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Kamala Harris Goads Donald Trump Into a Frenzy at Presidential Debate

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The ABC Information-hosted presidential debate held in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening noticed Republican hopeful Donald Trump needled and goaded right into a frenzy of shouting by Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, who over almost two hours took the previous president to job on a number of points as he was repeatedly fact-checked by the community’s anchors, who referred to as out a number of false claims he constituted of the stage. 

The previous president and vice chairman’s face-off virtually instantly grew to become testy when the candidates traded accusations over financial and immigration points, with Harris pummeling the previous president on proposed tariffs as he accused her and the Biden administration of lax border insurance policies that he claims have allowed too many immigrants to pour into the nation and take jobs and commit crimes. 

The 2 candidates confronted off for the primary time on Tuesday evening to debate the nation’s high points in entrance of a nationwide viewers, with ABC Information anchors David Muir and Linsey Davis refereeing what could also be their solely assembly forward of the election. The talk blew previous a deliberate 90-minute runtime, as back-and-forth responses and cross-talk dominated the stage throughout a number of tense moments.

“My 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 simply depend on to get by means of the month,” Harris mentioned, stumbling barely in her opening reply. “Economists have mentioned that Trump’s gross sales tax would truly value middle-class households about $4,000 extra a 12 months, due to his insurance policies and his concepts about what must be the backs of middle-class individuals paying for tax cuts for billionaires.” 

Trump, seemingly fuming from the highest of the controversy, went on the assault, correcting Harris’ characterization of the “Trump gross sales tax” as tariffs on different nations. He later countered Harris’ assertion that Wharton College of Economics students poo-pooed his financial plan by claiming with out proof that professors on the elite Penn faculty, Trump’s alma mater, championed his plan for the financial system. 

Trump’s odd relationship with truthfulness and details quickly got here up once more when he claimed that Harris is a Marxist and dragged her father into the controversy, shouting at one level, “Her father’s a Marxist professor in economics.” The previous president additionally repeated the falsehood that Democrats needed Roe v. Wade ended after which advised a whopper, stating that some states enable for the killing of a child after delivery. In a uncommon second of correction, Davis interjected to state that no states enable such a heinous crime. 

The 2 candidates are locked in a neck-to-neck lifeless warmth, in response to the newest polling. As Harris’ honeymoon interval begins to fade after the joy round her entrance because the substitute on the high of the Democrats’ ticket, the vice chairman is seeking to outline her insurance policies in entrance of the nation. Abortion has been a key space for Harris as vice chairman for the reason that Supreme Courtroom, tipped by three Trump appointees, struck down the Roe v Wade determination. 

Abortion rights and IVF quickly took heart stage as the controversy spiraled into speedy back-and-forth accusations of lies. Harris says now that she would restore the rights of Roe v. Wade however dodged a query on her assist of some bans on abortion care; Trump stumbled when requested if he would veto a nationwide abortion ban then punted, stating it will by no means get by means of Congress; he then requested Harris to reply how late right into a being pregnant ought to abortion be allowed, a difficulty on which Democrats haven’t come to a consensus.

A Harris marketing campaign official advised The Hollywood Reporter that at 9 p.m., 71 % of their grassroots donors on Tuesday evening have been girls.

Trump’s assault on Harris in citing her father gave the impression to be handed proper again to him by his opponent when she supplied to take viewers to a Trump rally, jabbing her opponent by saying that crowd sizes, a significant level of pleasure for the previous president, have been dwindling as he speaks at size about odd matters.

“He talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter,” Harris mentioned. “He’ll speak about windmills inflicting most cancers. And what additionally, you will discover is that individuals begin leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and tedium.” 

This definitely bought to Trump, who couldn’t assist however ask for a rebuttal, to which he responded that “individuals don’t go to her rallies. There’s no cause to go.” Quickly after, he appeared to go off the rails when he started to talk about a weird on-line conspiracy idea about Haitian immigrants consuming canine in Springfield, Ohio. Harris laughed into her muted mic, saying, “What?” and when it was her flip to talk mentioned, “Discuss extremes!” 

For the second time, one of many ABC Information moderators — Muir, this time — interjected with a stay reality examine, saying Springfield’s metropolis supervisor advised ABC Information there was no credible allegation that any pets had been harmed within the metropolis.

Harris appears to have efficiently needled and goaded Trump within the first half of the controversy, itemizing among the longtime Republicans who’ve endorsed her over Trump, together with former Vice President Dick Cheney and Congresswoman Liz Cheney; bought him ranting about immigrants consuming canine; tying him to the controversial Undertaking 2025 plan; and usually egging him into shouting his factors fairly than stating them clearly. 

