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Democrats heap praise on Harris' debate performance, say she 'destroyed' Trump's career

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Democrats heap praise on Harris' debate performance, say she 'destroyed' Trump's career

Democratic elected officials and political operatives heaped praise on Vice President Kamala Harris for her debate performance against former President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening. 

“America got to see tonight the leader I’ve been proud to work alongside for three and a half years. Wasn’t even close. VP Harris proved she’s the best choice to lead our nation forward. We’re not going back,” President Biden posted on X early Wednesday morning after the debate wrapped up. 

“Well, that was a knockout. I’m looking forward to seeing how Republicans try to spin this one,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer posted to X in another favorable message for Harris. 

Trump and Harris took the same debate stage for the first time this election cycle on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center. The pair sparred over the top issues concerning voters, including the economy, immigration and abortion. 

TRUMP FACT CHECKS HARRIS ON CHARLOTTESVILLE RIOT ACCUSATION: ‘DEBUNKED’

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Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of ABC News Presidential Debate (Screenshot: Fox News simulcast of ABC News Presidential Debate)

Harris’ Democratic allies in Congress, as well as Democratic pundits, praised Harris for how she “destroyed” Trump’s career, and that voters bore witness to a “serious leader who will work day in and out” for the American people. 

TRUMP SAYS HE ‘PROBABLY TOOK A BULLET TO THE HEAD’ DUE TO DEM RHETORIC

The Harris campaign also released a statement Tuesday evening, taking a victory lap that “Harris commanded the stage on every single issue that matters to the American people.”

“Under the bright lights, the American people got to see the choice they will face this fall at the ballot box: between moving forward with Kamala Harris, or going backwards with Trump. That’s what they saw tonight and what they should see at a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” the Harris campaign posted. 

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Trump and Harris sparred on top issues concerning voters on Tuesday evening, including on abortion, when Harris claimed Trump’s platform would install a national abortion ban that would allow for no exceptions to such a procedure. 

HARRIS CLAIMS TRUMP ABORTION PLATFORM MAKES ‘NO EXCEPTION,’ MOMENTS AFTER TRUMP SAYS THE OPPOSITE 

“Now, in over 20 states, there are Trump abortion bans, which make it criminal for a doctor or nurse to provide health care in one state. It provides prison for life. Trump abortion bans that make no exception, even for rape and incest, which understand what that means,” Harris said Tuesday evening from Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.  

Trump and Harris shaking hands at debate

US Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and former US President Donald Trump shake hands during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. Trump and Harris enter Tuesday’s debate in search of the same goal, a moment that will help them gain the edge in a race polls show is essentially tied. Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Time/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

“A survivor of a crime of violation to their body does not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body. That is immoral, and one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government and Donald Trump certainly should not be telling a woman what to do with her body.” 

Moments before, however, Trump said he believes in exceptions for abortion, similar to former President Reagan. 

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“I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother,” Trump said during the debate. “I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. Eighty-five percent of Republicans knew exceptions are very important.”

Trump and Harris also traded barbs on the issue of crime in the United States, as Harris defended accusations that migrant crime has increased under her watch by citing Trump’s legal issues.

“Yeah, it is much higher because of them,” Trump said during the debate in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania discussing crime committed by illegal immigrants in the U.S., some of which entered the country under Biden’s watch. 

“They allowed criminals, many, many millions of criminals,” Trump continued, “They allowed terrorists. They allowed common street criminals. They allowed people to come in drug dealers to come into our country. And then now in the United States and told by their countries like Venezuela, don’t ever come back or we’re going to kill you. Do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down?”

TRUMP FLIPS ‘I’M TALKING’ SCRIPT FROM 2020 DEBATE AGAINST KAMALA HARRIS DURING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE SHOWDOWN

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Trump and Harris on ABC debate stage

US Vice President Kamala Harris, right, and former US President Donald Trump during the second presidential debate at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. Trump and Harris enter Tuesday’s debate in search of the same goal, a moment that will help them gain the edge in a race polls show is essentially tied. Photographer: Doug Mills/The New York Time/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Getty Images)

Harris responded by bringing up Trump’s criminal convictions and pending indictments.

