Vice President Kamala Harris issued a slew of false claims and hoaxes that ABC debate moderators did not fact check during Tuesday’s debate against former President Donald Trump.
Here are 21 false claims and hoaxes that Harris uttered on live television, in front of millions of Americans:
1. “Very fine people” hoax
Harris claimed Trump called neo-Nazis in Charlottesville “very fine people,” a widely known hoax that Democrats continue to repeat, despite it being debunked for years by numerous outlets, including by the left-wing fact checking website Snopes.
2. Project 2025 hoax
Harris accused Trump of wanting to implement Project 2025. This is false. Trump has repeatedly stated that he has nothing to do with it and hasn’t even read it.
Trump promptly corrected Harris on the debate stage, saying, “I have nothing to do — as you know, and as she knows, better than anyone — I have nothing to do with Project 2025. I haven’t read it, I don’t want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it.”
“I have nothing to do [with it],” Trump added. “Everybody knows I’m an open book. Everybody knows what I’m going to do: cut taxes very substantially, and create a great economy like I did before.”
3. False claims on Trump trade deficit
Harris claimed “the Trump administration resulted in a trade deficit” that was “one of the highest we’ve ever seen in the history of America.” This is patently false.
The trade deficit climbed to around $653 billion in Trump’s final year as president, in part because of depressed global demand for U.S. goods and services and a U.S. economy that recovered sooner than most other developed economies.
But the trade deficit never rose to the levels seen under former President George W. Bush or the Biden-Harris administration.
4. Putin can “do whatever the hell he wants”
Harris claimed that Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that he could “do whatever the hell he wants and go into Ukraine.” This is false. Trump never told Putin he could do “whatever the hell he wants,” and he never told Putin he could invade Ukraine.
To add insult to injury, this false claim is also coupled with stark gaslighting, given that Putin appears to be doing whatever he wants during the Biden-Harris administration — such as invading Ukraine — and not during the Trump administration.
5. “Dictator on day one” hoax
Harris claimed that Trump “wants to be a dictator on day one.” This is false. Trump has never said this.
Oddly, Harris attempted to justify her false claim by making another false claim (the aforementioned erroneous claim coupled with gaslighting), which was that the 45th president told Putin he could “do whatever the hell he wants.”
Remarkably, Harris failed to mention that Putin has actually been doing whatever he wants during the Biden-Harris administration.
6. Blaming botched Afghanistan withdrawal on Trump
In another example of never before seen levels of gaslighting, Harris blamed her and Biden’s disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal on Trump.
After being asked point blank, “Do you believe you bear any responsibility in the way that withdrawal played out?” Harris segued to talking about Trump’s communications with the Taliban, suggesting that the Biden-Harris administration is not responsible for its own botched Afghanistan withdrawal.
This is not the first time Harris falsely claimed Trump is responsible for her and Biden’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Last week, her campaign tried to blame it on Trump — even though it happened seven months after he left office — claiming he didn’t give the Biden-Harris administration any “plans” on what to do.
7. Putin “would be sitting in Kyiv”
Harris claimed Putin “would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe” if Trump were president. This is false.
Russia under Putin invaded neighbors during the George Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden administrations, but never during the Trump administration.
8. “Bloodbath” hoax
Harris also repeated the “bloodbath” hoax, falsely claiming that Trump called for a “bloodbath” if he lost the election.
This is a long-debunked hoax, as Trump was referring to the car industry.
9. Abortion “monitor” hoax
Harris claimed that Trump wanted an abortion “monitor.” This is false. Trump has never said anything like that.
This is not the first time Harris has used this false statement. Breitbart News fact-checked this claim when she made it at the Democratic National Convention. Notably, Harris has never provided the basis for her claim, which is calculated to scare voters, but is simply fictitious.
While making this claim, Harris also uttered another false claim that Trump seeks to implement a “national abortion ban.” Trump has repeatedly stated that he would not sign a federal abortion ban. Additionally, abortion is not a federal issue. It is a state issue.
10. Rental property hoax
Harris claimed that Trump “refused to rent property to black families.” This is false.
The claim has been made for years, but it has never been proven. In 2016, the Associated Press did a fact checked on the claim, reporting that Trump and his father settled a government lawsuit about it with no admission of fault.