Forward of the controversy, controversy over the muting of Harris and Trump’s microphones because the opposing candidate is talking grabbed loads of headlines. Harris’ camp lastly agreed to the muting of mics on Tuesday. However in a letter to ABC Information, her marketing campaign officers mentioned that the lack to straight handle one another would go away Harris “basically deprived” within the debate. Regardless of this, she appears to be silently conveying her ideas and emotions with physique language and facial expressions; a number of instances, she’s demurely positioned her hand on her chin as Trump carried on with at all times loud and regularly questionable solutions. Later within the debate, ABC Information started turning their microphone again on in moments when a candidate formally asks for time to reply; crosstalk has inevitably ensued and albeit, each audio system have been inscrutable. 

At almost the midway level of the controversy, Trump was requested concerning the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and if there may be something he regrets about what he did on that day. Trump answered by stating once more that “nobody on the opposite aspect was killed” and claiming that these prosecuted for his or her function within the violent assault on our elected officers are being handled “so badly.” Trump additionally mentioned that he requested the gang on the rally he held that day to behave “peacefully and patriotically.”

Muir additionally requested Trump if he now accepts the outcomes of the 2020 election and the truth that he did lose to Joe Biden. Trump once more denied his loss and within the technique of answering, made an out-of-left-fiend declare that Biden has a damaging view of Harris. 

“And you understand what? I’ll provide you with a little bit secret,’ Trump mentioned whereas talking concerning the 2020 election outcomes. “He hates her. He can’t stand her.”

Whereas Trump invited his son, Eric Trump, and his daughter-in-law and Eric’s spouse, Lara Trump, together with high brass of his reelection marketing campaign workforce, Harris gave a clue to her debate tactic of getting underneath her opponent’s pores and skin. The vice chairman determined to convey two former members of Trump’s administration along with her to town of cohesion: Former White Home Director of Communications Anthony Scaramucci and former nationwide safety official Olivia Troye are there to be in Harris’ courtroom as she takes on the previous president. Each Scaramucci and Troye have defected to the blue aspect of the aisle since leaving the Trump White Home and are vocal opponents of their ex-boss.

An hour into the controversy, the primary break lastly got here. Earlier than this, Harris was requested concerning the Israel-Hamas warfare and clarified her temporary feedback on the subject made in her acceptance speech on the Democratic Nationwide Conference final month. 

“Israel has a proper to defend itself…,” Harris mentioned. “It’s also true that far too many harmless Palestinians, youngsters, moms, what we all know is that this warfare should finish. We’d like a ceasefire deal, and we want the hostages out, and we should chart a course for a two-state answer, and in that, there be safety and Israel and an equal measure for the Palestinians. However the one factor I’ll guarantee you at all times, I’ll at all times give Israel the flexibility to defend itself.”

In response, Trump claimed that Harris skipped Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s go to to Congress to attend a “sorority get together;” he then made the daring declare that Harris “hates Israel.” 

Trump was then pressured to reply for the controversial feedback he made in July on the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists convention in Chicago concerning Harris’ race, claiming that she was as soon as of Indian-American descent then all of a sudden “turned Black.” On the time, Trump was sitting for a Q&A on the occasion and Harris had simply launched her marketing campaign, following Biden’s exit from the race; the occasion in Chicago was ended early by his handlers after Trump started to lose the gang.

“I don’t care,” Trump mentioned when requested by Muir to deal with the controversy. “I don’t care what she is. No matter she desires to be is okay with me, however these have been your phrases. So I don’t know…I imply, all I can say is, I learn the place she was not Black, that she put out, after which I learn that she was Black, and that’s okay. That’s as much as her.”

From the controversy stage, Harris responded in the identical method as her marketing campaign publicly replied on the time, saying she believed it was a tragedy to see that somebody working to steer the nation would attempt to divide individuals alongside racial traces; she then launched into Trump’s documented historical past of racism all through his profession, together with the authorized woes he confronted within the Nineteen Eighties for refusing to lease to Black individuals and the advert he took out in newspapers calling for the execution of the later-exonerated “Central Park 5,” who at the moment are dubbed “The Exonerated 5.”

“I feel the American individuals need higher than that, need higher than this,” Harris mentioned.

As the controversy closed, the 2 sparred on overseas relations and local weather change, with Trump falsely claiming of Harris that the Biden administration “despatched her in to barter with [Volodymyr] Zelensky and [Vladimir] Putin, and she or he did, and the warfare began three days later.” Harris attended a convention in Munich within the days earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; Whereas Ukrainian President Zelensky was current on the occasion, Putin was not. Trump additionally repeated a second conspiracy idea from the stage, this time swapping a lie about dog-eating immigrants for a falsehood concerning Biden supposedly taking cash from China and the “mayor of Moscow’s spouse.”

