Trump’s Debate Answer on Jan. 6 Regrets Is Cause for Nationwide Alarm

Donald Trump, when asked point-blank during Tuesday night’s presidential debate whether he had any regrets for his actions on January 6, 2021, could not name a single one.

ABC News moderator David Muir noted in his question that Trump waited more than two hours on January 6 before delivering a video message telling rioters at the Capitol building to go home.

“Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?” Muir asked.

Trump’s response was defiant, claiming that during his message, he told demonstrators supporting him to act “peacefully and patriotically.”

Trump also claimed that “nobody on the other side was killed. Ashli Babbitt was shot by an out of control police officer that should have never, ever shot her. It’s a disgrace.” (He apparently forgot the Capitol police officers who died.)

Muir then asked the question again, and Trump again denied any responsibility.

“I had nothing to do with that, other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech, I said, I think it’s going to be big,” Trump replied.

Kamala Harris did not mince words in her response, noting that Trump was indicted and impeached for his actions on January 6.

Trump’s thoughts on January 6 are disturbing, as he seems to be justifying the violent mob that sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election on his behalf. Invoking Ashli Babbitt is part of a years-long effort by conservatives to obscure their own responsibility for the Capitol insurrection. If Trump loses this November, his answer at Tuesday night’s debate could indicate that he’d be willing to incite another violent mob to overturn the results in his favor.

Donald Trump is trying to desperately backpedal his admission that he lost the 2020 presidential election, arguing that the game-changing statement amounted to simple sarcasm.

Last week, Trump finally admitted that he lost during an interview on the Lex Fridman podcast, where he shared that he lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden “by a whisker.” The announcement sent some of his base—including January 6 rioters—into a frenzy. Some of them, including white supremacist Nick Fuentes, questioned why Trump allowed his supporters to rush headlong into insurmountable legal troubles under the cover of a lie.

“No. I don’t acknowledge that at all. I said that sarcastically,” Trump said flippantly during Tuesday night’s debate when questioned directly about the eyebrow-raising language. “Look, there’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it, and they should have sent it back to the legislatures for approval.”

Regardless of Trump’s sudden flip-flop, Trump’s words could still hold water in his federal election interference case, with legal experts believing that the admission could be used against him.

Donald Trump went on an outrageous rant spreading dangerous racist rumors that immigrants have begun eating pets.

During the presidential debate Tuesday night, Trump couldn’t quite walk off Kamala Harris’s comment criticizing his rallies as being chaotic and boring. Moments later, Trump was asked why he killed the bipartisan border bill earlier this year. Instead of actually answering the question, Trump tried desperately to hit back, and took the opportunity to parrot false right-wing rumors that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, had been killing and eating pets.

“People don’t leave my rallies. We have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics,” Trump said, clearly shaken.

Trump pivoted to a warning about World War III that soon pitched into a recitation of an outlandish and disproven theory.

“Look what’s happening to the towns,” Trump said. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating … they’re eating the pets of the people who live there. And this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”

When ABC moderator David Muir attempted to fact-check Trump, referring to a statement from Springfield City manager Ryan Heck denying the outrageous rumors. Heck said there were “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

“I’ve seen people on television!” Trump cried, interrupting Muir. “I’ve seen people on television say my dog was taken and used for food! So, maybe that’s a good thing to say if you’re a city manager—”

Trump continued on, and Muir repeated Heck’s statement. “We’ll see about that,” Trump replied.

“Um, talk about extreme,” Harris responded laughing.

Donald Trump got a fact-check live on air just minutes into the presidential debate on Tuesday.

Speaking on abortion, Trump spread lies for several minutes about reproductive care. The former president claimed that the governor of West Virginia allowed doctors to terminate a pregnancy not only after viability but after the baby was born.

In response to Trump’s claims, the ABC News anchor Linsey Davis gave him an embarrassing live correction.

“There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born,” she said, before quickly pivoting to Kamala Harris.

Donald Trump kicked off the presidential debate Tuesday night with a rant about immigrants taking over towns and Black jobs across America.

It’s a point that Trump has repeated throughout his campaign, and he hit all of the same points: claiming that immigrants from “prisons and jails, from mental institutions and insane asylums” were arriving in the United States, taking “jobs that are occupied right now by African Americans and Hispanics,” a slight variation of his usual line about immigrants taking “Black jobs.”

