Ten key highlights from the Harris-Trump debate: From pet eating rant to assassination claims and 'biased' moderators

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have faced off against each other in a debate for the first - and possibly the last - time ahead of the November election.

Harris, during the heated 90-minute debate last night, baited Trump with jabs at his economic policy and performance at his campaign rallies.

Trump, while measured early on, grew more annoyed as the night went on, but hit back on the Democrats' record over immigration and inflation, routinely touting the narrative that 'Harris is Joe Biden'. 

The conversation veered into uncharted territory including allegations of eating pets and executing babies, and saw Harris - who rarely discusses her personal firearms stance - admit that she is a 'gun owner' and won't be confiscating weapons. 

ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis asked the nominees a series of questions on the economy, immigration, abortion, energy, the 2020 election, Israel's war in Gaza, the Russia- Ukraine and more. 

But the pair are not making headlines for their questions. They have instead come under fire for repeatedly fact checking Trump, but not once correcting Harris. 

DailyMail.com takes a look at the key moments of last night's historic debate...

Let's begin...with an awkward hello?

As Harris and Trump, who had never met before, took the debate stage Tuesday night the pair shared a handshake and awkward greeting. 

The vice president took a direct route straight to the former president with an outreached arm and bizarrely introduced herself by name.

'Kamala Harris,' she said, as though her opponent had no idea what her name was. 'Let's have a good debate.'

'Nice to see you,' Trump responded as he shook her hand, 'Have fun.' 

It was the first handshake at a presidential debate since Hillary Clinton and Trump's first debate in 2016.

Though the two had not previously met, Trump surely knew the sitting VP and his primary rival's name, one he's said hundreds of times. 

Trump's allies branded Harris' introduction as 'foolish', while the Democrat's supporters suggested it was a power move.

Trump's dog eating rant

Trump repeatedly attacked Harris on immigration, before pivoting to a conspiracy theory about Haitian migrants 'eating pets' in rural Springfield, Ohio.

'In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats,' the former president said. 'They're eating the pets of the people that live there.' 

Harris could be heard muttering 'What? This is unbelievable' before adding 'talk about extreme' and laughing. 

The pet eating allegation has been circulated on social media and was amplified by Trump's vice presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance. 

ABC News debate moderator David Muir stepped in to say: 'I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals.' 

Meddling moderators 'show their biases'

ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were slammed for meddling in last night's presidential debate. 

Muir and Davis repeatedly attempted to fact check Trump on issues such as the Capitol riot and a claim about migrant crime, but Harris was not fact checked by either moderator during the contest.

Davis claimed that Trump was lying when he said that states are allowing for post-birth executions. And Muir said Trump claimed falsely that immigrants were eating pets in the town of Springfield, Ohio.

However, when Harris incorrectly stated that Trump was against in vitro fertilization during the debate they claim was left unchallenged, sparking fury from Republicans.

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer wrote on social media: 'ABC is making a huge mistake trying to fact check this live. They’re only proving how biased they are. Harris fabricated an attack on Trump over IVF. ABC sat there and said nothing'.

'The moderators didn't fact check Kamala Harris on Project 2025. The moderators didn't fact check Kamala Harris on IVF. They just fact-checked Trump for the fourth time'. 

A Trump campaign account added: 'Kamala is LYING again. President Trump has said he wants to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, including supporting IVF in every state.'

Trump has stated the he has spoken out in favor of IVF when it has faced bans at the state level.

Democratic rhetoric 'led to assassination attempt' 

Trump, during the debate last night, once again cited the attempt on his life, but this time blamed rhetoric from Harris and the Democrats for the shooting.

'I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things that they say about me,' he said. 'They talk about democracy, I'm a threat to democracy. They're the threat to democracy.'

Trump faced an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July. Matthew Cooks, the gunman, shot Trump in the ear, injured two rallygoers and killed one person. 

'This is the one that weaponized, not me,' the former president said of Harris. 'She weaponized.' 

Harris hit back by saying Trump would 'weaponize the Department of Justice' against his political enemies. 

Abortion rights and the 'execution' of babies

Trump demanded during Tuesday's debate that Harris answer to 'radical Democratic' policies that would allow 'after birth' abortions and 'executions' of newborns.

The former president urged the moderators to press Harris on whether she supports abortion in the final months of pregnancy – only doing so through the anchors because the rules dictate that candidates cannot pose questions to one another on stage.

Trump claimed there are cases where Democrats want to legalize abortion in the sixth, seventh or eighth month of pregnancy. He even said that there are liberals who want to allow newborns to die if they are delivered and the mother decides she wants to abort.

'They have abortion in the ninth month… The [Virginia] governor before – he said "the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby." In other words, "we'll execute the baby," Trump said on the debate stage.

'The Democrats are radical in that,' he continued. 'But 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 OK. And that's not OK with me.'

Trump's claim stems from a 2019 abortion proposal in Virginia that would loosen regulations on late-term abortion. 

ABC News moderator Linsey Davis live-time fact checked Trump at the conclusion of his answer on abortion. 'There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born,' she said said before giving Harris a chance to respond.