The candidates’ official dropping arguments basically outlined the campaigns that the 2 presidential hopefuls have been working. They started with Harris, who used the second to be forward-looking and focus on America’s potential future. This notion was heard from Harris all through the night and has been the theme throughout her abbreviated marketing campaign; “Aren’t you uninterested in this man and his antics?” she is actually saying. Trump’s closing remarks had him telling voters that he’ll “rebuild” the nation, as he did within the again half of the final decade. However he then went damaging — each on Harris, as he did all through the evening, after which on the nation that he’s preventing laborious to as soon as once more lead. 

“We’re a failing nation,” Trump advised the viewers and the voters. “We’re a nation in critical decline.”

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Joe Biden Defends His Mental Capacity in Post-Debate Interview

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In what’s arguably a very powerful media interview of his reelection bid, President Joe Biden on Friday maintained that his shaky efficiency on the first 2024 presidential debate was “a nasty night time” and that he was “sick” however the incumbent candidate appeared unaware of how briskly his possibilities to win seem like slipping away as voters get an impression that he’s in psychological decline.

The interview with ABC Information did Biden no favors however gained’t deliver the identical panic heard after his tough debate efficiency.

The embattled president, now going through what seems to be to be a troublesome reelection bid, sat down with ABC Information‘ George Stephanopoulos for a 22-minute, unedited interview which aired in full on Friday. The strategic transfer from Biden’s marketing campaign was to reassure voters about his well being and health for reelection, and the president did convey that whereas he was actually in strong psychological situation, he actually didn’t seem like at his sharpest. 

“It was a nasty episode,” he mentioned on the prime of the interview in response to a query concerning the Atlanta debate. “I used to be exhausted. I didn’t hearken to my instincts when it comes to getting ready and … had a nasty night time.”

Biden additionally instructed Stephanopoulos that he was sick on the time. The president had spent six days at Camp David earlier than debate night time, following a visit to Europe, and the anchor requested if this was not sufficient time to relaxation forward of the most important second of his marketing campaign. 

“As a result of I used to be sick. I used to be feeling horrible,” Biden revealed. “As a matter of truth… I requested in the event that they did a COVID check. We have been attempting to determine what was incorrect. They did a check to see whether or not or not I had some an infection, a virus. They mentioned I simply had a very dangerous chilly.”

When requested subsequent if he had watched his debate efficiency, Biden appeared not sure, saying, “I don’t assume I did.”

President Biden sits down for interview with George Stephanopoulos l ABC News exclusive

Biden’s interview comes as some — corresponding to CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta — are saying the president ought to bear neurological testing (particularly, for Parkinson’s) with a specialist educated to make such a prognosis. The White Home has beforehand maintained that Biden’s private physician has mentioned he’s match for workplace. He’s going through calls to step down within the wake of his faltering dwell 90-minute debate efficiency final Thursday in opposition to Donald Trump. The controversy raised questions on his psychological capability and provoked a swarm of media stories detailing behind-the-scenes White Home staffers’ efforts to restrict entry to the president whereas making his job much less bodily demanding, all whereas sustaining the commander-in-chief was as “sharp as a tack.” 

Biden mentioned that he knew he felt that early within the debate he had misplaced management when there have been technical points and somebody had turned off his microphone. He did take a jab at Trump, saying that he lies 28 occasions from the stage in Atlanta, and went on to tout his document over the past 3-and-a-half years and listing a few of his accomplishments as president. 

“I used to be additionally the man that expanded NATO. I’m additionally the man who grew the financial system. All the person issues that have been completed have been concepts I had or I fulfilled. I moved on,” he mentioned, including that he at the moment introduced 200,000 new jobs. “We’re transferring in a course that nobody’s ever taken on.”

Requires Biden to step apart to permit different potential candidates to safe the nomination have continued. On Tuesday, veteran Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett grew to become the primary sitting Democratic member of Congress to name on Biden to give up the race. Publish-debate polling remains to be comparatively sparse, however some early indications counsel Trump has widened his result in about six factors forward of Biden nationally.  

Stephanopoulos repeatedly hammered Biden with questions on his psychological state and whether or not he’s match for what’s in the end one of the demanding jobs on this planet. After years at it, may it have taken a toll on him? 

Biden replied, “I believe it price me a nasty night time.” The president then listed parts of his plans for the nation if he have been to be reelected, however not earlier than saying, “I don’t consider we’re a rustic of losers. I don’t assume America is in powerful form.” 