“Well, 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,” Harris said. 

TRUMP, HARRIS TRADE BARBS ON CRIME DURING FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE: ‘THROUGH THE ROOF’

“And his next big court appearance is in November at his own criminal sentencing. And let’s be clear where each person stands on the issue of what is important about respect for the rule of law and respect for law enforcement.”

Following the debate, the Harris campaign called for a second debate in October. Trump had repeatedly called for additional debates against Harris, after only having one other presidential debate in June against President Biden. 

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“That was fun. let’s do it again,” Harris adviser Brian Fallon said on X moments after the debate wrapped. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub. 

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Harris camp's new policy page criticized for lacking specifics on border security: 'There's no there, there'

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Harris camp's new policy page criticized for lacking specifics on border security: 'There's no there, there'

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign just released a new page on its website titled, “Issues,” which includes a 23-point policy platform that comes following weeks of criticism over its absence. 

Pressure has been building on the Harris campaign to put up a policy platform on its website, similar to how former President Donald Trump and others have done in the past. Upon its release this week, however, the platform was met with even more criticism over a lack of specifics.

In particular, one conservative immigration hawk took issue with the policy platform’s failure to clarify Harris’ stance on border wall funding, and whether she still views illegal border crossings as a civil enforcement issue — or rather, a criminal one. 

HARRIS DOUBLES DOWN ON SUPPORT FOR LEFT-WING BENEFIT FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS: ‘SMART SOLUTIONS’

A segment of the border wall in Del Rio, Texas is left unfinished.  (Fox News)

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“The Harris campaign finally has an ‘Issues’ page, but — on immigration, at least — there’s no there, there,” Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, told Fox News Digital. “She doesn’t say if she’d build more border barriers. She doesn’t say whether she still wants to decriminalize border-jumping. The statement just repeats the vacuous nonsense about the ‘bipartisan’ Senate border bill, which was drafted by the Biden-Harris DHS to codify its unlawful schemes to import more illegal aliens.”

Despite indicating a potential Harris-Walz administration would “bring back the bipartisan border security bill,” the new online policy platform did not indicate where Harris stands on funding additional border wall construction. Republicans have pointed to Harris’ public support for the failed bipartisan border bill as evidence she now backs a border wall after once calling it a “medieval vanity project.” 

But Harris campaign officials have said the border bill did not include any new money for border wall construction — it just extended the timeline to spend funds appropriated during Trump’s last year as president. The bill, however, has limits to ensure the money is spent on border barriers.

“Americans should believe Harris’ prior statements and current policies as Vice President,” Lora Ries, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told Fox News Digital in a statement Tuesday. “She has previously stated numerous times that she opposes a border wall. And on day one of the Biden-Harris Administration, they halted construction of the border wall system.”

BERNIE SANDERS SAYS HARRIS DROPPING FAR-LEFT POLICIES ‘IN ORDER TO WIN THE ELECTION’

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Migrants border caravan

Migrants walk along a highway in southern Mexico earlier this summer during their journey north toward the U.S. border. (Edgar H. Clemente/AP Photo)

Meanwhile, while running for president in 2019, Harris indicated during a nationally televised debate that she would not go after illegal border crossings. In a segment on ABC’s “The View,” she reiterated her stance in a riff with the late-Sen. John McCain’s daughter, Meghan. 

“I would not make it a crime punishable by jail,” Harris said. “It should be a civil enforcement issue but not a criminal enforcement issue.”

“Harris repeatedly said during her CNN interview that her values have not changed,” Ries highlighted in her statement to Fox News Digital. 

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment on the criticism from Krikorian and others about a lack of specifics in its new online policy platform, but did not receive a response.

