IN FULL: Kamala Harris versus Mike Pence in the only Vice Presidential debate

to the first and only vice presidential debate of 2020 sponsored by the nonpartisan commission on presidential debates i'm susan page of usa today it is my honor to moderate this debate an important part of our democracy in kingsbury hall tonight we have a small and socially distant audience and we've taken extra precautions during this pandemic among other things everyone in the audience is required to wear a face mask and the candidates will be seated 12 feet apart the audience is enthusiastic about their candidates but they've agreed to express that enthusiasm only twice at the end of the debate and now when i introduce the candidates please welcome california senator kamala harris and vice president mike pence thank you senator harris and vice president pence thank you for being here we're meeting as president trump and the first lady continue to undergo treatment in washington after testing positive for covet 19. we send our thoughts and prayers to them for their rapid and complete recovery and for the recovery of everyone afflicted by the coronavirus the two campaigns in the commission on presidential debates have agreed to the ground rules for tonight i'm here to enforce them on behalf of the millions of americans who are watching one note no one in either campaign or at the commission or anywhere else has been told in advance what topics i'll raise or what questions i'll ask this 90-minute debate will be divided into nine segments of about 10 minutes each i'll begin a segment by posing a question to each of you sometimes the same question sometimes a different question on the same topic you will then have two minutes to answer without interruption by me or the other candidate then we'll take six minutes or so to discuss the issue at that point although there will always be more to say we'll move on to the next topic we want a debate that is lively but americans also deserve a discussion that is civil these are tumultuous times but we can and will have a respectful exchange about the big issues facing our nation let's begin with the ongoing pandemic that has cost our country so much senator harris the coronavirus is not under control over the past week johns hopkins reports that 39 states have had more coveted cases over the past seven days than in the week before nine states have set new records even if a vaccine is released soon the next administration will face hard choices what would a biden administration do in january and february that a trump administration wouldn't do would you impose new lockdowns for businesses in schools and hot spots a federal mandate to wear masks you have two minutes to respond without interruption thank you susan well the american people have witnessed what is the greatest failure of any presidential administration in the history of our country and here are the facts 210 000 dead people in our country in just the last several months over seven million people who have contracted this disease one in five businesses closed we're looking at frontline workers who have been treated like sacrificial workers we are looking at over 30 million people who in the last several months had to file for unemployment and here's the thing on january 28th the vice president and the president were informed about the nature of this pandemic they were informed that it's lethal in consequence that it is airborne that it will affect young people and that it would be contracted because it is airborne and they knew what was happening and they didn't tell you can you imagine if you knew on january 28th as opposed to march 13th what they knew what you might have done to prepare they knew and they covered it up the president said it was a hoax they minimized the seriousness of it the president said you're on one side of his ledger if you wear a mask you're on the other side of his ledger if you don't and in spite of all of that today they still don't have a plan they still don't have a plan well joe biden does and our plan is about what we need to do around a national strategy for contact tracing for testing for administration of the vaccine and making sure that it will be free for all that is the plan that joe biden has and that i have knowing that we have to get a hold of what has been going on and we need to save our country and joe biden is the best leader to do that and frankly this administration has forfeited thank you their right to re-election based on this thank you senator harris vice president pence more than 210 000 americans have died of covet 19 since february the u.s death toll as a percentage of our population is higher than that of almost every other wealthy nation on earth for instance our death rate is two and a half times that of canada next door you head the administration's coronavirus task force why is the u.s death toll as a percentage of our population higher than that of almost every other wealthy country and you have two minutes to respond without interruption susan thank you and i want to thank the commission and the university of utah for hosting this event and uh senator harris it's privileged to be on the stage with you and our nation has gone through a very challenging time this year but i want the american people to know that from the very first day president donald trump has put the health of america first before there were more than five cases in the united states all people who had returned from china president donald trump did what no other american president had ever done and that was he suspended all travel from china the second largest economy in the world now senator joe biden biden opposed that decision he said it was xenophobic and hysterical but i can tell you having led the white house coronavirus task force that that decision alone by president trump bought us invaluable time to stand up the greatest national mobilization since world war ii and i believe it saved hundreds of thousands of american lives because with that time we were able to reinvent testing more than 115 million tests had been done to date we were able to see to the delivery of billions of supplies so our doctors and nurses had the resources support they needed and we began really before the month of february was art to develop a vaccine and to develop medicines and therapeutics had been saving lives all along the way and under president trump's leadership operation warp speed we believe we'll have literally tens of millions of doses of a vaccine before the end of this year the reality is when you look at the biden plan it reads an awful lot like what president trump and i and our task force have been doing every step of the way and quite frankly when i look at their plan that talks about advancing testing creating new ppe developing a vaccine it looks a little bit like plagiarism which is something joe biden knows a little bit about i think the american people know that this is a president who has put the health of america first and the american people i believe with my heart can be proud of the sacrifices they have made it's safe thank you american lives senator harris would you like to respond absolutely whatever the vice president is claiming the administration has done clearly it hasn't worked when you're looking at over two hundred and ten thousand dead bodies in our country american lives that have been lost families that are grieving that loss and you know the vice president is the head of the task force and knew on january 28th how serious this was and then thanks to bob woodward we learned that they knew about it and then when that was exposed the vice president said when asked well why didn't you all tell anybody he said because the president wanted people to remain calm well let's go i don't know but susan and then we'll give the vice president so i want to ask the american people how calm were you when you were panicked about where you're going to get your next roll of toilet paper how come were you when your kids were sent home from school and you didn't know when they could go back how kind thank you thank you when your children couldn't see your parents because you were afraid they could kill them let's give vice president pence a chance to respond vice presidents you have one minute to receive you know there's not a day gone by that i haven't thought of every american family that's lost a loved one and i want all of you to know that you'll always be in our hearts and in our prayers but when you say what the american people have done over these last eight months hasn't worked that's a great disservice to the sacrifices the american people have made the reality if i may if i may finish that the reality is dr fauci said everything that he told the president in the oval office the president told the american people now president trump i will tell you has boundless confidence in the american people and he always spoke with confidence that we'd get through this together but when you say it hasn't worked when dr fauci and dr burks and our medical experts came to us in the second week of march they said if the president didn't take the unprecedented step of shutting down roughly half of the american economy that we could lose 2.2 million americans and that's the reality thank you they also said to us if we did everything right susan we could still lose more than 200 000 americans vice president one life lost is too many susan but the american people i believe deserve credit for the sacrifices that they have made putting the health of their family and their neighbors first our doctors our nurses our first thank you vice president pence and i'm going to speak up on behalf of what the american people have done vice president pence you were in the front row in a rose garden event 11 days ago what seems to have been a super spreader event for senior administration and congressional officials no social distancing few masks and now a cluster of coronavirus cases among those who were there how can you expect americans to follow the administration's safety guidelines to protect themselves from covet when you at the white house have not been doing so well the american people have demonstrated over the last eight months that when given the facts they're willing to put the health of their families and their neighbors and