’s first yr in workplace. However since then, murders and violent crime have been dropping.

The FBI 2022 annual report showed a slight decline within the nationwide homicide fee and a bigger drop within the violent crime fee between 2020 and 2022. Preliminary FBI figures for 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 show additional declines in violent crimes and murders. The 2023 figures are based on information from voluntary reviews by 79% of legislation enforcement businesses within the U.S., representing greater participation than any yr throughout Trump’s presidency.

The ultimate numbers and details about nationwide crime charges, that are adjusted for inhabitants, received’t be out there till the FBI’s annual crime report is launched in October.

The pattern within the FBI reviews is backed by different credible sources as nicely.

AH Datalytics’ analysis of knowledge about homicides from greater than 200 giant U.S. cities confirmed homicides declined by about 12% in 2023, crime analyst Jeff Asher, co-founder of AH Datalytics, told us in Could. Its information show murders have continued to drop this yr total. The FBI information additionally monitor with a big decline in taking pictures victims in 2023 documented by the Gun Violence Archive.

The newest figures from the Main Cities Chiefs Affiliation additionally show a decline in murders and violent crime. The variety of murders went down by 17% from the primary half of 2023 to the primary half of 2024 in 69 giant U.S. cities that supplied information.

And at last, the Council on Legal Justice’s mid-year 2024 crime report representing information from 39 cities discovered: “General, most violent crimes are at or under ranges seen in 2019, the yr previous to the onset of the COVID pandemic and racial justice protests of 2020. There have been 2% fewer homicides in the course of the first half of 2024 than in the course of the first half of 2019 and 15% fewer robberies. Aggravated assaults and home violence incidents are also under ranges seen 5 years in the past.”

It’s Not Fraud, It’s Routine Revisions

After falsely claiming the FBI crime information are fraudulent, Trump claimed the “variety of 818,000 jobs that they mentioned they created turned out to be a fraud.” The roles information isn’t fraudulent, both.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics final month announced that it could seemingly revise month-to-month employment figures primarily based on extra complete information — a routine revision it does yearly.

“There’s no proof in any respect of any manipulation or padding,” David Wilcox, a senior fellow on the Peterson Institute for Worldwide Economics and director of U.S. financial analysis at Bloomberg Economics, told us after we wrote about Trump’s claims in August. He known as the BLS’ latest announcement “utterly formulaic,” because it mirrored the identical sample of how the BLS has been revising the job figures over a few years.

As we’ve written, the BLS publishes month-to-month employment figures that come from a survey of greater than 100,000 employers. Later, it obtains extra complete information from state unemployment insurance coverage tax filings that employers submit to find out what taxes they owe to unemployment profit packages. Annually, the BLS adjusts its month-to-month estimates primarily based on these state filings.

This yr, the BLS announced on Aug. 21 a preliminary estimate that the variety of jobs created over the 12 months ending in March would seemingly be adjusted downward by 818,000 jobs. That’s an adjustment of -0.5% to the March stage of employment, bigger than the typical revision during the last 10 years. There have been different giant revisions up to now, nonetheless.

The annual revision for 2019, underneath Trump, was a discount of 514,000 jobs, or -0.3% of the preliminary March 2019 employment estimate. The 2009 revision was a discount of 902,000, or -0.7% of the unique March 2009 estimate.

BLS’ last estimate for the yr ending in March 2024 will likely be issued in February 2025, when the January employment report is launched. That’s when the ultimate revisions have been issued every year dating back to 2004.

The U.S. has added 15.8 million jobs underneath Biden. An 818,000 downward revision would drop that quantity to about 15 million.

Extra Repeats

The candidates repeated a number of different claims we’ve fact-checked earlier than:

Economic system. Trump revisited certainly one of his commonly repeated claims, saying in the beginning of the talk that, underneath his administration, “we had the best financial system.”

However the U.S. didn’t have “the best financial system” underneath Trump. Economists look to actual (inflation-adjusted) gross home product development to measure financial well being, and that determine exceeded Trump’s peak year of three% development greater than a dozen instances earlier than he took workplace.

Each president because the Nineteen Thirties apart from Barack Obama and Herbert Hoover has seen a yr with a minimum of 3% development in GDP.

Dictator. The vice chairman repeated certainly one of her favourite speaking factors when she claimed Trump “desires to be a dictator on Day 1.” He mentioned he was joking when he mentioned he wouldn’t be a dictator “apart from Day 1.”

Harris was referring to a remark that Trump made at a Fox News town hall in December. On the occasion, Sean Hannity gave Trump the possibility to reply to critics who warned that Trump can be a dictator if elected to a second time period. “On no account, you’re promising America tonight, you’ll by no means abuse energy as retribution in opposition to anyone,” Hannity said. Trump responded, “Apart from Day 1.”

Trump went on to say, “We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”

Trump later claimed he was joking with Hannity. In a Feb. 4 interview with Fox Information’ Maria Bartiromo, Trump mentioned: “It was with Sean Hannity, and we had been having enjoyable, and I mentioned, ‘I’m going to be a dictator,’ as a result of he requested me, ‘Are you actually going to be a dictator?’ I mentioned, ‘Completely, I’m going to be a dictator for at some point.’ I didn’t say from Day 1.”

Trump advised Bartiromo his “dictator” remark was “mentioned in jest.”

Border czar. Trump falsely claimed Harris is the “border czar.” She’s not.

As we have written, Biden in March 2021 tasked Harris with main efforts to deal with the foundation causes of migration from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The Central American initiative, generally known as the “Roots Causes Technique,” seeks to discourage migration from these nations by, amongst different issues, offering funds for pure disasters, combating corruption, and creating partnerships with the non-public sector and worldwide organizations.

Harris was not put answerable for U.S. border safety, because the “border czar” title implies. That’s the accountability of the secretary of the Division of Homeland Safety.

Afghanistan. If Trump had been president in the course of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, he said, “We wouldn’t have left $85 billion value of brand name new, stunning navy tools behind.”

However that’s a gross exaggeration. That determine — truly $82.9 billion — was the overall quantity spent on the Afghanistan Safety Forces Fund because the struggle started in 2001. Nevertheless it wasn’t all for navy tools, and many of the tools bought in these 20 years had develop into inoperable, relocated, decommissioned or destroyed.

CNN reported in April 2022 {that a} Division of Protection report mentioned $7.12 billion of navy tools the U.S. had given to the Afghan authorities was in Afghanistan after the U.S. withdrawal.

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