“This subsequent time period, I’m going to ensure we straighten out the tax system, ensure we’re in a state of affairs the place we’ve well being look after all folks, or able the place we’ve little one care and elder care,” he mentioned. “Unlock and all this stuff.”

In direction of the tip of the interview, during which Biden stumbled a lot of occasions and like on the night time of the controversy, appeared to confuse his worlds and soar round in his solutions, he was requested how he’d really feel if after he put up the battle of his life for reelection and misplaced, leaving the nation with the person he’s warned in opposition to so harshly.

“If Trump wins in November, I’ll really feel so long as I gave it my all and did the goodest job I do know I may do, that’s what it’s all about,” he mentioned.

The interview going to Stephanopoulos resulted in some conservative criticism that prompt the White Home picked an interviewer who has — pretty or unfairly — been thought-about extra pleasant to the administration than some. Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley jabbed at Stephanopoulos on Tuesday by re-posting a clip from final 12 months the place the ABC Information anchor dismissed her prediction that Biden would ultimately should step down for well being causes. Stephanopoulos has labored for ABC Information for greater than 20 years, however beforehand served as former President Invoice Clinton’s senior adviser for coverage and technique throughout his first time period after being a part of the Clinton marketing campaign staff through the 1992 election.

ABC Information is internet hosting the second debate between Biden and Trump, which is at the moment slated for Sept. 10. Stephanopoulos beforehand instructed Stephen Colbert on CBS’ Late Present that he gained’t be a moderator within the debate since Trump is at the moment suing him for defamation. 

Entertainment

ABC News President Kim Godwin Out at Network

ABC Information president Kim Godwin is out on the community.

Debra OConnell, president, Information Group and Networks at Disney Leisure, and Godwin shared the information in inner memos despatched to employees Sunday evening.

Godwin instructed employees that after reflecting on her tenure, “I’ve determined to retire from broadcast journalism.”

“Anybody who’s captivated with what we do is aware of there’s no different enterprise prefer it, so this was not a straightforward or fast determination,” Godwin continued. “However after appreciable reflection, I’m sure it’s the proper one for me as I look to the long run and prioritize what’s most vital for me and my household.”

In her memo, OConnell stated that she would lead ABC Information within the interim.

“In the intervening time, I’ll oversee ABC Information and I’m wanting ahead to working with the management workforce as we forge a brand new path ahead collectively,” OConnell wrote. “Thanks in your endurance and understanding via this era of transition.”

Godwin joined ABC Information in 2021 after a protracted profession as an government and producer at CBS Information.

Nevertheless, she was layered in February of this 12 months, with the Disney veteran OConnell tasked with merging ABC Information and the ABC TV stations enterprise. Godwin had signed a brand new deal to stay at ABC Information at the moment, although the restructuring restricted her authority considerably.

Her tenure had confronted some public challenges, maybe most notably the suspension and finally the firing of GMA3 co-hosts Amy Robach an TJ Holmes final 12 months. She had additionally been a goal of grumbling from employees, although few nationwide newsroom leaders have been spared from that in recent times.

On Saturday, the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists launched a press release addressing a few of the studies, writing that “there appears to be an intentionality to quote nameless sources as Godwin’s detractors, coupled with the usage of derogatory or stereotypical phrases to explain her. In the meantime, these studies are completely ignoring sources and information that talk to Godwin having vital assist contained in the group.”

The NABJ added that it deliberate to fulfill with ABC and Disney executives to debate the matter.

Learn OConnell’s and Godwin’s memos under.

NOTE FROM DEBRA OCONNELL TO HER TEAM:

Group,

I needed to share Kim’s notice under. Dana and I want to take this chance to specific our deepest gratitude to Kim for her service as president of ABC Information. Kim has navigated this workforce via consequential instances in our world, and he or she did so with respect for the model and career – and for that and extra, we thank her.

Our fame and credibility are hard-earned, and we’d additionally prefer to acknowledge the extraordinary work you ship every day. Because the No. 1 information community for 12 consecutive seasons and counting, ABC Information is residence to the perfect within the enterprise. From morning via daytime, night and past, this workforce stands prepared 24/7 to serve our nation with the information, individuals and occasions that form our world.

In the intervening time, I’ll oversee ABC Information and I’m wanting ahead to working with the management workforce as we forge a brand new path ahead collectively. Thanks in your endurance and understanding via this era of transition. Since assuming this function in February, my objective has been – and can proceed to be – to offer this workforce with the means mandatory to construct on our success and keep on the proud custom of ABC Information right into a future stuffed with alternative and innovation.