people they don't even know first president trump and i have great confidence in in the american people and and their ability to take that information and put it into practice in the height of the epidemic when we were losing a heartbreaking number of 2500 americans a day we surged resources to new jersey and new york and new orleans and detroit we told the american people what needed to be done and the american people made the sacrifices when the outbreak in the sun belt happened this summer again americans stepped forward but the reality is the work of the president of the united states goes on a vacancy on the supreme court of the united states uh has come upon us and the president introduced judge amy coney barry thank you thank you vice president if i may say that rose garden event then a great deal of speculation about it my wife karen and i were there and honored to be there many of the people who were at that event susan actually were tested for coronavirus and it was an outdoor event which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise the difference here is president trump and i trust the american people to make choices in the best interest of their health joe biden and kamala harris consistently talk about mandates and not not just mandates with the coronavirus but a government takeover of health thank you thank you green new deal all government control we're about freedom and respecting the freedom of the american people let's talk about respecting the american people you respect the american people when you tell them the truth you respect the american people when you have the courage to be a leader speaking of those things that you may not want people to hear but they need to hear so they can protect themselves but this administration stood on information that if you had as a parent if you had as a worker knowing you didn't have enough money saved up and now you're standing in a food line because of the ineptitude of an administration that was unwilling to speak the truth to the american people so let's talk about caring about the american people the american people have had to sacrifice far too much because of the incompetence of this administration it is asking too much of the people is that they would not be equipped with the information they need to help themselves to protect their parents president and they're i'm sorry uh senator harris i mean i'm sorry that's fine i'm comma no no you're senator harris to me um for life to get back to normal dr anthony fauci and other experts say that most of the people who can be vaccinated need to be vaccinated but half of americans now say they wouldn't take a vaccine if it was released now if the trump administration approves a vaccine before or after the election should americans take it and would you take it if the public health professionals if dr fauci if the doctors tell us that we should take it i'll be the first in line to take it absolutely but if donald trump tells us i should that we should take it i'm not taking it vice president pence there have been a lot of repercussions from this pandemic in recent days the president's diagnosis of covert 19 has underscored the importance of the job that you hold and that you are seeking that's our second topic tonight it's the role of the vice president one of you will make history on january 20th it will be the vice president to the oldest president the united states has ever had donald trump will be 74 years old on inauguration day joe biden will be 78 years old that already has raised concerns among some voters concerns that have been sharpened by president trump's hospitalization in recent days vice president pence have you had a conversation or reached an agreement with president trump about safeguards or procedures when it comes to the issue of presidential disability and if not do you think you should you have two minutes without interruption well susan uh thank you although i would like to go back i think we need to move on well thank you but i would like to go back because the reality is that we're going to have a vaccine senator in record time in unheard of time in less than a year we have five companies in phase three clinical trials and we're right now producing tens of millions of doses so the fact that you continue to undermine public confidence in a vaccine if the vaccine emerges during the trump administration i think is is unconscionable and senator i i just ask you stop playing politics with people's lives the reality is that we will have a vaccine we believe before the end of this year and it will have the capacity to save countless american lives and and your continuous undermining of confidence in a vaccine is just it it's just unacceptable and let me also say you know the reality is when you talk about about failure in this administration we actually do know what failure looks like in a pandemic it was 2009 the swine flu arrived in the united states thankfully it was ended up not being as lethal as the coronavirus but before the end of the year when joe biden was vice president of the united states not seven and a half million people contracted the swine flu 60 million americans contracted the swine flu if the swine flu had been as lethal as the coronavirus in 2009 when joe biden was vice president we would have lost 2 million american lives his own chief of staff ron klain would say last year that it was pure luck that they did quote everything possible wrong and and we learned from that they left the strategic national stockpile empty they left uh an empty and hollow plan but we still learn from it and i i think the american people i'm gonna say again can be vice president pence i'm sorry we have done and senator please thank you stop undermining confidence in a vaccine senator harris let me ask you the same question that i asked vice president pence which is have you had a conversation or reached an agreement with vice president biden about safeguards or procedures when it comes to the issue of presidential disability and if not and if you win the election next month do you think you should you have two minutes uninterrupted so let me tell you first of all um the day i got the call from from joe biden it was actually a zoom call asking me to serve with him on this ticket was probably one of the most memorable day but memorable days of my life i you know i thought about my mother who came to the united states at the age of 19. gave birth to me at the age of 25 at kaiser hospital in oakland california and the thought that i'd be sitting here right now i know would make her proud and she must be looking down on this you know joe and i were raised in a very similar way we were raised with values that are about hard work about the value and the dignity of public service and about the importance of fighting for the dignity of all people and i think joe asked me to serve with him because you know i have a career that included being elected the first woman district attorney of san francisco where i created models of innovation for for law enforcement in terms of reform of the criminal justice system i was elected the first woman of color and black woman to be elected attorney general of the state of california where i ran the second largest department of justice in the united states second only to the united states department of justice and there i took on everything from transnational criminal organizations to the big banks that were taking advantage of homeowners to for-profit colleges that were taking advantage of veterans and then of course now i serve in the united states senate is only the second black woman ever elected to the united states senate i serve on the senate intelligence committee where i've been in regular receipt of classified information about threats to our nation and hot spots around the world i've traveled the world i've met with our soldiers in our in war zones and i think joe has asked me to serve with him because he knows that we share we share a purpose which is about lifting up the american people and after the four years that we have seen of donald trump unifying our country around our common values and principles thank you senator harris you know neither neither president trump nor vice president biden has released a sort of detailed health information that had become the modern norm until the 2016 election and in recent days president trump's doctors have given misleading answers or refused to answer basic questions about his health and my question to each of you in turn is is this information voters deserve to know vice president pence would you like to go first well susan thank you and uh and let me let me say on behalf of the president and the first lady how moved we've all been by the outpouring of prayers and concern for the president and i do believe it's emblematic of the prayers and the concern that have ushered forth for every american impacted by the coronavirus but the care the president received at walter reed hospital the white house doctors was exceptional and the transparency that they practiced all along the way will continue the american people have a right to know about the health and well-being of their president and we'll continue to do that but i'm just extremely grateful and was more than more than a little moved uh by the broad and bipartisan support and senator i want to thank you and joe biden for your expressions genuine concern and i also want to congratulate you uh as i did on that phone call uh on the historic nature of your nomination i i never expected to be on this stage four years ago so i know the feeling but um the reality is we've got an election before the american people in the midst of this challenging year and the stakes have never been higher because i think the choice has never been i want to give senator harris a chance to respond to the same question i ask which is do voters have a right to know more detailed health information about presidential candidates and especially about presidents especially when they're facing some kind of challenge absolutely and that's why joe biden has been so incredibly transparent and certainly by contrast um the president has not um both in terms of health records but also let's look at taxes we now know because of great investigative journalism that donald trump paid 750 dollars in