Vice President Kamala Harris shook the hand of former President Donald Trump initially of their first presidential debate Sept. 10 in Philadelphia, however the pleasant vibes quickly pale as Trump and Harris sparred over subjects together with abortion and immigration.
The fiery debate was hosted by ABC Information moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, who generally interjected with fact-checks in response to the candidates’ solutions.
Harris usually instantly addressed Trump whereas answering moderators’ questions, whereas Trump stared straight forward. Harris attacked Trump’s felony conviction in New York and different indictments after he spoke about crime in the course of the Biden administration. Trump mentioned that Biden secretly hated Harris.
Moments after the talk ended, singer Taylor Swift mentioned on Instagram that she can be voting for Harris “as a result of she fights for the rights and causes I consider want a warrior to champion them.”
PolitiFact has fact-checked Harris 55 instances since 2012 and Trump 1,050 instances since 2011.
We drew on that deep archive to examine the accuracy of the candidates’ statements.
PolitiFact fact-checks statements of individuals in energy, no matter political social gathering. That is how we select claims to examine.
Right here’s how the candidates’ solutions stood as much as the information.
Please proceed to examine again as this story is up to date.
False claims about Haitian immigrants in Ohio
Trump: “In Springfield (Ohio), they’re consuming the canines, the people who got here in, they’re consuming the cats. They’re consuming, they’re consuming the pets of the people who reside there.”
Pants on Hearth!
A metropolis spokesperson advised PolitiFact that claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are stealing neighbors’ pets to eat are unfounded.
A Springfield spokesperson mentioned the town has obtained no such stories, and Springfield police advised a neighborhood information outlet the division has obtained no stories of pets being stolen and eaten.
As many as 20,000 Haitian immigrants have come to Springfield. Since 2023, some Haitians have come to the U.S. by way of the Division of Homeland Safety’s humanitarian parole program that lets folks from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and their quick members of the family request to come back to america legally. They are often paroled into the U.S. for as much as two years.
Immigrants “taking up” buildings in Aurora, Colorado
Trump: “You take a look at Aurora in Colorado. (Immigrants) are taking up the cities. They’re taking up buildings, they’re stepping into violently, these are the people who she and Biden led into our nation, and so they’re destroying our nation.”
Aurora, Colorado, officers dispute this narrative.
They report that Venezuelan gangs aren’t taking up condominium complexes and forcing residents to pay them lease.
Residents of The Edge at Lowry flats mentioned the corporate that owns the constructing, CBZ Administration, brought about the poor residing circumstances within the flats, not Venezuelan gang members.
4 members of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, have been arrested in Aurora in reference to a capturing that occurred at a unique condominium constructing owned by CBZ Administration.
Harris says Trump will impose a gross sales tax
Harris: “Economists have mentioned that the Trump gross sales tax would truly consequence for center class households in about $4,000 extra a 12 months due to his insurance policies and his concepts about what must be the backs of center class folks paying for tax cuts for billionaires.”
Half True.
Trump has repeatedly proposed wide-ranging tariffs on overseas items, together with an across-the-board tariff of 10% to twenty% and a 60% levy on items from China. Though tariffs are imposed individually from the tax system, customers would really feel their affect a lot the identical manner as taxes.
Nevertheless, the precise greenback affect on customers varies. Two estimates we discovered usually assist Harris’ $4,000 determine; two present a smaller, although nonetheless vital, affect.
Trump’s flawed on abortion claims
Trump: “However the governor earlier than, he mentioned, ‘The child might be born, and we’ll determine what to do with the newborn.’”
False.
Trump mentioned West Virginia. He meant Virginia.
Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat and a doctor, by no means mentioned he would sanction the execution of newborns. What he did say throughout a 2019 radio interview is that in uncommon, late-pregnancy circumstances when fetuses are nonviable, medical doctors ship the newborn, preserve it snug, resuscitate it if the household needs, after which have a “dialogue” with the mom.
The problem is that Northam declined to say what that dialogue would entail. Trump places phrases within the then-governor’s mouth, saying medical doctors would urge the mom to allow them to forcibly kill the new child, which is a felony in Virginia (and all different U.S. states) punishable by a protracted jail sentence or dying.
Trump: “Each authorized scholar, each Democrat, each Republican, liberal, conservative, all of them needed (abortion) to be introduced again to the states the place the folks might vote.”
False.
The 1973 Roe v. Wade choice impressed legions of supporters and opponents. Earlier than the U.S. Supreme Court docket overturned it in 2022, quite a few authorized students wrote briefs urging the courtroom to uphold the ruling.