'Well, as I said you're going to hear a bunch of lies, and that's not actually a surprising fact,' the vice president replied.

Harris also defended abortion rights, arguing: 'The government, and Donald Trump, certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.'

She then painted a vivid picture of women facing medical complications, gut-wrenching decisions and the need to travel out of state for an abortion.

Rally size row 

Harris managed to get under Trump's skin during Tuesday night's debate by saying that his supporters leave his rallies early. 

She had segued from talking about the border crisis to Trump rallies by noting how immigration is often a hot topic at the mass gatherings. From there she noted the odd variety of subjects that come up during Trump's speeches - which normally run around 90 minutes.

'I'm going to actually do something really unusual,' she said. 'I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about how windmills cause cancer.

'And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom,' the Democratic nominee said.

'And I will tell you the one thing you will not hear him talk about is you,' she added.

That assertion got Trump sputtering.

He was asked by moderators why he encouraged Congressional Republicans to tank a border bill deal, but Trump instead said he wanted to address Harris' rallies comment.

'She said people start leaving,' Trump said. 'People don't go to her rallies. There's no reason to go. And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them to be there.'

Trump continued: 'People don't leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.'

Since Harris took the place of President Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket in late July, she's been attracting large crowds - something that wasn't seen during the 2020 cycle when Biden held small COVID-conscious events.

Before the debate the Harris campaign launched an ad that trolled Trump on rally size with comments made by former President Barack Obama. In his recent speech at the Democratic National Convention, Obama hinted that Trump's 'obsession with crowd size' has a deeper meaning.

Harris distances herself from Biden

Trump repeatedly tied Harris to President Joe Biden, insisting at one point: 'Remember this. She is Biden.'

'The worst inflation we've ever had,' Trump added. 'A horrible economy because inflation has made it so bad. And she can't get away with that.'

Harris responded: '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.'

Trump continued to try and link Harris to Biden's policies on inflation, immigration and foreign policy. 

He called Biden her 'boss', tried to lump the pair's opinions together, and at one point claimed Biden 'hates her' for replacing him in the presidential race.

But the vice president largely continued to deflect his attacks.

'You're not running against Joe Biden,' Harris told Trump at one stage. 'You're running against me.'

Kamala's shifting stances

Trump went after Harris for moving away from some of the progressive positions she took in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary. He claimed she keeps changing her stances and urged voters not to believe the more moderate tone she is striking in this campaign.

'She's going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat,' Trump said, referring to the red Make America Great Again baseball caps that many of his supporters wear. 'But if she ever got elected, she'd change it.'

Harris smiled broadly and laughed. 

Trump ridiculed the vice president for allegedly changing her stance on fracking and her alleged support for the 'defund the police' movement - which was sparked by the murder of George Floyd in 2020. 

'Everybody's laughing,' he said of Harris. 'She gave up at least 12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies.'

He highlighted how Harris previously opposed fracking, despite the Democrat now ruling out a ban on the practice.

Trump also slammed her stance on law enforcement, arguing: 'She was big on defunding the police in Minnesota'.

Harris quickly denied the accusation, shaking her head and saying: 'That's not true'.  She added that the defund the police movement 'rightly' called out police budgets and urged lawmakers to look at whether spending 'reflects the right priorities'.

Democrats will 'confiscate your guns'

Trump, in an apparent attempt to fire up Americans passionate about the gun control debate, accused his rival of supporting widespread confiscation of weapons.

'She wants to confiscate your guns and she will never allow fracking in Pennsylvania,' Trump said during the debate.

But Harris, who rarely discusses her personal firearm ownership, seemingly debunked his claim by saying: 'Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We're not taking anyone's guns away.'

Harris previously acknowledged owning a handgun during her 2019 bid for the Oval Office, claiming she owned it for 'personal safety' reasons. At the time, one of her then-campaign aides said Harris kept the weapon locked in her home.

During that same campaign, Harris endorsed the government's gun buyback program which aimed to reduce the number of semi-automatic rifles in circulation.

Walz, who is a veteran and a hunter, has been more public with his gun ownership. 

Israel 'won't exist' under Harris presidency 

Foreign policy largely took a back seat during Tuesday night's debate, although each candidate exchanged barbs over the Israel-Gaza war and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Neither offered specifics on how they would seek to end each conflict.

Trump branded Harris a 'horrible negotiator' who 'hates Israel'.

'She hates Israel,' he argued. 'If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now.'

He added: 'At the same time in her own way, she hates the Arab population. The whole place is going to get blown up: Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone.'

Harris responded by accusing Trump of trying to 'divide and distract' from reality, arguing: 'I have, my entire career and life, supported Israel and the Israeli people.

'What we know is that this war must end. It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal and we need the hostages. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that.'

She further called Trump 'weak and wrong' on national security, and got under his skin when she said he was the laughingstock of world leaders.

Harris warned Trump would 'give up' Ukraine to Russian President Vladimir Putin, 'a dictator who would eat you for lunch'.