taxes when i first heard about it i literally said you mean 750 000 and it was like no 750 dollars we now know donald trump owes and is in debt for 400 million dollars and just so everyone is clear when when we say in debt it means you owe money to somebody and it'd be really good to know who the president of the united states the commander-in-chief owes money to because the american people have a right to know what is influencing the president's decisions and is he making those decisions on the best interest of the american people of you or self-interest so susan i'm glad you asked about transparency because it has to be across the board joe has been incredibly transparent over many many years the one thing we all know about joe he puts it all out there he he is honest he is forthright but donald trump on the other hand has been about covering up everything thanks thank you senator harris i want to give you a chance to respond vice president well look i i respect the fact that joe biden spent 47 years in public life i respect your public service as well thank you the american people have a president was a businessman it's a job creator who's paid tens of millions of dollars in taxes payroll taxes property taxes he's created tens of thousands of american jobs the president said those public reports are not accurate and the president's also released literally stacks of financial disclosures the american people can review just as the law allows but the distinction here is that joe biden 47 years in public service compared to president donald trump who brought all of that experience four years ago thank you very much turned this economy around by cutting taxes rolling back regulation thank you thank you very much energy fighting for free and fair trade and all that thank you vice president if joe biden and kamal harris you know that's a good segue into our third topic which is about the economy this has been another aspect of life for americans it's been so affected by this coronavirus we have a jobs crisis brewing on friday we learned that the unemployment rate had declined to 7.9 percent in september but the job growth had stalled and that was before the latest round of layoffs and furloughs in the airline industry at disney and elsewhere hundreds of thousands of discouraged workers have stopped looking for work nearly 11 million jobs that existed at the beginning of the year haven't been replaced those hardest hit include latinos blacks and women senator harris the biden harris campaign has proposed new programs to boost the economy and you would pay for that new spending by raising 4 trillion dollars in taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations some economists warn that could curb entrepreneurial ventures that fuel growth and create jobs would raising taxes put the recovery at risk and you have two minutes to answer uninterrupted thank you on the issue of the economy i think there couldn't be a more fundamental difference between donald trump and joe biden joe biden believes you measured the health and the strength of america's economy based on the health and the strength of the american worker and the american family on the other hand you have donald trump who measures the strength of the economy based on how rich people are doing which is why he passed a tax bill benefiting the top one percent and the biggest corporations of america leading to a two trillion dollar deficit that the american people are going to have to pay for on day one joe biden will repeal that tax bill he'll get rid of it and what he'll do with the money is invest it in the american people and through a plan that is about investing in infrastructure something that donald trump said he would do i remember hearing about some infrastructure week i don't think it ever happened but joe biden will do that he'll invest in infrastructure it's about upgrading our roads and bridges but also investing in clean energy and renewable energy joe is going to invest that money in what we need to do around innovation there was a time when our country believed in science and invested in research and development so that we were an innovation leader on the globe joe biden will use that money to invest in education so for example for folks who want to go to a two-year community college it will be free if you come from a family that makes less than a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars you'll go to a public university for free and across the board will make sure that if you have student loan debt it's cut by ten thousand dollars that's how joe biden thinks about the economy which is it's about investing in the people of our country as opposed to passing a tax bill which had the benefit of letting american corporations go offshore to do their business thank you senator harris vice president pence your administration has been predicting a rapid and robust recovery but the latest economic report suggests that's not happening should americans be braced for an economic comeback that is going to take not months but a year or more you have two minutes to answer uninterrupted when president trump and i took office america had gone through the slowest economic recovery since the great depression when joe biden was vice president they tried to tax and spend and regulate and bail our way back to a growing economy president trump cut taxes across the board despite what senator harris says the average american family of four had two thousand dollars in savings in taxes and with the rise in wages that occurred most predominantly for blue-collar hard-working americans the average household income for a family of four increased by four thousand dollars following president trump's tax cuts but america you just heard senator harris tell you on day one joe biden's going to raise your taxes it's really remarkable to things i mean right after a time where we're going through a pandemic that lost 22 million jobs at the height we've already added back 11.6 million jobs because we had a president who cut taxes rolled back regulation unleashed american energy fought for free and fair trade and secured four trillion dollars from the congress of the united states to give direct payments to families save 50 million jobs through the paycheck protection program we literally have spared no expense to help the american people and the american worker through this joe biden and kamala harris want to raise taxes they want to bury our economy under a two trillion dollar green new deal which you were one of the original co-sponsors of in the united states senate they want to abolish fossil fuels and ban fracking which would cost hundreds of thousands of american jobs all across the heartland and joe biden wants to go back to the economic surrender to china that when we took office half of our international trade deficit was with china alone and joe biden wants to repeal all of the tariffs that president trump put into effect to fight for american jobs and american workers joe biden says democracy's on the ballot make no mistake about it susan the the american economy the american comeback is on the ballot with four more years of growth thank you an opportunity four more years of president donald trump 2021 thank you very much the biggest economic year in the history of this country thank you vice president pence senator harris well i mean i that we saw enough of it in last week's debate but i think this is supposed to be a debate based on fact and truth and the truth and the fact is joe biden has been very clear he will not raise taxes on anybody who makes less than four hundred thousand dollars a year appeal the trump tax cut mr vice president i'm speaking well i'm speaking be important if you said the truth joe biden said twice in the debate last week that he's going to repeal the trump tax cuts that was tax cuts that gave the average working family two thousand dollars in a tax break every single year senator that is absolutely not true that is he only cutting is he only going to repeal part of the trump tax cuts if you don't mind letting me finish we can then have a conversation okay please okay joe biden will not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than 400 thousand dollars a year he has been very clear about that joe biden will not end fracking he has been very clear about that joe biden is the one who during the the great recession was responsible for the recovery act that brought america back and now the trump hence administration wants to take credit when they ran when they rode the court coattails of joe biden's success for the economy that they had at the beginning of their term of course now the economy is of complete disaster but joe biden on the one hand did that on the other hand you have donald trump who has reigned over a recession that is being compared to the great depression on the one hand you have joe biden who was responsible with president barack obama for the affordable care act which brought health care to over 20 million americans and protected people with pre-existing conditions and what it also did is it saved to those families who otherwise were going bankrupt because of hospital bills they could not afford on the other hand you have donald trump who's in court right now trying to get rid of thank you trying to get rid of the affordable care act which means that you will lose protections if you have pre-existing conditions and i just this is very important susan yes and it's about we need to give we need to get vice president i'd just like to he interrupted me and i'd like to just finish please if you have a pre-existing condition heart disease diabetes breast cancer they're coming for you if you love someone who has a pre-existing condition thank you thank you coming for you if you are under the age of 26 on your parents coverage they're coming for you senator harris thank you let me give you a chance to respond well i hope we have a chance to talk about health care because obamacare was a disaster the american people remember it well and president trump and i have a plan to improve health care and to protect protect pre-existing conditions for every american but look senator harris you're you're entitled to your own opinion but you're not entitled to your own facts you yourself said on multiple occasions when you were