Some authorized students who favor abortion rights have criticized the 1973 ruling’s authorized underpinnings, saying that completely different constitutional arguments, based mostly on equal safety, would have offered a stronger case. However authorized consultants, together with some who held this view, mentioned these students wouldn’t have advocated for overturning Roe on this foundation.
Jobs below Biden-Harris aren’t ‘a fraud’
Trump: “It was a fraud, similar to their variety of 818,000 jobs that they mentioned they created turned out to be a fraud.”
Pants on Hearth.
The federal company that calculates how many individuals are working handed Democrats an unwelcome current throughout their August nationwide conference in Chicago: a downward adjustment of the previous 12 months’s employment positive factors by 818,000 jobs.
However Trump claimed the Biden-Harris administration was cooking the books, calling it “fraud” in the course of the debate. Nevertheless, economists throughout the ideological spectrum reject Trump’s declare. The method is an annual effort to fine-tune preliminary information that the company acknowledges is imperfect.
21 million immigrants didn’t come into the US
Trump: “Tens of millions and hundreds of thousands of individuals … are pouring into our nation month-to-month. The place it is, I consider 21 million folks.”
False.
Throughout Biden’s administration, immigration officers have encountered immigrants illegally crossing the U.S. border round 10 million instances. When accounting for “received aways” — individuals who aren’t stopped by border officers — the quantity rises to about 11.6 million.
However encounters aren’t the identical as admissions. Encounters symbolize occasions, so one one who tries to cross the border twice counts as two encounters. Additionally, not everybody encountered is let into the nation. The Division of Homeland Safety estimates about 4 million encounters have led to expulsions or removals.
Throughout Biden’s administration, about 3.8 million folks have been launched into the U.S. to await immigration courtroom hearings, Division of Homeland Safety information reveals.
Trump misleads about army gear in Afghanistan
Trump: The U.S. “left $85 billion price of name new, stunning army gear behind” in Afghanistan
False.
The determine is much decrease than Trump said.
When the Taliban toppled Afghanistan’s civilian authorities in 2021, it inherited army {hardware} the U.S. gave to the federal government.
An unbiased inspector common report advised Congress that about $7 billion of U.S.-funded gear remained in Afghanistan and within the Taliban’s fingers. In line with the report, “the U.S. army eliminated or destroyed almost all main gear utilized by U.S. troops in Afghanistan all through the drawdown interval in 2021.”
Harris’ declare about employment below Trump
Harris: “Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment for the reason that Nice Despair.”
False.
The unemployment charge spiked to a post-Nice Despair report of 14.8% in April 2020, because the pandemic escalated. Trump was in workplace then. However he didn’t “depart” Biden or Harris with a post-Despair report unemployment charge. By December 2020, the unemployment charge had fallen again to six.4%, which was excessive for current historical past however effectively under quite a few spikes throughout recessions.
Trump’s ridiculous declare about Venezuela and criminals
Trump: “Have you learnt that crime in Venezuela and crime in nations all around the world is manner down. You realize why? As a result of they’ve taken their criminals off the road, and so they’ve given them to (Harris) to place into our nation.”
Pants on Hearth!
There isn’t a proof that nations are emptying their prisons — or psychological establishments, as he additionally claimed on the debate — and sending folks to illegally migrate to the U.S.
Immigration officers arrested about 103,700 noncitizens with felony convictions (whether or not within the U.S. or overseas) from fiscal years 2021 to 2024, federal information reveals. That accounts for folks stopped at and between ports of entry. Not everybody was let in.
The time period “noncitizens” consists of individuals who might have had authorized immigration standing within the U.S. however weren’t U.S. residents. The information displays the people who the federal authorities is aware of about, but it surely’s inexhaustive.
Though Venezuelan authorities information is unreliable, some information from unbiased organizations reveals that violent deaths have not too long ago decreased. From 2022 to 2023, violent deaths dropped by 25%, in keeping with the unbiased Venezuelan Observatory of Violence. Criminologists attribute this decline to Venezuela’s poor financial system and the federal government’s extrajudicial killings, not the federal government emptying its prisons and sending criminals to america.
Trump misleads on Biden-Harris inflation
Trump: Beneath Biden and Harris, the U.S. had “the worst inflation we have ever had.”
False.
The best year-over-year inflation charge on Biden’s watch was round 9% in summer season 2022. That was the best in about 40 years.
The best sustained, year-over-year U.S. inflation charges have been recorded within the Nineteen Seventies and early Nineteen Eighties, when the worth enhance ranged from 12% to fifteen%. For one 12 months — 1946, after the U.S. received World Conflict II — the general year-over-year inflation charge exceeded 18%.
Additionally, the year-over-year inflation charge has fallen since its 2022 peak below Biden. It was at 2.9% in July 2024, the most up-to-date month obtainable.