In case you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to succeed in out to me or your senior leaders.

Thanks,

Debra

KIM GODWIN NOTE TO ABC NEWS:

Good night ABC Information,

Forty years in the past, I started my profession recent out of school as an keen and enthusiastic government producer at WTXL in Tallahassee, the place I used to be liable for the 6 and 11 p.m. information. The employees was so small, on busy information days, I needed to exit and report too. Little did I do know then what extraordinary alternatives lay earlier than me as I started to chart a path via a career the place only a few ladies – and even fewer ladies of coloration – had been in management roles. So, I understood and appreciated the profound significance of being the primary Black girl to guide a nationwide broadcast information community after I accepted the function as president of ABC Information a little bit over three years in the past. It’s each a privilege and a debt to those that chipped away on the ceiling earlier than me to guide a workforce whose model is synonymous with belief, integrity and a dogged willpower to be the perfect within the enterprise.

Now, 4 many years and numerous miles later, having labored in any respect three broadcast information networks and 10 native stations in 9 cities, I’ve come full circle from that small however mighty ABC affiliate in Florida’s panhandle. I’ve determined to retire from broadcast journalism. After matriculating via j-school at my beloved Florida A&M College, I’ve been lucky and blessed sufficient to have achieved nearly each job there may be on this enterprise, together with anchor, investigative reporter, information director, subject producer, community/particular occasions government producer and extra earlier than shifting on to the manager ranks. Anybody who’s captivated with what we do is aware of there’s no different enterprise prefer it, so this was not a straightforward or fast determination. However after appreciable reflection, I’m sure it’s the proper one for me as I look to the long run and prioritize what’s most vital for me and my household.

ABC Information was No. 1 after I joined the workforce and I’m proud to say we’re nonetheless No. 1 – an achievement that’s been punctuated in current months with the very best honors our career has to supply, from the Edward R. Murrow Award for General Excellence in Tv, to the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for our groundbreaking “Energy of Water” sequence, to our first-ever Primetime Emmy Award nominations for “Fairly Child: Brooke Shields” and “Aftershock.” And simply final week, our Uvalde documentary, “Print It Black,” received Greatest Characteristic Documentary on the Dallas Worldwide Movie Pageant, the place it premiered. I’m notably pleased with our unprecedented Uvalde 365 venture, an unparalleled yearlong dedication to documenting the emotional journey of a group after a mass taking pictures.

In 2022, we had been all overjoyed to obtain 41 Emmy nominations, probably the most in 53 years. We now have the highest morning information present, daytime community present, night newscast and Friday information journal. We’re constantly No. 1 in all main dwell TV occasions, together with, most lately, “Eclipse Throughout America,” in partnership with Nat Geo. And our applications can often be discovered within the High 10 on Hulu.

Past awards and scores, our success is maybe finest measured within the individuals of ABC Information. That is an distinctive workforce doing distinctive work – collectively. You might be finest at school in each class, and it’s been nothing wanting superior to see you sort out task after task, delivering complete protection from around the globe to our viewers at a time when truthful reporting is crucial to the way forward for our nice nation.

We take pleasure in masking all communities and assembly our audiences the place and after they want us, and no endeavor higher exemplifies this than ABC Information Reside. After I began, it was the little streaming practice that would; now, due to your laborious work and dedication, it’s a giant practice that may – and does, on daily basis. Collectively, on Hulu final season, we launched “Affect X Nightline,” a weekly information journal whose episodes are often among the many most watched content material on the platform.

We must be particularly pleased with our success with ABC Information Studios, which we constructed from the bottom as much as develop into what’s now a premiere nonfiction and documentary studio, making greater than 120 hours of award-winning content material a 12 months. We additionally established the primary local weather unit among the many broadcast information networks. So many inventions and initiatives in what feels just like the blink of a watch. Collectively, we dedicated to a cultural shift, the place individuals might be their genuine selves, feeling seen and heard, whereas doing their finest work. For all these causes and extra, I depart ABC Information and this career with the sincerest sense of pleasure, accomplishment and gratitude. My coronary heart is stuffed.

I want to thank Dana Walden and Debra OConnell for at all times making certain we had the sources and assist to do our jobs. And at last, thanks ABC Information for the love, assist and inspiration. Through the years, a whole bunch of you’ve despatched emails, texts, and made cellphone calls which have lifted my coronary heart. On this consequential election 12 months, as we glance to the months forward, the significance of what we do can’t be overstated. Keep in mind, there may be pleasure in journalism.

I go away with my head held excessive and need all the workforce continued success.

#oneabcnews

In religion and favor,
Kim