Donald Trump preparing for debate with help from Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard: Sources
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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump’s advisers may have publicly insisted he doesn’t need any debate prep, but the former president is preparing more than he’s letting on, sources tell ABC News.
Trump is holding informal policy sessions with a small team of advisers, including GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who once challenged Vice President Kamala Harris on the debate stage in 2019, the sources said.
Gaetz has been firing questions at Trump around some of the more challenging issues, such as his legal troubles, including his federal indictments on election interference and retaining classified documents, criminal conviction in the New York hush-money case and stance on abortion, according to the sources.
Two people familiar with Trump’s preparation also told ABC News that Trump has been briefed on Harris’ past debates, including the headline-making moment when she hit back at former Vice President Mike Pence with the words, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.” That exchange went viral then, and Trump has privately told his allies he won’t let that happen to him.
Sources told ABC News that Trump’s recent press address on Friday has left some on the GOP side with pre-debate concerns.
While Trump has continued with his campaign schedule, his movements on Friday puzzled some Republicans. Trump, following his appeal of the $5 million a federal jury awarded writer E. Jean Carroll after finding him liable for sexually assaulting and defaming her, came before the cameras rattling off — in often vivid detail — the accusations of sexual misconduct from multiple women over the years. All of which he has denied.
Meanwhile, as ABC News previously reported, Harris has been engaged in traditional debate prep in Pittsburgh.
The cameras caught her in the city on Sunday on a walk with second gentleman, Doug Emhoff. But, she ignored two shouted questions on Trump’s claims that he’ll jail his political opponents and how she plans to respond to personal attacks from Trump on the debate stage.
On Saturday, Trump posted on TruthSocial, writing, “… the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again.”
Trump’s false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election have continually been disproven.
Harris, on Sunday, did respond to a third question shouted at her by the media about whether she was ready by echoing, “ready,” and giving a thumbs up before disappearing around the side of a building.
In related news, Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, will appear in the spin room following the debate, ABC News has confirmed.
The ABC News presidential debate will take place on Sept. 10 at 9 p.m. ET and air on ABC and stream on ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a former presidential candidate and ally of Donald Trump, said the president-elect would bring the country together while also defending Trump’s immigration plan for mass deportations.
Speaking to “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Ramaswamy urged Democrats to give Trump a chance in office and called on them to resist efforts to cast him as a threat to democracy.
“What you’re hearing from Donald Trump is he is going to be a president for all Americans. He is a guy who, in that first term, he had crowds chanting ‘lock her up’ for Hillary Clinton. He didn’t prosecute her. I think Donald Trump is focused on what makes people’s lives better. And actually, my message to Democrats out there, even those who didn’t vote for Donald Trump, is to give him a chance to actually make your life better,” Ramaswamy said.
“I think it’s time to turn the page on a lot of these histrionics, or Hitler comparisons,” he added, before later saying that “success is unifying. Nothing’s going to unite this country more than economic growth.”
Ramaswamy ran against the former and now president-elect in the 2024 GOP primary as a culture warrior in Trump’s image, though he ended his campaign the night of the Iowa caucuses and endorsed the former president.
On Sunday, he also defended Trump’s vow for a mass deportation force, predicting that the tougher enforcement measures will also lead to undocumented immigrants leaving the country on their own.
“Donald Trump’s campaign promise was the largest mass deportation in American history, and he’s going to keep that promise,” Ramaswamy said. “Not an iota, not a cent of government spending should go to subsidize this, not to sanctuary cities, not to federal aid to people who are in this country illegally, and we’re going to see a large number, by the millions, of self-deportations as well.”
Pressed by Karl on the fate of the so-called “Dreamers” — people who were brought to the United States as children without valid documentation — Ramaswamy declined to explicitly say how the incoming administration would approach this group of undocumented immigrants, which includes many adults who have spent most of their life in the U.S. During his first term, the Trump administration attempted to rescind the Obama-era program that allowed such migrants to stay and work in the country.
