Trump spreads baseless claims about Harris’s debate performance

Republican nominee Donald Trump spent his second rally since Tuesday’s debate promoting false online accusations trying to discredit Vice President Kamala Harris’s performance, alongside baseless allegations of chicanery in the reporting of crime statistics and jobs data.

“She can’t talk,” Trump told a crowd of thousands in Las Vegas on Friday, three nights after facing Harris for the first time, claiming victory and saying he would not agree to another debate. He asked if Harris had received the questions in advance, picking up on internet rumors that the host network, ABC News, has denied. Trump also referenced a Facebook post suggesting, without evidence, that Harris had audio devices in her earrings.

“I hear she got the questions, and I also heard she had something in the ear,” Trump said.

In almost 90 minutes of remarks, Trump alleged that similar plots against him had been foiled by insiders who exposed tampering with government statistics on jobs and crimes. Without evidence, he claimed a routine revision of economic data was an attempt to disadvantage his campaign.

“Fortunately, we had a leaker or a whistleblower,” Trump said. “I don’t care which. I love that person. I’m not sure who it is.”

Trump also used newly released Justice Department survey data about crime in 2023 to incorrectly claim the figures contradicted debate moderator David Muir’s use of FBI data showing a decline in overall violent crime in the first quarter of 2024.

“So David Muir owes me an apology,” Trump said. He added: “And his hair was much better five years ago.”

Trump played a clip of Harris’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in August and mocked her for repeatedly thanking the cheering crowd. He baselessly accused her of lying about working at McDonald’s during college in the 1980s and of wanting to restore the draft, which she has not supported. He paradoxically called her a communist and a fascist. He said voting for her would be “a vote for war with Russia” and “a vote to obliterate Israel.”

Returning to his core campaign theme of immigration, Trump falsely portrayed a U.S. Customs and Border Protection app, which allows migrants to request legal processing appointments, as a tool that shows where to drop off undocumented immigrants.

“Could you believe we have phone apps?” he said. “The cartels have apps where they call in so they know where to deposit their illegal people.”

If elected, he pledged to deploy federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement to implement large-scale deportations, including to “liberate” the Colorado city of Aurora that he falsely claimed was overrun by Venezuelan gangs. He also said Nevada, which does not border Mexico, was receiving more immigrants because Texas had tightened its border.

“Can you believe I have to say this?” he said. “We are going to liberate parts of our country.”

In Trump hands, a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report concluding that ICE had not issued court notices to 291,000 unaccompanied children became 325,000 migrant children lost to rape and murder. “They’re either gone or they’re in the service as slaves, sex slaves or slaves,” he said.

He recited an anti-immigration parable about a snake that has been a fan favorite at his rallies since the 2016 campaign. And he gave a shout-out to Stephen Miller, his adviser who was the architect of separating migrant families at the border and has proposed using the military for mass deportations.

“A brilliant young man who has always been with me no matter what, the good times, the bad times,” Trump said of Miller. He also praised Kash Patel, a former Pentagon aide who has called for prosecuting journalists if Trump wins a second term.

Trump also called up celebrity guests including mixed martial artist Henry Cejudo, whose name he repeatedly struggled to pronounce but whose hair he complimented, and social media personality Bryce Hall, whom he called “young and handsome.” Of musician Nicky Jam, who is a man, Trump said, “she’s hot.” He also called up the YouTube personalities known as the Nelk Boys, one of whom criticized Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), for taxing Zyn brand nicotine pouches.

Trump attacked Walz with the nickname “Tampon Tim” and falsely accused him of requiring tampons in boys’ bathrooms. Walz signed legislation that provided state-funded sanitary products in public school restrooms. Trump echoed his remarks at Tuesday’s debate by falsely accusing Walz of allowing abortions in the ninth month of pregnancy or even executing children after birth, which is not legal in any state.

He also baselessly accused Democrats of wanting to raze Manhattan and build structures with no windows.

Trump repeatedly ribbed, “We have a lot of time.” But hundreds of fans left within the first 30 minutes, many complaining that he had been late and that the sound quality was poor. Almost all of the standing crowd had left before the end.

Arnsdorf reported from Washington. Cheeseman reported from Las Vegas.