Trump’s claims about 2020 election outcomes
Trump: Referring to the lawsuits he and allies filed alleging irregularities within the 2020 presidential election that he misplaced, “No decide checked out it. … They mentioned we didn’t have standing. A technicality.”
False.
The lawsuits failed for various causes. Some have been dismissed for missing standing, which implies the decide dominated that the plaintiff didn’t have a stake. Others had errors within the filings. However in lots of circumstances, judges decided that the allegations lacked proof.
A Marketing campaign Authorized Heart evaluation discovered no less than 10 circumstances that have been selected the deserves.
Did Harris meet with Netanyahu?
Trump: Harris “would not even meet with (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a vital speech. She refused to be there ‘trigger she was at a sorority social gathering of hers.”
Half True.
Harris did miss the July 24 speech Netanyahu made to a joint session of Congress. As an alternative, she made a beforehand scheduled keynote speech to the Zeta Phi Beta sorority. (Harris is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.)
Harris met with Netanyahu the next day.
Trump distorts Harris’ report on police funding
Trump: Harris “has a plan to defund the police.”
Largely False.
The Trump marketing campaign has pointed to statements by Harris in 2020 — not in 2024. Shortly after George Floyd’s homicide by a Minneapolis police officer, Harris was requested concerning the “defund the police” motion. She referred to as for “reimagining” public security. She didn’t explicitly name for eliminating police departments, however she supplied assist for reexamining police budgets and lauded a proposal by the Los Angeles mayor to shift a part of the police finances to group initiatives.
Harris didn’t name for dissolving police departments; she mentioned police have been essential. She advised The New York Instances in June 2020, “We’re not going to do away with the police.”
A Trump marketing campaign spokesperson highlighted on Xfeedback by Harris in a June 2020 radio interviewwith actor Nick Cannon, through which she mentioned “now we have to redirect sources” from police to different areas of presidency corresponding to faculties and small companies.
Harris mentioned that she believed “now we have to reimagine public security in America” and argued that “for too lengthy, folks have confused reaching public security with placing extra cops on the road.”
Trump didn’t save the Reasonably priced Care Act
Trump: On the Reasonably priced Care Act, “I saved it.”
False.
Throughout 2016, Trump campaigned on repealing and changing the Reasonably priced Care Act. Whereas president, he sought to repeal the measure — and failed.
However his administration pursued a number of insurance policies that hindered its attain and effectiveness, together with slicing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in promoting and outreach funding. He minimize subsidies to insurance coverage corporations that supplied protection on the exchanges. He additionally took regulatory steps to allow less-expensive and less-comprehensive well being protection — for instance, short-term well being plans that didn’t adjust to the ACA.
Through the Trump administration, ACA enrollment went down and the variety of uninsured People rose by 2.3 million from 2016 to 2019, together with 726,000 youngsters, in keeping with the U.S. Census Bureau.
Trump and the Taliban
Harris: When he was president, Trump “invited the Taliban to Camp David.”
True.
Trump invited the Taliban to fulfill at Camp David earlier than canceling the assembly.
In September 2019, Trump mentioned he was canceling a deliberate, secret assembly for peace talks with Taliban leaders at Camp David, the well-known Maryland nation retreat for presidents. The assembly was scheduled to happen Sept. 8, 2019, three days earlier than the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist assaults.
Trump mentioned his crew’s monthslong peace talks with the extremist group have been over as a result of the Taliban had killed a U.S. soldier just a few days earlier than the assembly. “You possibly can’t do this. You possibly can’t do this with me,” Trump advised reporters.
In February 2020, Trump and the Taliban signed a deal to finish the warfare in Afghanistan inside 14 months.
The negotiation referred to as for the discharge of as much as 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan authorities. Information stories and statements from Afghanistan’s president mentioned the discharge occurred. Afghanistan officers mentioned they freed the prisoners on the U.S.’ request.
PolitiFact Government Director Aaron Sharockman, Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson, Senior Correspondent Amy Sherman, Workers Writers Grace Abels, Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu, Maria Briceño, Jeff Cercone, Madison Czopek, Marta Campabadal Graus, Samantha Putterman, Sara Swann, Loreben Tuquero, Maria Ramirez Uribe, Researcher Caryn Baird, KFF Well being Information Senior Editor Stephanie Stapleton and KFF Well being Information Senior Correspondent Stephanie Armour contributed to this story.
Our debate fact-checks depend on each new and beforehand reported work. We hyperlink to previous work at any time when attainable. In some circumstances, a fact-check ranking could also be completely different tonight than in previous variations. In these circumstances, both particulars of what the candidate mentioned, or how the candidate mentioned it, differed sufficient that we evaluated it anew.
