Key quotes from Trump-Harris first US presidential debate

The Democratic candidate for the US presidential election, Kamala Harris, and her Republican rival, Donald Trump, held their first presidential debate on Wednesday.

Here are some key quotes:

ECONOMY

“Look, we’ve had a terrible economy, because inflation, which is really known as a country buster,” said Trump.

“People can’t go out and buy cereal or bacon or eggs or anything else. The people of our country are absolutely dying with what they’ve done. They’ve destroyed the economy,” said Trump.

“I believe in the ambition, the aspirations, the dreams of the American people, and that is why I imagine and have actually a plan to build what I call an opportunity economy,” said Harris.

“My opponent, on the other hand, his plan is to do what he has done before, which is to provide a tax cut for billionaires and big corporations,” said Harris.

ISRAEL-GAZA CONFLICT

“It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out,” said Harris.

“She hates Israel. If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now,” said Trump to which Harris responded: “That’s absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people.”

WORLD LEADERS

“World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump,” said Harris.

“(Hungarian Prime Minister) Viktor Orban said the most respected, most feared person is Donald Trump. We had no problems when Trump was president,” said Trump.

UKRAINE

“I want the war to stop. I want to save lives,” Trump said, when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win the war with Russia.

“If Donald Trump were president, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now,” said Harris.

JABS

“Wait a minute, I’m talking now, if you don’t mind, please, does that sound familiar?” said Trump, appearing to refer to Harris’ use of “I’m speaking” during the 2020 vice presidential debate against former Vice President Mike Pence.

“It’s important to remind the former president, you’re not running against Joe Biden, you are running against me,” said Harris.

“So she just started by saying she’s going to do this, she’s going to do that, she’s going to do all these wonderful things. Why hasn’t she done it? She’s been there for three and a half years,” said Trump following Harris’ closing remarks.

ABORTION

“I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to put back in place the protections of Roe v Wade as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law,” said Harris.

“Now, I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. … Now states are voting on it. … Each individual state is voting. It’s the vote of the people. Now it’s not tied up in the federal government,” said Trump.

IMMIGRATION

“I’ll tell you something, he’s going to talk about immigration a lot tonight, even when it’s not the subject that is being raised,” said Harris.

“Our country is being lost, we’re a failing nation,” Trump said, referring to people crossing into the country illegally.

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

“I probably took a bullet to the head for the things they say about me,” said Trump.

TRUTHFULNESS

“As I said, you’re gonna hear a bunch of lies, and that’s not actually a surprising fact,” said Harris.

“There she goes again. It’s a lie,” said Trump after Harris said he would sign a national abortion ban were he to win office.

JOE BIDEN

“Remember this, she is Biden. She’s trying to get away from Biden,” said Trump, referring to Harris.

“Clearly, I am not Joe Biden, and certainly not Donald Trump, and what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country,” said Harris.

GUNS

“She has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun,” said Trump.

“(Democratic Vice Presidential nominee) Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away,” said Harris.

JAN. 6, 2021, CAPITOL ATTACK

“I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech,” said Trump, when asked if he regretted anything that day.

“I was at the Capitol. I was the vice president-elect. I was also a senator and on that day, the president of the United States incited a violent mob to attack our nation’s capital, to desecrate our nation’s capital,” said Harris.

COVID-19

“But what Donald Trump did, let’s talk about this, with COVID, is he actually thanked President Xi for what he did during COVID,” said Harris.

With additional input from Reuters