The Harris campaign website added an "Issues" page to its website that includes a policy platform from the Harris-Walz campaign. The addition comes 50 days after Joe Biden stepped aside in the race for president.

The Harris campaign website added an “Issues” page to its website that includes a policy platform from the Harris-Walz campaign. The addition comes 50 days after Joe Biden stepped aside in the race for president. (Harris Campaign Website)

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Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt called the new policy platform “a late-night, half-ass, wish list of policies.” 

“If Kamala really wanted to lower costs and secure the border — why did she cast the tie-breaking vote to cause inflation and support the war on our energy industry, and why is she allowing an invasion of illegal immigrants through our southern border as we speak?”

Not long after the Harris campaign’s “Issues” page was added to its website, social media users pointed out that the new web page contained metadata with language urging voters to reelect President Joe Biden, according to The New Republic. The Biden language was quickly removed, but not before leaving the impression that the Harris campaign copied and pasted from Biden’s documents, the outlet reported.

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House honoring 13 US service members killed in 2021 Abbey Gate bombing during Afghanistan withdrawal

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House honoring 13 US service members killed in 2021 Abbey Gate bombing during Afghanistan withdrawal

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. hosted a Gold Medal ceremony for the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate during the Afghanistan withdrawal. 

Johnson posthumously presented the Gold Medal, Congress’ highest honor, to the 13 fallen Americans who were killed during the August 2021 ISIS-K suicide bombing at the Kabul Airport. 

He opened the ceremony on Tuesday by naming the fallen and apologizing to their families. 

The 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate were: Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, Navy Petty Officer Third Class Maxton W. Soviak, and Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss. 

“Our nation owes a profound debt of gratitude to these service members and those here today who were with them in Kabul. We also owe them something deeper, and that is an apology to the families who are here. I know many of you have yet to hear these words, so I will say them. We are sorry,” Johnson said in opening remarks. “The United States government should have done everything to protect our troops. Those fallen and wounded at Abbey gate deserved our best efforts, and the families who have been left to pick up the pieces continue to deserve transparency and appreciation and recognition to you and the families who are not here. I can promise you this you are not alone in shouldering the burdens from that day. And although we can never fully measure your loss, we can and we must memorialize the ultimate sacrifice that was paid.”

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GOLD STAR FAMILIES SLAM KAMALA HARRIS FOR ‘PLAYING POLITICS’ OVER TRUMP’S VISIT TO ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Coral Doolittle, the mother of Marine Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, closed the ceremony with a plea to Americans on behalf of the families of the 13 fallen: “Say their names. Speak their names and tell their stories.” 

“We are honored to stand here today, receiving this recognition on behalf of the 13 who gave their lives. As their parents, our grief never truly ends,” she saud. “It changes, it transforms, but it remains with us always. A big part of us died with our children on Aug. 26, 2021. We want everybody to know the ceremonies like this provide a small but meaningful breath of relief in our ongoing journey of grief, reminding us that we raised the best and brightest for this country. We deeply appreciate the efforts of Congress and the Speaker of the House for making this moment possible.” 

In his remarks, Jeffries said with the congressional Gold Medal, “we reverently honor 13 patriots who have fallen in a war zone with tremendous valor.”

Gold Medals sit on display ahead of a ceremony honoring the 13 American service members who died in the suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan in U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Sept. 10, 2024 in Washington.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

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“The 13 heroes we are honoring here today represent the best of America. They were belove sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, spouses and friends who knew the dangers of the mission but nevertheless answered the call to serve, risking their own safety for that of our fellow Americans, our allies and our Afghan partners. They defended freedom and democracy until their last breath. They held the gate,” Jeffries said. “The Gold Medal we are presenting today is the highest honor that can be conferred by the United States Congress. But no honor can truly repay the incredible sacrifice made by our fallen to the families here.”