He also alluded to recent right-wing meltdowns over immigrants in the towns of Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio. In the case of Aurora, Trump and the right claimed that a Venezuelan gang had taken over an apartment complex, only for its residents and the police to say that was completely false. In Ohio, the right have pushed a narrative about Haitian immigrants killing and eating pets, which was rejected by local police and municipal officials.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance has also spread the rumor about Haitian immigrants, despite having no evidence of any pets being killed and eaten. Several other conservative politicians, pundits, and influencers have all amplified the rumor, furthering right-wing fearmongering about savage immigrants. Donald Trump, historically, has had no love for Haiti or its people, claiming in 2018 that all Haitian immigrants have AIDS and referring to the country as a “shithole.”

Donald Trump skirted answering a direct question on abortion rights Tuesday night and instead veered into complete make believe on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Avoiding a direct question about his flip-flopping on a national six-week abortion ban during the presidential debate, Trump quoted the Democratic vice presidential pick for something he never actually said.

“Her vice presidential pick, which I think was a horrible pick for our country, because he is really adamant, but her vice presidential pick says that abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” Trump said. “He also says, ‘Execution after birth’—execution, no longer abortion because the baby is born—is OK. And that’s not OK with me. Hence the vote.”

Not one state in the nation allows what Republicans have dubbed post-birth abortions, otherwise known as infanticide.

Trump has worked to soften his anti-choice position in the weeks building up to the debate in an attempt to appeal to women’s rights activists and draw more voters to his campaign. But the practical effects of his presidency are still obvious, not least of all instilling a hyperconservative Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade, which Trump has proudly taken credit for. In 2023, the former president also claimed that he should be celebrated for every single state abortion ban.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Tuesday declined to denounce a racist and xenophobic conspiracy theory about local Haitian immigrants, just hours after Ohio Senator J.D. Vance doubled down by spreading the blatant misinformation.

As DeWine noted in Tuesday’s press conference, the city of Springfield has seen an influx of 15,000 Haitian immigrants over the past four years as a result of the chaos and widespread gang violence caused by the assassination of Haiti’s president in 2021. The United States has granted these immigrants temporary protected status, allowing them to move to the U.S., pay taxes, own homes, and work.

Some Republicans, wanting to look tough on immigration, claim that Springfield is being overwhelmed by the immigrants—and to make their point, they’re even spreading malicious lies about the Haitians. Vance, who is Donald Trump’s running mate, tweeted Monday, “Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” On Tuesday, he repeated the claim, only allowing that “it’s possible, of course, that all of these rumors will turn out to be false.”

And yet, DeWine refused to condemn such rhetoric. When asked whether he would “denounce other Ohio Republicans who are elevating those claims,” the governor said he was just there to establish “the essential facts,” and referred to the city manager’s statement about “any of these particular matters.”

“Look,” he added, “I came here today because I thought it was important to outline for the people, not only of Springfield, but of Ohio and the country, what the essential facts are. The essential facts I have gone over to the best of my knowledge, are the essential facts.”

DeWine referred to statements by Springfield Mayor Rob Rue and City Manager Ryan Heck. Heck, who had written to Vance in July asking for federal support to deal with the influx of immigrants, outright denied the right-wing rumors. He said there were “no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

“Additionally,” Heck said, “there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

When asked about a school bus crash caused by a Haitian immigrant’s reckless driving, which injured 20 students and killed one, DeWine said that there had been an uptick in traffic accidents. While he said he did not “blame” any one group, he also claimed that many Haitians had never driven before.

When asked specifically about the false claims that Haitian immigrants are eating cats or killing geese, DeWine did not condemn them. “Look, I’m not going to comment on that,” he said.

“The local officials [and] people who live in Springfield have talked about different things that might appear on the internet. A lot of things can appear on the internet,” he added. “But they have talked about those, and they have said they’ve not seen evidence of that. And they are the ones who are in the community.”

When asked about Vance specifically, DeWine said, “I would expect a United States senator to be talking about the border.”

DeWine was also asked whether he had spoken to any Haitian immigrants in Springfield. He said he had not.

Republicans in Missouri experienced a major setback on Tuesday when the state Supreme Court ruled against their efforts to block a ballot measure asking voters to restore abortion rights in the state.

