Trump, Harris trade barbs on crime during first presidential debate: 'Through the roof'
Trump cast doubt on FBI statistics suggesting violent crime in the US has come down from historic highs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former President Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris traded blows on the issue of crime in the United States in the first presidential debate, with Harris defending 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?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Trump continued, "Crime here is up and through the roof. Despite their fraudulent statements that they made. Crime in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible."
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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, on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Getty Images)
ABC's David Muir then interjected and said that "the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country" without noting that those statistics are down from historic highs or that several large cities did not include their data.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"They were defrauding statements," Trump responded. "They they didn't include the worst cities. They didn't include the cities with the worst crime. It was a fraud. Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud."
Harris responded by bringing up Trump's criminal convictions and pending indictments.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A new poll ahead of Tuesday’s ABC News Presidential Debate shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading former President Trump by eight percentage points among likely voters in Virginia. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images.)
"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.
"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."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}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 on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Getty Images)
Harris continued: "The former vice president called for defunding federal law enforcement. 45,000 agents get this on the day after he was arraigned on 34 felony counts. So let's talk about what is important in this race."
"It is important that we move forward, that we turn the page on this same old tired rhetoric and address the needs of the American people, address what we need to do about the housing shortage, which I have a plan for, address what we must do to support our small businesses, address bringing down the price of groceries."