running for president that you would ban fracking joe biden looked at a supporter in the eye and pointed and said i guarantee i guarantee that we will abolish fossil fuels they have a two trillion dollar version of the green new deal susan that your newspaper usa today said really wasn't that very different from the original green new deal more taxes more regulation banning fracking abolishing fossil fuel crushing american energy and economics surrendered china is a prescription for economic decline president trump and i will keep america growing the v-shaped recovery that's underway right now will continue with four more years of president donald trump thank you very very much vice president pence once again you've provided the perfect segue to a new topic which is climate change and vice president pence i'd like to pose the first question to you this year we've seen record-setting hurricanes in the south another one hurricane delta is now threatening the gulf and we have seen record-setting wildfires in the west do you believe as the scientific community has concluded that man-made climate change has made wildfires bigger hotter and more deadly and have made hurricanes wetter slower and more damaging you have two minutes uninterrupted thank you susan well first i'm very proud of our record on the environment and on conservation according to all of the best estimates are our air and land are cleaner than any time ever recorded our water is among the cleanest in the world and just a little while ago the president signed the outdoors act as the largest investment in our public lands and public parks in 100 years so president trump has made a commitment to conservation into the environment now with regard to climate change the climate is changing but the issue is what's the cause and what do we do about it president trump has made it clear that we're going to continue to listen to the science now joe biden and kamala harris would put us back in the paris climate accord they'd impose the green new deal which would crush american energy would increase the energy costs of american families in their homes and literally would crush american jobs and president trump and i believe that the progress that we have made in a cleaner environment has been happening precisely because we have a strong free market economy you know what's remarkable is the united states has reduced co2 more than the countries that are still in the paris climate accord but we've done it through innovation and we've done it through natural gas and fracking which senator the american people can go look at the record i i know joe biden says otherwise now as you do but the both of you repeatedly committed to abolishing fossil fuel and banning a fracking and so by creating the kind of american innovation we're actually steering toward a stronger and better environment with regard to wildfires president trump and i believe that forest management has to be front and center and even governor gavin newsom from your state has agreed we've got to work on forest management and with regard to hurricanes the national oceanic administration tells us that actually is as difficult as they are thank you vice president there are no more hurricanes today than there were a hundred years ago thank you but many of the climate alarms use hurricanes and wildfires to try and sell these goods of a green new deal and president trump and i are going to always put american jobs and american workers first senator harris as the vice president mentioned you co-sponsored the green new deal in congress but vice president biden said in last week's debate that he does not support the green new deal but if you look at the biden harris campaign website it describes the greener deal as a crucial framework what exactly would be the stance of a biden-harris administration toward the green new deal you have two minutes uninterrupted sure so first of all i will repeat and the american people know that joe biden will not ban fracking that is a fact that is a fact i will repeat that joe biden has been very clear that he thinks about growing jobs which is why he will not increase taxes for anyone who makes less than four hundred thousand dollars a year joe biden's economic plan moody's which is a reputable wall street firm has said will create seven million more jobs than donald trump's and part of those jobs that will be created by joe biden are going to be about clean energy and renewable energy because you see joe understands that the west coast of our country is burning including my home state of california joe sees what is happening on the gulf states which are being battered by storms joe has seen and talked with the farmers in iowa whose entire crops have been destroyed because of floods and so joe believes again in science i'll tell you something susan i served when i first got to the senate on the committee that's responsible for the environment do you know this administration took the word science off the website and then took the phrase climate change off the website this we have seen a pattern with this administration which is they don't believe in science and joe's plan is about saying we're going to deal with it but we're also going to create jobs donald trump when asked about the wildfires in california and and the question was you know the science is telling us this you know what donald trump said science doesn't know so let's talk about who is prepared to lead our country over the course of the next four years on what is an existential threat to us as human beings joe is about saying we're going to invest that in renewable energy it's going to be about the creation of millions of jobs we will achieve net zero emissions by 2050 carbon neutral by 2035 joe has a plan this has been a lot of talk from the trump administration and really it has been to go backward instead of forward we will also re-enter the climate agreement with pride senator harris just said that climate change is an existential threat vice president pence do you believe that climate change poses an existential threat as i said susan the climate is changing we'll follow the science but once again uh senator harris uh is denying the fact that they're going to raise taxes on every american joe biden said twice in the debate last week that on day one he was going to repeal the trump tax cuts those tax cuts delivered two thousand dollars in tax relief to the average family of four across america and with regard to banning fracking i just recommend that people look at the record you yourself said repeatedly that you would ban fracking you were the first senate co-sponsor of the green new deal and while joe biden denied the green new deal susan thank you for pointing out the green new deal is on their campaign website and as usa today said it's essentially the same plan as you co-sponsored with aoc when she submitted it in the senate and you just heard the senator say that she's going to resubmit america to the paris climate accord look the american people have always cherished our environment we'll continue to cherish it we've made great progress reducing co2 emissions through american innovation and the development of natural gas through fracking we don't need a massive 2 trillion dollar green new deal that would impose all new mandates on american businesses and american families thank you joe biden wants us to retrofit 4 million thank you vice president business buildings it makes no sense it will cost jobs president trump thank you very much america first he's going to put jobs first and we're going to take care of our environment and follow the sciences thank you so on the issue of jobs senator let's talk about that you the the vice president earlier referred to as part of what he thinks is an accomplishment um the the president's trade war with china you lost that trade war you lost it what ended up happening is because of a so-called trade war with china america lost 300 000 manufacturing jobs farmers have experienced bankruptcy because of it we are in a manufacturing recession because of it and when we look at where this administration has been there are estimates that by the end of the term of this administration they will have lost more jobs than almost any other presidential administration and the american people know what i'm talking about you know i i think about 20 year olds you know we have a 20 year old 20 something year old who are coming out of high school in college right now and you're wondering is there going to be a job there for me we're looking at people who are trying to figure out how they're going to pay rent by the end of the month almost half of american renters are worried about whether they're going to be able to pay rent by the end of the month this is where the economy is in america right now and it is because of the catastrophe and the failure of leadership of this administration thank you senator harris vice president pence let me give you just 15 seconds to respond because then i want to move on to well i i'd love to respond look uh lost the trade war with china joe biden never fought it joe biden has been a cheerleader for communist china through over the last several decades and and again senator harris you're entitled to your opinion you're not entitled to your own facts when joe biden was vice president we lost 200 000 manufacturing jobs and president obama said they were never coming back he said we needed a magic wand to bring them back in our first three years after we cut taxes roll back regulation unleashed american energy this administration saw 500 000 manufacturing jobs created and that's exactly the kind of growth we're going to continue to see as we bring our nation through thank you very much pandemic the green new deal your passive new mandate your paris climate accord it's going to kill jobs this time just like it killed jobs and i i just need to respond very much 15 seconds thank you thank you joe biden is responsible for saving america's auto industry and you voted against it so let's set the record straight thank you i'd like to talk about china we have as our next topic we have no more complicated or consequential foreign relationship than the one with china it is a huge market for american agricultural goods it's a potential partner in dealing with climate change in