11. Central Park Five “execution” hoax
Harris claimed that Trump called for the “execution” of the Central Park Five. This is false.
Trump never specifically called for the “execution” of the Central Park Five defendants. Breitbart News fact-checked this claim when Democrats made it at their convention last month.
12. “Suckers and losers” hoax
Harris alluded to the “suckers and losers” hoax by claiming that Trump had disparaged the military, including the fallen. This is false.
The false claim that Trump called dead soldiers “suckers and losers” is a familiar hoax that has also been repeated by President Joe Biden. It stems from a report by the left-wing Atlantic, which has never been directly corroborated, and has been refuted by many eyewitnesses.
13. False fracking claims
Harris claimed she never called to ban fracking. This is false, as she explicitly called to end fracking when running for president in 2019.
14. False oil production claims
Harris claimed that the Biden-Harris administration ramped up oil production. This is false. The Biden-Harris administration has actively worked to curb domestic oil production.
Early in the administration, Biden ordered the secretary of the Interior Department to halt new oil and natural gas leases on public lands and waters, and review existing permits for fossil fuel development. In 2023, the Biden-Harris administration canceled oil leases sold by the Trump administration in the Alaskan wildlife refuge and blocked new drilling.
15. National Sales Tax
Harris accused Trump of proposing a national sales tax. This is false. President Trump has not proposed a national sales tax.
During the debate, Harris referred to a “Trump sales tax” and claimed it would add 20 percent to the cost of goods. She was likely referring to Trump’s proposal to raise tariffs on imports.
But tariffs are paid by companies that import goods from abroad and not by consumers. They are not a sales tax.
16. Distorting unemployment figures
Harris claimed that Trump “left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression.” This is false, as unemployment was 6.4 percent in January 2021, not far from full employment, when Trump left office.
17. “I was raised as a middle-class”
Harris claimed she had a middle-class upbringing, saying, ” I was raised as a middle-class kid, and I am actually the only person on this stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America.”
This is mostly false. Harris had a rich Canadian upbringing, growing up in Westmount — a majority English neighborhood in the French province of Quebec.
Amusingly, Harris made her “middle-class” claim while completely dodging the question, “Do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?” — and again, ABC moderators never brought her back on track to the question at hand.
18. “Terminating” the Constitution
Harris claimed that Trump wants to “terminate” the U.S. Constitution. This is false. Trump does not want to “terminate” the Constitution and has refuted this lie himself.
Her claim likely stems from Trump’s reaction in 2022 to a bombshell New York Post report that the Democrat Party colluded with what was then known as Twitter to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
“The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to ‘terminate’ the Constitution,” Trump said in a 2022 Truth Social post. “This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES, just like RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA, and all of their HOAXES & SCAMS.”
“What I said was that when there is ‘MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,’ as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG,” Trump added.
19. “Sold us out” to China
Harris claimed that Trump “sold us out” to the Chinese government with policies that “ended up selling American chips to China.” This is false.
The Trump administration blocked the takeover of an American semiconductor maker by a Chinese investor, restricted exports to China’s top chipmaker, and largely limited sales to China and even to third countries who do business with Chinese companies considered a national security threat, such as the telecommunications company Huawei.
In another example of blatant gaslighting, the Biden-Harris administration reportedly started greenlighting third party suppliers to sell chips to Huawei in 2021.
20. “Not one” troop in any war zone
Harris claimed there are currently no active-duty troops in any combat zone anywhere around the world for the first time this century. This is false.
There are currently active duty U.S. troops deployed to Iraq and Syria who have been under frequent attack by Iran-backed militia forces over the past year. There are also thousands of active-duty U.S. sailors deployed to the Middle East who are facing attacks by drone strikes and missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen. Earlier this year, three U.S. soldiers were killed on the border of Syria by Iran-backed forces.
21. Taking guns away
Harris claimed that she and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) “are not taking anyone’s guns away.” This is false. Harris has campaigned on banning AR-15s and other guns that Democrats label “assault weapons.”
Just last month, during their first campaign event together, Harris and Walz pushed for a ban on AR-15s and other guns.
While ABC’s debate moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir failed to fact-check the plethora of false claims and hoaxes uttered by Harris, they frequently tried to fact-check Trump, with Muir even bizarrely fact-checking a joke the 45th president had previously made.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