The proposal to enshrine abortion rights into Missouri’s state constitution will now be on voters’ ballots in two months and would undo a near-total abortion ban passed by the state’s conservatives in 2022 if voters approve it.

A lawyer for state Republicans and anti-abortion activists, Mary Catherine Martin, tried to claim during Tuesday’s arguments that the abortion ballot initiative “misled voters” by not listing all the laws that it would repeal. A lawyer supporting abortion rights said that the conservatives’ lawsuit was an “attempt to derail democracy.”

The court’s ruling follows Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s decertification of the ballot measure, removing it from state ballots after a lower court ruled against it on Friday. It’s no surprise that Republicans sought to prevent voters from considering the measure, as pro-abortion ballot initiatives nationwide have been successful since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Even in red states like Ohio, voters enshrined abortion access into law in 2023, and the year before, five states with abortion on the ballot voted to protect reproductive rights. Two of those states, Kentucky and Montana, explicitly rejected anti-abortion measures.

Missouri is one of 10 states to have abortion rights on the ballot this November. In Florida, Republicans are sending law enforcement officers around the state to investigate the verified signatures that put an abortion constitutional amendment on the ballot, an effort drawing criticism for coming across as intimidation. Republicans in Florida and Missouri seem to not care too much about democracy, or the will of voters, if it goes against conservative ideology.

Donald Trump keeps repeating lies about election fraud, and on Tuesday morning, CNN’s Kasie Hunt called out his daughter-in-law about it.

Hunt brought up a Truth Social post Donald Trump made on Sunday where he said that 20 percent of mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent, claimed Democrats are cheating, and called for an investigation. The CNN presenter asked Lara Trump, a co-chair of the Republican National Committee, why the former president was saying this if he wanted more votes.

“He’s specifically referencing information from the 2020 election,” she replied, though that’s not actually clear in the Truth Social Post. “What we’re talking about right now is making sure that every vote matters and every vote counts.”

Hunt followed up, asking for evidence of fraudulent mail-in ballots in the 2020 Pennsylvania election.

“I didn’t see that report, so I’d have to go back and look at it,” Trump replied. “I can’t directly speak to that.”

Trump spent the interview trying to spin her father-in-law’s words by claiming he wants every voter in the U.S. to vote how they are most comfortable, whether that’s by mail-in ballot or in person. But this contradicts a lot of what the Republican presidential nominee has said and continues to say about the electoral process.

The former president’s conspiracies about fraudulent ballots recently convinced Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to insist on paper ballots in his state and his supporters in Georgia to change state election laws to help him. Meanwhile, he’s pressuring Republicans in the House to attach his “voter fraud” measures into a critical spending bill—thus changing voting laws just weeks before the election.

Trump has a long history of casting doubt on the electoral process, from his repeated claims about a rigged election to his refusal to accept the 2020 results and subsequent attempt to overturn them, and his preemptive efforts to discredit November’s results if they go against him. On Tuesday, Hunt exposed how Trump’s closest advisers enable this behavior even when they can’t explain it themselves.

The rules of the presidential debate are apparently still being hashed out just hours before the first matchup between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

During an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Harris’s communications director Michael Tyler accused Trump of being “muzzled” by his campaign over the controversial decision to mute his microphone during Harris’s responses—a call that some critics have derided as the political equivalent of bowling lane “bumper guards.”

Skirting a question about Harris’s spontaneous burst onto the 2024 campaign trail, Tyler sidestepped to jab Trump and the former president’s inability to control himself on the debate stage.

“Yeah, listen, I think, well, it remains to be seen what Donald Trump says, obviously his team decided to overrule him and has muzzled him somewhat on the debate stage,” Tyler said. “But I think regardless of which version of Donald Trump actually shows up on the debate stage, it is an opportunity for the vice president, right? To communicate her vision for where she wants to take this country.”

Tyler’s media hit clearly got to the former president, who took to Truth Social to vent his frustrations about Harris’s publicist.

“Why does FoxNews keep putting on, for endless periods of time, Michael Tyler, Kamala’s publicist, who spews nothing but lies—like Project 2025, etc,” Trump fumed. “Fox tries to be so politically correct, when the other side plays for keeps. RIDICULOUS!!!”