“This Congressional Gold Medal also represents our ironclad promise to you. We have not forgotten your pain. We will never forget the ultimate sacrifice your loved ones have made, and our gratitude will be eternal,” he said. “May the memory of these children of God, defenders of peace and defenders of liberty continue to inspire us all to protect freedom and democracy here at home and throughout the world, as they valiantly did.” 

House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized that the 13 U.S. service members killed “bound up the wounds of a war that had spanned their entire lives.” 

“In an instant, 13 young Americans from every corner of our country were bonded forever. In an instant, their heroic service became an ultimate and eternal sacrifice,” McConnell said, after reading personal details about how each of the fallen are remembered by their families. “Today, the name Abbey Gate carries a heavy toll of anger, of confusion and unspeakable grief. But we declare here today, with the highest honor in Congress, and bestow that deep in the hearts of a grateful nation, those two words will forever stand for bravery, the bravery of your sons and daughters and our heroes. ” 

pics of 13 fallen service members in front of Capitol

A display showing fallen American military members is displayed for a news conference by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., pointed out how some of the 13 U.S. service members killed at Abbey Gate “were even younger than the war in Afghanistan itself.”

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“But to the citizens desperately trying to escape the Taliban’s rule through Abbey Gate on that fateful day, these 13 Americans were something more heroes. Guardians, saviors that were fighting for a cause far bigger than themselves, to deliver freedom to those who otherwise might never, never have known it again,” Schumer said. “As we remember the 13 fallen heroes, we likewise remember every American who served in Afghanistan, including the 2,400 killed, the over 20,000 wounded, and the hundreds of thousands more who wore the uniform.” 

“Tomorrow, we honor the anniversary of September 11th, a day when we rededicate ourselves to that sacred promise. Never forget,” Schumer said. “Well, that is what this morning’s ceremony is all about. We will never forget the sacrifice of the fallen 13 service members. It now falls on us to all of us gathered here under the dome of Lady Liberty to ensure the sacrifices of all our servicemen were not in vain.” 

McCaul with the Abbey Gate families in front of the Capitol

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, speaks about his panel’s Afghanistan report at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. He is joined by Republican lawmakers and families of the military members who were killed during the evacuation.  (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The attack also left roughly 170 Afghans dead. Tuesday’s ceremony comes two days after Rep. Mike McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released a scathing 350-page report that took a fine-toothed comb to the military’s 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and highlighted areas of serious mismanagement. 

The Republican-led report opens by harkening back to President Biden’s urgency to withdraw from the Vietnam War as a senator in the 1970s. That, along with the Afghanistan withdrawal, demonstrates a “pattern of callous foreign policy positions and readiness to abandon strategic partners,” according to the report.

The report also disputed Biden’s assertion that his hands were tied to the Doha agreement former President Trump had made with the Taliban establishing a deadline for U.S. withdrawal for the summer of 2021, and it revealed how state officials had no plan for getting Americans and allies out while there were still troops there to protect them.  

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On the three-year anniversary of the attack, Trump joined the families of the slain 13 U.S. service members at Arlington National Cemetery. 

Biden and Vice President Harris were absent. Though they released written statements listing the names of the 13 fallen that day, neither Biden nor Harris spoke publicly on the anniversary. 

At the Republican National Convention in July, the Gold Star families took to the stage blasting President Biden for never saying the names of those 13 Americans killed publicly out loud. 

Trump lays wreath at Arlington National Cemetery

Donald Trump stands alongside Misty Fuoco, whose sister Sgt. Nicole Gee died in Abbey Gate Bombing, at a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 26, 2024 in Arlington, Virginia.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Harris later accused Trump of playing politics with the visit to Arlington National Cemetery, but in a series of short videos, eight families said they had invited Trump, and bitterly blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the pullout that left 13 U.S. service members dead three years ago. 