north korea and in a video tonight president trump again blamed it for the coronavirus saying china will pay vice president pence how would you describe our our fundamental relationship with china competitors adversaries enemies you have two minutes thank you susan well let me before i leave that let me let me speak to voting records if i can you know everybody knows that nafta cost literally thousands of american factories to close we saw automotive jobs go south of the border president trump fought to renegotiate nafta and the united states mexico canada agreement is now the law of the land american people deserve to know senator kamala harris was one of only 10 members of the senate to vote against the usmca it was a huge win for american auto workers it was a huge win for american farmers especially dairy in the upper midwest but senator you you said it didn't go far enough on climate change that that you put your your radical environmental agenda ahead of american auto workers and ahead of american jobs and the american people deserve to know that is probably why newsweek magazine said that that kamala harris was the most liberal member of the united states senate in 2019 more liberal than bernie sanders uh more more liberal than any of the others in the united states senate so now with regard to china look susan first and foremost china is to blame for the coronavirus and president trump is not happy about it he's made that very clear made it clear again today china and the world health organization did not play straight with the american people they did not let our personnel into china to get information on the coronavirus until the middle of february fortunately president trump in dealing with china from the outset of this administration standing up to china that had been taking advantage of america for decades in the wake of joe biden's cheerleading for china president trump made that decision before the end of january to suspend all travel from china and again the american people deserve to know joe biden opposed president trump's decision to suspend all travel from china he said it was hysterical he said thank you vice president of president trump china we're going to continue to stand strong thank you vice president we want to improve the relationship but we're going to level the playing field and we're going to hold china accountable for what they did to america with the coronavirus thank you senator harris let me ask you the same question that i asked the vice president how would you describe our fundamental relationship with china are we competitors adversaries enemies you'll have two minutes uninterrupted susan the trump administration's perspective and approach to china has resulted in the loss of american lives american jobs and america's standing there's a weird obsession that president trump has had with getting rid of whatever accomplishment was achieved by president obama and vice president biden for example they created within the white house an office that basically was responsible for monitoring pandemics they got away they got rid of it it's not true there was a team of disease experts that president obama and vice president biden dispatched to china to monitor what is now predictable and what might happen they pulled them out we now are looking at 210 000 americans who have lost their lives let's look at the job situation we mentioned before the trade deal the trade war they wanted to call it with china it resulted in the loss of over 300 manufacturing jobs and a manufacturing recession and the american consumer paying thousands of dollars more for goods because of that failed war that they called it then let's talk about standing pew a reputable research firm has done an analysis that shows that leaders of all of our formerly allied countries have now decided that they hold in greater esteem and respect jinping the head of the chinese communist party then they do donald trump the president of the united states the commander-in-chief of the united states this is where we are today because of a failure of leadership by this administration senator harris we've seen changes in the in the role of the united states in terms of global leadership over the past four years and of course times do change what's your definition we've seen strains with china of course as the vice president mentioned we've seen strange with our traditional allies in nato and elsewhere what is your definition of the role of american leadership in 2020 so you know joe is i love talking with joe about a lot of these issues and you know joe he i think he said it quite well he says you know foreign policy it might sound complicated but really it's relationships so just think about it as relationships and so we know this in our personal and professional relationships um you got to keep your word to your friends god be loyal to your friends people who've stood with you got to stand with them you got to know who your adversaries are and keep them in check but what we have seen with donald trump is that he has betrayed our friends and it and and and and embraced dictators around the world let's take for example russia so russia i serve on the intelligence committee of the united states senate america's intelligence community told us russia interfered in the election of the president of the united states in 2016 and is playing in 2020. christopher wray the director of the fbi said the same but donald trump the commander-in-chief of the united states of america prefers to take the word of vladimir putin over the word of the american intelligence community you look at our friends at nato he has walked away from agreements you can talk look at the iran nuclear deal which now has put us in a position where we are less safe because they are building up what might end up being a significant nuclear arsenal we were in that deal guys we were in the iran nuclear deal with friends with allies around the country and because of donald trump's unilateral approach to foreign policy coupled with his isolationism he pulled us out and has made america less safe so susan it's about relationships and the thing that has always been part of the strength of our nation in addition to our great military has been that we keep our word but donald trump doesn't understand that because he doesn't understand what it means to be honest thank you thank you uh thank you senator harris vice president let me give you a chance to respond well thank you um well president trump kept his word when we moved the american embassy to jerusalem the capital of the state of israel when joe biden was vice president they promised to do that and they never did we stood strong with our allies but we've been demanding nato is now contributing more to our common defense than ever before thanks to president trump's leadership we've strengthened our alliances across the asia pacific and we've stood strong against those who would do us harm you know when president trump came into office isis had captured an area of the middle east the size of pennsylvania but president trump unleashed the american military and our armed forces destroyed the isis caliphate and took down their leader al baghdadi without one american casualty al baghdadi was uh responsible for the death of thousands um but notably america's hearts today are with the family of kayla mueller your parents which are here with us tonight in salt lake city today two of the isis killers responsible for kayla mueller's murder were brought to justice in the united states jihadi john was killed on the battlefield along with the other beetle the reality is that when joe biden was vice president we had an opportunity to save kayla miller breaks my heart to reflect on him but the military came into the oval office presented a plan they said they knew where caleb was baghdadi had held her for 18 months abused her mercilessly before they killed her but when joe biden was vice president they hesitated for a month and when armed forces finally went in it was clear she'd been moved two days earlier and her family says with a heart that broke the heart of every american that if president donald trump had been president they believe kayla would be alive today thank you very much we destroyed the isis caliphate and you talk about re-entering the iran nuclear deal i mean the last administration transferred 1.8 billion dollars to the leading state sponsor thank you very much of terrorism president donald trump got us out of the department thank you vice president and and when casama solomonia was traveling to baghdad thank you very much to americans president donald trump thank you vice president pence and america is is safer our allies are safer and the american people know president donald trump will never thank you vice president take action i would like to give senator harris a chance to respond but not at such great length because of course there are other topics we want to talk about but i would like equal time yes thank you please go ahead first of all to the mueller family i i know about your daughter's case and i'm so sorry i'm so sorry um what happened to her is awful and it should have never happened and i know joe feels the same way and i know that president obama feels the same way um but you mentioned solemnani let's let's start there so after the strike on solemani there was a counter strike on our troops in iraq and they suffered serious brain injuries and do you know what donald trump dismissed them as headaches and this is about a pattern of donald trump's where he has referred to our men who are serving in our military as suckers and losers donald trump who went to arlington cemetery and stood above the graves of our fallen heroes and said what's in it for them because of course you know he only thinks about what's in it for him let's take what he said about john mccain a great american hero and and donald trump says he doesn't deserve to be called a hero because he was a prisoner of war take and this is this is very important when you want to talk about who is the current commander-in-chief and what they care about and what they don't care about public reporting that russia had bounties on the heads of american soldiers and you know what a bounty is it's somebody puts a price on your head and they will pay it if you are killed