“I say this as the kid of legal immigrants to this country, as the proud child of legal immigrants to the United States of America. If your first act of entering this country broke the law, that doesn’t allow you to remain in this country,” Ramaswamy said. “One is, no migration without consent. Think about your nation like a body. Number two is that consent should only be granted, and should be granted to migrants who benefit the United States of America. But those who enter without consent must be removed.”
As a vocal Trump ally, Ramaswamy is thought of as a potential future member of the Trump administration, though he did not specify what role would interest him.
“There’s a couple great options on the table. I want to have the biggest possible impact on this country. We’re not going to sort that out in the press… we’re having some high-impact discussions.”
(NEW YORK) — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff has slammed Donald Trump over antisemitic comments made by the former president.
In a new interview with GMA anchor Michael Strahan, the second gentleman, who is Jewish, accused Trump of having a “record” of saying “vile, antisemitic things.”
Strahan asked Emhoff what he thought of Trump’s July interview with WABC in which he claimed Vice President Kamala Harris, Emhoff’s wife and Democratic candidate for president, “doesn’t like Jewish people.”
“It’s typical Donald Trump gaslighting,” Emhoff told Strahan. He “is a guy who has had a record of saying incredibly vile, antisemitic things. So, for him to say that — I just almost laugh at — at how– the chutzpah, as we would say.”
Emhoff has repeatedly attacked Trump over his rhetoric towards Jewish Americans, calling him an antisemite in May after Trump claimed Jewish people who voted for President Joe Biden needed to “have to have their head examined.”
On Wednesday, Emhoff headlined two separate fundraisers for the Harris-Walz campaign, where he defended his wife against comments made by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said at a Trump town hall on Tuesday in Michigan that Harris “doesn’t have anything to keep her humble” because she does not have biological children.
“We know that all parents, no matter how you become one, make the same sacrifices and revel in the same joys of raising children as any parent anywhere,” Emhoff said, adding, “Women in this country will never humble themselves before Donald Trump.”
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Governor and Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz participate in the Vice Presidential debate in New York City, October 1, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz met on stage Tuesday for what was likely the last debate of the 2024 presidential election.
The two vice presidential candidates struck a cordial tone as they spoke in-depth about everything from immigration to health care and democracy.
Looming large over the showdown was Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, as Walz and Vance were forced to answer for their running mates’ records while also presenting their own visions for the future.
Here are some key takeaways from the CBS News debate:
Civility ruled the day
While Walz and Vance sparred on issues, they did so with decorum and largely steered clear of the personal attacks that defined the past two presidential debates.
They started off by shaking hands and ended the night with closing statements in which they thanked each other and the American people for tuning in. As one commercial break came to a close, they were seen smiling at each other.
At times, they tried to highlight areas where they might be in agreement. In one exchange on gun violence, Walz spoke about his son witnessing a shooting at a local recreation center.
“First of all, I didn’t know your 17-year-old witnessed a shooting and I’m sorry about that,” Vance said, to which Walz said he appreciated the comment.
At other times they were more pointed, though, especially when it came to immigration and democracy. Walz said he was troubled by Vance’s indirect response when asked if he’d challenge the results of the 2024 election.
A more policy-focused debate
Viewers got to hear several substantive policy exchanges.
On health care, Vance was pressed on Trump’s comment that he only had “concepts of a plan” to replace the Affordable Care Act and how their administration would protect people with preexisting conditions.
“We have current laws and regulations to protect people with pre-existing conditions and want to keep the regulations in place and help the insurance marketplace function a little better,” Vance said though he did not dive into specifics.
He also distorted many of Trump’s actions on the ACA and claimed Trump made the law stronger, which was false.
Walz was asked about Harris’ plan to build three million new homes (which he argued would not drive up prices and would lead to generational wealth) and whether he believed it was likely Congress would agree to her proposal for an enhanced Child Tax Credit. He said both high housing and child care costs were the biggest burdens on American families.