The vice president criticized Trump’s team for taking photographs and videos at a wreath-laying ceremony event. The Army said that an Arlington National Cemetery official was “abruptly pushed aside” while making sure that Trump’s team was “made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies, which clearly prohibit political activities on cemetery grounds.”

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The Gold Star families who lost loved ones in the botched Afghanistan withdrawal blasted Harris over her attack on Trump’s visit paying respect to the fallen. 

Fox News’ Morgan Phillips, Nicholas Kalman and Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report. This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

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Kamala Harris' new climate director said she is hesitant to have children because of climate change threats

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Kamala Harris' new climate director said she is hesitant to have children because of climate change threats

Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign hired a new climate director who has frequently said the effects of climate change are part of what’s stopping her from having children.

Camila Thorndike, who previously worked in the Senate managing the climate portfolio of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was given the title of climate engagement director for the Harris for President campaign in September 2024, according to her LinkedIn page. 

Prior to joining the Harris campaign, Thorndike said on several occasions that she considers climate change a factor when deciding whether to have kids.

“I was 15 when I first saw the climate ‘hockey stick’ graph. I realized that this skyrocketing arrow of temperature would take place in my lifetime. All of the big milestones of life that I was looking forward to would be in the context of this big global crisis. It led to the question of whether or not to have kids – which is still a big question for me – where I would put down roots, what my family would do,” Thorndike said in 2018 when she was the D.C. campaign director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

CONSERVATIVES REACT TO KAMALA HARRIS’ LATEST ‘WORD SALAD’ ON CLIMATE ‘DEADLINES’

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Camila Thorndike is among a growing number of people who have begun to factor climate change into their decisions about whether to have children. She is pictured here on Nov. 7, 2022, in Washington, D.C.  (Jahi Chikwendiu)

Again in November 2019, Thorndike described it as an “ethical question that keeps me up at night.”

“I have always been someone who enjoys children and loves the idea of a family, and that’s why I have wrestled with this, because my logical mind and the facts of the future I can see bearing down on us are not supportive of the life I would want for them,” she told Yahoo News at the time. 

RESURFACED 2023 VIDEO SHOWS KAMALA HARRIS ARGUING YOUNG PEOPLE SUFFER ‘CLIMATE ANXIETY’

During an appearance on the “My Climate Journey” podcast in August 2022, a show hosted by Jason Jacobs and Cody Simms for people seeking to better understand climate change, Thorndike again made a connection between the decision to have children and what it might look like in the future amid climate change. 

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“I plotted my own lifetime against that and realized that around the time that I would, especially, be considering having kids or whatever, in around my 30s, we would start to see the escalation of this crisis. And so that was when I realized that, at the time, the grownups were not coming to save us and my generation would have to fight to take the wheel.”

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Aug. 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Featured in a Washington Post article about whether people should not have kids due to climate change, the new Harris campaign official said she worried about her potential kids “suffering” from climate-related issues.  

“It’s coming partly from a place of love for my hypothetical child,” she said. “I want to protect them from suffering. Not that life is ever free from suffering, but what of the joys and peace and goodness that make me happiest to be alive will be accessible in 20, 30, 40 years?”

Harris acknowledged this idea during a discussion at the “Fight for Our Freedoms” event in September 2023.

“I’ve heard young leaders talk with me about a term they’ve coined called ‘climate anxiety,’ which is fear of the future and the unknown of whether it makes sense for you to even think about having children, whether it makes sense for you to think about aspiring to buy a home,” Harris said in a clip that has resurfaced since she became the 2024 Democratic nominee.

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A clip of the comment, shared by Donald Trump Jr. in July, prompted backlash from critics of Harris.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, who is now former President Trump’s running mate, wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “It’s almost like these people don’t want young people starting families or something. Really weird stuff.”

“Shamala is an extinctionist. The natural extension of her philosophy would be a de facto holocaust for all of humanity!” wrote billionaire and X owner Elon Musk on his platform. 

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