and donald trump had talked at least six times to vladimir putin and never brought up the subject joe biden would never do that thank you joe biden would but joe biden would hold russia to account for any threat to our nation's security or to our troops who are sacrificing their lives for the sake of our democracy and our safety thank you senator harris this is such an important issue but we have other important issues as well i want to i want to make sure we have a chance i really have talked about that clerk she has 15 seconds because well i gotta try to keep that look i'm sorry but vice president you've had more time than she's had so far against president donald trump regarding men and women of our armed forces are absurd i'm sorry my son is a captain in the united states marine corps my son-in-law is deployed in the united states navy i can assure all of you with sons and daughters serving in our military president donald trump not only respects but reveres all of those who serve in our armed forces and any suggestion otherwise it's ridiculous thank you vice president american people susan american agreed to the rules for tonight's debate with the commission on presidential race i'm here to enforce them which involves moving from one topic to another giving roughly equal time to both of you which is what i'm trying very hard to go right ahead so i want to go ahead and move to the next topic which is an important one as the last topic was and that is the supreme court on monday the senate judiciary committee is scheduled to open hearings on amy coney barrett's nomination to the supreme court senator harris you'll be there as a member of the committee her confirmation would cement the court's conservative majority and make it likely open to more abortion restrictions even to overturning the landmark roe v wade ruling access to abortion would then be up to the states vice president pence you're the former governor of indiana if roe v wade is overturned what would you want indiana to do would you want your home state to ban all abortions you have two minutes uninterrupted well thank you for the question but i'll use a little bit of my time to respond to that very important issue before the american people deserve to know qasim salamani the iranian general was responsible for the death of hundreds of american service members when the opportunity came we saw him headed to baghdad to kill more americans president trump didn't hesitate and qasim salamani is gone but you deserve to know that joe biden and kamala harris actually criticized the decision to take out solemn qasim salamani it's really inexplicable but with regard to joe biden it's it's explainable because history records that joe biden actually opposed the raid against osama bin laden it's absolutely essential that we have a commander-in-chief who will not hesitate to act to protect american lives and to protect american service members and that's what you have in president donald trump now with regard to the supreme court of the united states let me say president trump and i could not be more enthusiastic about the opportunity to see judge amy coney barrett become justice amy coney barrett she's a brilliant woman and she will bring a lifetime of experience and a sizable american family to the supreme court of the united states and our hope is in the hearing next week unlike justice kavanaugh received with treatment from you and others we hope she gets a fair hearing and we particularly hope that we don't see the kind of attacks on her christian faith that we saw before i mean the democrat chairman of the judiciary committee before when when judge barrett was being confirmed for the court of appeals expressed concern that the dogma of her faith lived loudly in her dick durbin of illinois said that it was a concern senator i know one of our judicial nominees you actually attacked because they remember the catholic knights of columbus just because the knights of columbus holds pro-life views thank you thank you thank you vice president when the hearing takes place thank you vice president pence that judge amy coney barrett will be respected thank you vice president voted and confirmed to the supreme court of the united states senator harris you're the senator from and former attorney general of california so let me ask you a parallel question to the one i posed to the vice president if roe v wade is overturned what would you want california to do would you want your home state to enact no restrictions on access to abortion and you have two minutes uninterrupted thank you susan first of all joe biden and i are both people of faith and it's insulting to suggest that we would knock anyone for their faith and in fact joe if elected will be only the second practicing catholic as president of the united states um on the issue of this of this nomination joe and i are very clear as are the majority of the american people we are 27 days before the decision about who will be the next president of the united states and you know before when this conversation has come up you know it's been about election year or election time we're literally in an election over four million people have voted people are in the process of voting right now and so joe has been very clear as the american people are let the american people fill that seat in the white house and then we'll fill that seat on the united states supreme court and to your point susan that the issues before us couldn't be more serious there's the issue of choice and i will always fight for a woman's right to make a decision about her own body it should be her decision and not that of donald trump and the vice president michael pence but let's also look at what else is before the the court it's the affordable care act like literally in the midst of a public health pandemic when over 210 000 people have died and seven million people probably have what will be in the future considered a pre-existing condition because you you contracted the virus donald trump is in court right now trying to get rid of the affordable care act and i said it before and it bears repeating this means that there will be no more protections if they win for people with pre-existing conditions this means that over 20 million people will lose your coverage it means that if you're under the age of 26 you can't stay on your parents coverage anymore and here's the thing the contrast couldn't be more clear they're trying to get rid of the affordable care act joe biden is saying let's expand coverage let's give you a choice of a public option or private coverage let's bring down premiums let's lower medicare eligibility to 60. thank you senator that's true leadership you know you mentioned uh earlier vice president pence that the president was committed to maintaining protections for people with pre-existing conditions um and but you do have this court case that you are supporting your administration supporting that would strike down the affordable care act the the president says president trump says that he's going to protect people with pre-existing conditions but he has not explained how he would do that and that was one of the toughest nuts to crack when they were passing the affordable care act so tell us specifically how would your administration protect americans with pre-existing conditions have access to affordable insurance if the affordable care act is struck down well thank you susan but let me just say addressing your very first question i i couldn't be more proud to serve as vice president to a president who stands without apology for the sanctity of human life i'm pro-life i i don't apologize for it and this is another one of those cases where there's such a dramatic contrast joe biden and kamala harris support taxpayer funding of abortion all the way up to the moment of birth late term abortion they want to increase funding to planned parenthood of america now for our part i i would never presume how judge amy coney barrett would rule on the supreme court of the united states but will continue to stand strong for the right to life when you speak about the supreme court though i think the american people really deserve an answer senator harris are you and joe biden going to pack the court if judge amy coney barrett has confirmed i mean there have been 29 vacancies on the supreme court during presidential election years from george washington to barack obama presidents have nominated in all 29 cases but your party is actually openly advocating adding seats to the supreme court which has had nine seats for 150 years if you don't get your way this is a classic case of if you can't win by the rules you're going to change the rules now you've refused to answer the question joe biden has refused to answer the question so i think the american people would really like to know if judge amy coney barrett is confirmed with the supreme court of the united states are you and joe biden if somehow you win this election going to pack the supreme court to get your way i'm so glad we went through a little history lesson let's do that a little more in 1816 i'd like you to answer the question mr vice president speaking i'm speaking okay in 1864 one of the i think political heroes certainly of the president i i assume if you also mr vice president is abraham lincoln abraham lincoln was up for re-election and it was 27 days before the election and a seat became open on the united states supreme court abraham lincoln's party was in charge not only of the white house but the senate but honest abe said it's not the right thing to do the american people deserve to make the decision about who will be the next president of the united states and then that person can select who will serve for a lifetime on the highest court of our land and so joe and i are very clear the american people are voting right now and it should be their decision about who will serve on this most important body for a lifetime thank you senator harrison susan are voting right now they'd like to know if you and joe biden are going to pack the supreme court if you don't get your way in this nomination let's talk about that you once again gave a non-answer joe biden gave anonymous trying to answer you american people deserve a straight answer and and if you haven't figured it out yet the straight