Amid the devastating damage from Hurricane Helene, both were asked if climate change was contributing to such extreme weather events. Walz emphatically said climate change was “real” while Vance expressed skepticism about “weird science,” stating carbon emissions were contributing to the climate crisis.
In one notable moment on abortion, Vance adopted a different tone from the one he and Trump have voiced in the past.
“We’ve got to do so much better of a job at earning the American people’s trust back on this issue, where they frankly just don’t trust us and I think that’s one of the things that Donald Trump and I are endeavoring to do,” he said.
At the same time, he claimed during the debate that he never supported a national abortion ban, despite previously signaling support for a bill introduced by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham that would ban abortion after 15 weeks nationwide.
Walz, meanwhile, spoke about the women whose health has been negatively impacted by state-level restrictions since the fall of Roe v. Wade. Walz blamed Trump for the Supreme Court nominations he said “put this all into motion.”
Both forced to answer for past comments
For Vance, it was his calling Trump unfit to be president and likening him to Hitler in 2016. The moderator addressed Vance about his past criticisms of Trump and his shifts in policy to align with the former president’s, asking why should Americans trust that he will give Trump the advice he needs to hear.
“Because I’ve always been open and sometimes, of course, I’ve disagreed with the president, but I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,” Vance said.
Vance blamed the media for its coverage of Trump and then said he changed his mind in part because of Trump’s record in office.
Walz, meanwhile, was asked why he previously said he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.
The governor has repeatedly claimed he was in China during the protests during his year-long stint as a high school teacher in the southeastern Chinese town of Foshan starting in 1989, though according to local newspaper clipping obtained by ABC News, it appears he did not actually travel to the country until August 1989, about two months after the protests ended.
Asked about that discrepancy during the debate, Walz said that he’s “a knucklehead at times” and that his extensive travel to China “is about trying to understand the world, it’s about trying to do the best you can for the community.”
When pressed by the moderator further, he conceded that he “misspoke” and that he was in Hong Kong the year of the massacre but not at the time it happened.
Vance refused to say if he will accept election, doesn’t condemn Jan. 6
As the debate winded down, Vance was asked if he would seek to challenge the 2024 election even if every governor certified the results. However, the senator sidestepped the question and pivoted to what he claimed was Harris and tech companies censoring people. He also brought up the endorsements of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard.
Walz said he was troubled by Vance’s statement and said such denials needed to come to an end.
“Here we are, four years later, in the same boat. I will tell you, that when this is over, we need to shake hands, this election, and the winner needs to be the winner. This has got to stop. It’s tearing our country apart,” the governor said.
Walz continued to deflect from the question and at one point attacked Hillary Clinton.
“Did he lose the 2020 election?” Walz asked Vance, referring to Trump.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance responded.
“That is a damning non-answer,” Walz shot back.
Vance did not back down on false claims about Springfield
The ongoing controversy stemming from Vance’s false claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, continued when Walz talked about the dangers it created for the community.
“The governor had to send state law enforcement to escort kindergartens to school. I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point. And when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings,” he said.
Local leaders and law enforcement have said there have been no valid reports of the Haitian immigrants stealing pets or spreading diseases that Vance has promoted. Vance did not promote those falsehoods on Tuesday but did continue to call the protected migrants with legal status “illegal.”
Vance also reiterated his claims that undocumented immigrants are contributing to a housing crisis and leading to a rise in crime.
“The people that I’m most worried about in Springfield, Ohio, are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border,” he said.
Vance got heated when CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan again brought up the fact that the Haitian immigrants in Springfield were in the U.S. legally by being granted Temporary Protected Status.
As Vance tried to dispute her statement — and went back and forth with her and with Walz, the moderators said they needed to move on to the next topic before resorting to muting the candidates’ microphones.
