presidential candidates kamla Harris and Donald Trump meeting on the debate stage for the first time KLA Harris Let's Have a good debate see you have fun thank you the vice president walking to the former president's Podium to shake his hand in Philadelphia two standing J 6 feet apart from the start the gloves were off tonight you're going to hear from the same old tired Playbook a bunch of Lies Grievances and name calling Trump punching back she's a Marx everybody knows she's a Marxist her father's a Marxist professor in economics and he taught her well the stakes could not be higher for tonight's debate the two candidates locked in a dead heat in polls the economy and inflation on the top of American voters Minds Trump laying the blame on the Harris and Biden Administration we have inflation like very few people have ever seen before probably the worst in our nation's history we were at 21% Harris responding Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression Donald Trump left us the worst Public Health epidemic in a century like the Trump Biden debate tonight there was no studio audience and the microphones were turned off and remember this she is Biden you know she's trying to get away from Biden I don't know the gentleman she says she is Biden the worst inflation we've ever had a horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad and she can't get away with that Harris responding clearly I am not Joe Biden and I am certainly not Donald Trump and what I do offer is a new generation of leadership for our country the debate turning personal Donald Trump was fired by 81 million people so let's be clear about that and clearly he is having a very difficult time processing that Trump claiming Biden was pushed off the Democratic ticket you talk about a threat to democracy he got 14 million votes and they threw him out of office and you know what I'll give you a little secret he hates her he can't stand her both candidates getting heated when discussing the issue of abortion an area of vulnerability for the GOP her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine he also says execution after birth it's execution no longer abortion because the baby is born is okay and that's not okay with me hence the vote ABC News factchecking the former president there is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born Harris after reminding Americans of Trump's role in selecting members of the Supreme Court who overturn roie Wade went on the attack I absolutely support reinstating the protections of roie Wade and as you rightly mentioned nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and and in asking for an abortion that is not happening it's insulting to the women of America according to a Pew Research Center study a majority of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases president Trump hammering the Biden Administration On the Border an area of vulnerability for Harris there's never been anything done like this at all they've destroyed the fabric of our country millions of people let in and all over the world crime is down all over the world except here Harris defending her record pointing to the bipartisan border bill that Trump killed that bill would have put more resources to allow us to prosecute transnational criminal organizations for trafficking in guns drugs and human beings but you know what happened to that bill Donald Trump got on the phone called up some folks in Congress and said kill the bill and you know why because he'd prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem at one point Trump repeating debunk claims about immigrants in Springfield Ohio in Springfield they're eating the dogs the people that came in they're eating the cats they're eating they're eating the pets of the people that live there I just want to clarify here you bring up Springfield Ohio and ABC News did reach out to the city manager there uh he told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed injured or abused by individuals within the Immigrant Community both candidates going after one another Harris needling Trump about his rallies you will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lector he will talk about windmills cause cancer and what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom people don't go to her rallies there's no reason to go and the people that do go she's busting them in and paying them to be there ABC news anchor Lindsey Davis challenging the vice president her changing positions president Harris in your last run for president you said you wanted to ban fracking now you don't you wanted mandatory government buyback programs for assault weapons now your campaign says you don't you supported decriminalizing border crossings now you're taking a harder line I know you say that your values have not changed so then why have so many of your policy positions changed so my values have not changed and I'm going to discuss every one of the at least every point that you've made tonight was crucial for both candidates but for Harris it was her biggest stage yet as she reintroduces herself to voters with recent polls showing nearly a third of Voters say they still don't know enough about her while tonight was her first presidential debate she did not hold back when you then talk in this way in a presidential debate and deny what over and over again are court cases you have lost because you did in fact lose that election it leads one to believe that perhaps we do not have in the candidate to my right the temperament or or the ability to not be confused about fact Trump launching attacks on Harris's record she's worse than Biden in my opinion I think he's the worst president in the history of our country she goes down as the worst vice president in the history of our country tonight was Trump's seventh presidential debate less than three months ago he was on the debate stage facing off against a different candidate with with with the co excuse me with um dealing with everything we have to do with uh look if we finally beat Medicare shortly after Trump survived an assassination attempt then Biden dramatically ending his bid for a second term passing the torch to his vice president polling shows Harris and Trump locked at a tight race a New York Times Cen poll found Trump leading Harris by one percentage point the former president's support hold and steady despite New York jury finding him guilty on all 34 accounts of falsifying business records in the stermy Daniels hush money case I think this is so rich coming from someone who has been prosecuted for National Security crimes economic crimes election interference has been found liable for sexual assault and his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing Trump resp responding I'm winning most of them but those are cases it's called weaponization never happened in this country they weaponized the justice department tonight's debate coming amidst prolonged conflict in the Middle East Israel a controversial topic she hates Israel if she's president I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now and I've been pretty good at predictions and I hope I'm wrong about that one she hates Israel vice president Harris he says you hate Israel oh that's absolutely abolutely not true I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people he knows that he's trying to again divide and 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 it is well known that he admires dictators wants to be a dictator on day one according to himself after the debate Taylor Swift endorsing Harris writing in part on Instagram I'm voting for kamla Harris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to Champion them with the election less than two months away the impact of tonight's debate can't be underestimated what matters is what the voters think but in the end right now he is tied with KLA Harris does this change anything you have to be very careful and it's very important to see what the voters think when we come back our Powerhouse Roundtable drills down on the action of the evening and tells us what it all means as we move through this contentious and consequential presidential election