answer is they are going to pack the supreme court if they somehow win this election men and women i got to tell you people across this country if you cherish our supreme court if you cherish the separation of powers you need to reject the biden harris ticket come november the 3rd re-elect president donald trump and we'll stand by that separation powers in a nine-seat supreme court yeah let's talk about pac and the court then let's talk about this yeah i'm about to so the trump pence administration has been because i sit on the senate judiciary committee susan as you mentioned and i have witnessed the appointments for lifetime appointments to the federal courts district courts courts of appeal people who are purely ideological people who have been reviewed by by legal professional organizations and found to have been not competent are substandard and do you know that of the 50 people who president trump appointed to the court of appeals for lifetime appointments not one is black this is what they've been doing you want to talk about packing a court let's have that discussion all right thank you thank you senator let's go on and talk about the issue of racial justice i just want the record to reflect she never answered the question so i think maybe the next debate joe biden will answer the question but i think the american people know the answer thank you vice president in march briona taylor a 26 year old emergency room technician in louisville was shot and killed after police officers executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation broke into her apartment the police said they identified themselves taylor's boyfriend said he didn't hear them do that he used a gun registered to him to fire a shot which wounded an officer the officers then fired more than 20 rounds into the apartment they say they were acting in self-defense none of them have been indicted in connection with her death senator harris in the case of riona taylor was justice done you have two minutes i don't believe so and i've i've talked with brianna's mother tamika palmer and her family and her family deserves justice she was a beautiful young woman she had as her life goal to become a nurse and she wanted to become an emt to first learn what's going on out on the street so she could then become a nurse and save lives and her life was taken unjustifiably and tragically and violently and it just it brings me to you know the eight minutes and 46 seconds that america witnessed during which an american man was tortured and killed under the knee of an armed uniformed police officer and people around our country of every race of every age of every gender perfect strangers to each other marched shoulder to shoulder arm and arm fighting for us to finally achieve that ideal of equal justice under law and i was a part of those peaceful protests and i believe strongly that first of all we are never going to condone violence but we always must fight for the values that we hold dear including the fight to achieve our ideals and that's why joe biden and i have said on this subject look and i'm a former career prosecutor i know what i'm talking about bad cops are bad for good cops we need reform of our policing in america and our criminal justice system which is why joe and i will immediately ban chokeholds and carotid holes george floyd would be live today if we did that we will require a national registry for police officers who break the law we will on the issue of criminal justice reform get rid of private prisons and cash bail and we will decriminalize marijuana and we will we will expunge the records of those who have been convicted of marijuana thank you time for leadership on a tragic tragic issue senator harrison honors black people in america thank you senator harris vice president pence let me pose the same question to you in the case of briona taylor was justice done you have two minutes uninterrupted well our heart breaks for the loss of anything any innocent american life and the family brianna taylor has our sympathies but i i trust our justice system a grand jury that refused the evidence and it really is remarkable that as a former prosecutor you would assume that an impaneled grand jury looking at all the evidence got it wrong but you're entitled to your opinion senator i think look and with regard to george floyd there's no excuse for what happened to george floyd and justice will be served but there's also no excuse for the rioting and looting that followed i mean it really is astonishing flora westbrook is with us here tonight in salt lake city just a few weeks ago i stood at what used to be her salon was burned to the ground by rioters and looters and and flora is still trying to put her life back together and i must tell you this this this presumption that you hear consistently from joe biden and kamala harris that uh that america is systemically racist and that as joe biden said that he believes that law enforcement has an implicit bias against minorities is is a great insult to the men and women who serve in law enforcement and i want everyone to know who puts on the uniform of law enforcement every day and president trump and i stand with you it is remarkable that that when senator tim scott tried to pass a police reform bill brought together a group of republicans and democrats senator harris you got up and walked out of the room and then you filibustered senator tim scott's bill on the senate floor that would have provided new accountability new repeat resources but we don't have to choose between supporting law enforcement improving public safety and supporting our african-american thank you very much for all of our minorities under president trump's leadership thank you very much always stand with law enforcement and we'll do what we've done thank you your time is the lives of african americans thank you very much record investments in education and fight for school choice for all of our men thank you very much i'd like to respond senator harris i will not sit here and be lectured by the vice president on what it means to enforce the laws of our country i am the only one on this stage who has personally prosecuted everything from child sexual assault to homicide i'm the only one on the stage who has prosecuted the big banks for taking advantage of america's homeowners i am the only one on this stage who prosecuted for-profit colleges for taking advantage of our veterans and the reality of this is that we are talking about an election in 27 days where last week the president of the united states took a debate stage in front of 70 million americans and refused to condemn white supremacists not true and not true it wasn't like he didn't have a chance he didn't do it and then he doubled down and then he said when pressed stand back stand by and this is a part of a pattern of donald trump's you he was he called mexicans rapists and criminals he instituted as his first act a muslim ban he on the issue of charlottesville where people were peacefully protesting the need for racial justice where a young woman was killed and on the other side there were neo-nazis carrying tiki torches shouting racial epithets anti-semitic slurs and donald trump when asked about it said there were fine people on both sides this is who we have as the president of the united states and america you deserve better joe biden will be a president who brings our country together senator harris and and recognizes the beauty in our diversity and the fact that we all have so much more in common than what separates us vice president pence let me give you a minute to respond thank you susan i appreciate that very much you know i think that's one of the things that makes people dislike the media so much in this country susan is that you selectively edit just like senator harris did comments that president trump and i and others on our side of the aisle i mean senator harris conveniently admitted after after the president made comments about people on either side of the debate over monuments he condemned the kkk neo-nazis and white supremacists and has done so repeatedly you're concerned that he doesn't condemn neo-nazis president trump has jewish grandchildren his daughter and son-in-law are jewish this is a president who who respects and cherishes all of the american people but you talk about having personally prosecuted i'm glad you brought up your record senator thank you but that's i really need to make this point when you were when you were d.a in san francisco when you left office african americans were 19 times more likely to be prosecuted for minor drug offenses than whites and hispanics when you were attorney general of california you increased the the disproportionate incarceration of blacks in california you did nothing on criminal justice reform in california you didn't lift a finger to pass the first step back on capitol hill i mean the reality is your record speaks for itself president trump and i have fought for criminal justice for thank you vice president fought for educational choice and opportunities for african-americans all of our members thank you sir and we'll do it for four thank you you know there is no more important issue than the final issue that we're going to talk about tonight and that is the issue of the election but itself he attacked my record i would like an opportunity to respond let me give you 30 seconds because we because we're running out of time i appreciate that first of all having served as the attorney general of the state of california the work that i did is a model of what our nation needs to do and we will be able to do under a joe biden presidency our our agenda includes what this administration has failed to do it will be about not only instituting a ban on chocolates and carotid holes thank you not only thank you senator i would like to go through these are points that you made earlier in the hour and i want to talk about the election itself before we have to but i want to talk about the connection between what joe and i will do in my record which includes i was the first statewide officer to institute a requirement that my agents would wear body cameras and keep them on full time we were the first to initiate a requirement that there would be a training for law enforcement on implicit bias because yes joe biden and i recognize that implicit bias does exist mr vice president contrary to what you may believe we did the work of instituting reforms that were about investing in reentry this is the work that we have done and the work we will do going forward and again i will not be lectured by the vice president on our record of what we have done in terms of law enforcement and keeping our communities safe and a commitment to reforming the criminal justice system of america thank you senator harrison i'd like to oppose the first i'd like you to respond first to the question on our final topic the election itself president trump has several times refused to commit himself to a peaceful transfer of power after the election if your ticket wins and president trump refuses to accept a peaceful transfer of power what steps would you and vice president biden then take what would happen next you have two minutes so i'll tell you um joe and i are i think particularly um proud of the coalition that we've built around our campaign we probably have one of the broadest coalitions of folks that you've ever seen in a presidential race of course we have the support of democrats but also independents and republicans in fact seven members of president george w bush's cabinet are supporting our ticket we have the support of of colin powell cindy mccain john kasich um over 500 generals retired generals and and former national security experts and advisors are supporting our campaign and i believe they are doing that because they know that joe biden has a deep deep-seated commitment to fight for our democracy and to fight for the integrity of our democracy and to bring integrity back to the white house and so we believe in the american people we believe in our democracy and here's what i'd like to say to everybody vote please vote vote early come up with a plan to vote go to iwillvote.com you can also go to joebiden.com we have it within our power in these next 27 days to make the decision about what will be the course of our country for the next four years and it is within our power and if we use our vote and we use our voice we will win and we will not let anyone subvert our democracy with what donald trump has been doing as he did on the debate stage last week when again in front of 70 million people he openly attempted to suppress the vote joe biden on the other hand on that same debate stage because clearly donald trump doesn't think he can run on a record because it's a failed record joe biden on that stage said hey just please vote so i'll repeat what joe said please vote thank you senator vice president pence president trump has several times refused to commit himself to a peaceful transfer of power after the election if vice president biden has declared the winner and president trump refuses to accept a peaceful transfer of power what would be your role and responsibility as vice president what would you personally do you have two minutes well susan first and foremost i think we're going to win this election because while joe biden and kamala harris rattle off a long litany of the establishment in washington d.c an establishment that joe biden's been a part of for 47 years president donald trump has has launched a movement of everyday americans from every walk of life and uh i have every confidence that those the same americans that delivered that historic victory in 2016 they see this president's record where we rebuild our military we revived our economy through tax cuts and rolling back regulation fighting for fair trade unleashing american energy we appointed conservatives to our federal courts at every level and and we stood with the men and women of law enforcement every single day and i think i think that movement of americans has only grown stronger in the last four years but when you talk about accepting the outcome of the election um i i must tell you senator your party has spent the last three and a half years trying to overturn the results of the last election it's amazing when joe biden was vice president of the united states the fbi actually spied on president trump and my campaign i mean there were documents released this week that the cia actually made a referral uh to the fbi documenting that those allegations were coming from the hillary clinton campaign and of course we've all seen the avalanche the what what you put the country through for for the better part of of three years until it was found that there was no obstruction no collusion case closed and then senator harris you and your colleagues in the in the congress tried to impeach the president of the united states over a phone call and now hillary clinton has actually said to joe biden that under in her words under no circumstances should he concede the election so let me just say i think we're going to win this election president trump and i are fighting every day in courthouses to prevent joe biden and kamala harris from changing the rules and creating this universal mail-in voting that will create a massive opportunity for voter fraud and we have a free and fair election uh we know we're going to have confidence in it and i believe in all my heart that president donald trump's going to be reelected for four more years you know i've uh i've asked i've written all the questions that i've asked tonight but for the final question of the debate i'd like to write a read a question that someone else wrote the utah debate commission asked students in the state to write essays about what they would like to ask you and i want to close tonight's debate with the question posed by brooklyn brown she's an eighth grader at springville junior high in springville utah and here's what she wrote quote when i watch the news all i see is arguing between democrats and republicans when i watch the news all i see is citizen fighting against citizen when i watch the news all i see are two candidates from opposing parties trying to tear each other down if our leaders can't get along how are the citizens supposed to get along and then she added your examples could make all the difference to bring us together end quote so to each of you in turn i'd like you to take one minute and respond to brooklyn vice president pence you have one minute brooklyn it's a wonderful question and um let me just commend you for taking an interest in in public life i i started uh following the news when i was very young and in america we believe in a free and open exchange of debate and we celebrate that and it's how we've created literally the freest and most prosperous nation in the history of the world i i i would tell you that don't assume that what you're seeing on your local news networks is synonymous with the american people you know i look at the relationship between justice ruth bader ginsburg the late justice who we just lost from the supreme court and the late justice antonin scalia they were on polar opposites on the supreme court of the united states one very liberal one very conservative but what's been learned since her passing was the two of them and their families were the very closest of friends i mean here in america we can disagree we can debate vigorously as senator harris and i have on this stage tonight but when the debate is over we come together as americans and that's what people do in big cities and small towns all across this country so i just want to encourage you brooklyn i want to tell you that we're going to work every day to have government as good as our people and the american people each and every day love a good debate we love a good argument but we always come together and are always there for one another thank you times of need and we've especially learned that thank you for the difficulties of this year senator harris what would you say to brooklyn um first of all i i love hearing from our young leaders and when i hear her words when i hear your words brooklyn um i know our future is bright because it is that perspective on who we are and who we should be um that is a sign of leadership and is something we should all aspire to be and that you know that brings me to joe joe biden one of the reasons that joe decided to run for president is after charlottesville which we talked about earlier it so troubled him and upset him like it did all of us that there was that kind of hate and division what propelled joe to run for president was to see that over the course of the last four years what brooklyn described has been happening joe has a long-standing reputation of working across the aisle and working in a bipartisan way and that's what he's going to do as president joe biden has a history of lifting people up and fighting for their dignity you mean you have to know joe's story to know that joe has known pain he has known suffering and he has known love and so brooklyn when you think about the future i do believe the future is bright and it will be because of your leadership and it will be because we fight for each person's voice through their vote and we get engaged in this election because you have the ability through your work and through eventually your vote thank you to determine the future of our country and what its leadership looks like thank you senator harris thank you vice president pence thank you so much for being with us tonight we want to thank also the university of utah for its hospitality and most of all our thanks to all the americans who watch this debate tonight again our best wishes for a quick recovery to president trump the first lady and everyone who is battling covet 19. the second presidential debate is next week on october 15th a town hall style debate in miami we hope you'll join us then good evening

Channel: Sky News

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Keywords: sky, news, us, usa, debate, election, trump, biden, joe biden, donald trump, trump v biden, biden v trump, trump vs biden, donald trump vs joe biden, president, vice president, 2020, us election 2020, sky news, america, american, joseph biden, coronavirus, pandemic, economy, jobs, presidency, taxes, pence, harris, fly, pence v harris, harris v pence, kamala, kamala harris, mike pence, abortion, supreme court, highlights, age, COVID-19, asian-american, woman, black, insect

Id: JGkRC8EWNnA

Length: 89min 38sec (5378 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 08 2020