Vice presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence kicks off in Utah
WASHINGTON — Although more buttoned-up on the stage than his boss, Vice President Mike Pence nevertheless echoed many of President Donald Trump’s falsehoods Wednesday in the one and only debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
Pence muddied the reality on the pandemic, asserted Trump respects the science on climate change when actually the president mocks it, overstated the threat of voting fraud and misrepresented the Russia investigation in the Salt Lake City debate.
Harris got tangled in tax policy at one point and misleadingly suggested that Trump branded the coronavirus a hoax.
Altogether, the debate wasn’t the madhouse matchup of Trump vs. Joe Biden last week. But there were plenty of distortions. A sampling:
ECONOMY
PENCE: “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
Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she would not take a vaccine recommended by President Trump during a heated debate clash over the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Harris accused Vice President Mike Pence, head of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, of failing to disclose critical information to Americans in the early days of the pandemic. When asked about a poll showing half of Americans would not take a vaccine as soon as it is available, Harris indicated that she was skeptical of Trump’s involvement in the rollout of a potential vaccine.
“If the public health professionals, if Dr. Fauci, if the doctors tell us we should take it, I’ll be the first in line to take it, absolutely,” Harris said. “But if Donald Trump tells us we should take it, I’m not taking it.”
Harris, citing a recent report from Washington Post journalist
By CALVIN WOODWARD, HOPE YEN, JOSH BOAK and ELLEN KNICKMEYER | Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Although more buttoned-up on the stage than his boss, Vice President Mike Pence nevertheless echoed many of President Donald Trump’s falsehoods Wednesday in the one and only debate with Democratic rival Kamala Harris.
Pence muddied the reality on the pandemic, asserted Trump respects the science on climate change when actually the president mocks it, overstated the threat of voting fraud and misrepresented the Russia investigation in the Salt Lake City debate.
Harris got tangled in tax policy at one point and misleadingly suggested that Trump branded the coronavirus a hoax.
Altogether, the debate wasn’t the madhouse matchup of Trump vs. Joe Biden last week. But there were plenty of distortions. A sampling:
ECONOMY
PENCE: “Joe Biden wants to go back to the economic surrender to China, that when we took office, half of our international
Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, California Sen. Kamala Harris, faced off in Salt Lake City Wednesday night for the lone 2020 vice presidential debate.
© Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris arrive for the vice presidential debate in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah, Oct. 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City.
The live, 90-minute debate, moderated by USA Today Washington bureau chief Susan Page, touched on the coronavirus, the economy, climate change, the Supreme Court and more.
Below, ABC News fact checks what both candidates said.
© Eric Baradat/AFP via Getty Images
Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris arrive for the vice presidential debate in Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah, Oct. 7, 2020, in Salt Lake City.
MORE: VP debate updates: Pence vs. Harris and what you need to
Ametros welcomes Nicole Chappelle as Vice President of Settlement Solutions, leading the professional administrator’s strategy for comprehensive and innovative settlement initiatives.
“Nicole’s strong background in workers’ compensation, working with insurers, third-party administrators and other stakeholders in the settlement process, makes her well qualified to support our clients and partners and guide injured individuals through the settlement process,” said Mark Doherty, Executive Vice President of Sales.
Chappelle brings 28 years of experience to this newly created position, most recently as Claims Auditor Claims Central Audit for AmTrust Financial Services. She is a former Assistant Vice President for Gallagher Bassett and has served in litigation management, hearing representation, and claims supervision for several insurance companies. She started her career with Travelers Insurance.
Chappelle earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California in Santa Barbara and her expertise spans workers’ compensation statutes, regulations, and case law.
“Nicole brings a lot
Our VERIFY researchers fact-checked what Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris said during 2020’s first and only vice presidential debate.
Republican Mike Pence and Democrat Kamala Harris faced off in Wednesday’s vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City.
The debate unfolded as President Donald Trump recovers at the White House after testing positive last week for the coronavirus and spending several days in the hospital.
Our VERIFY researchers are working to fact-check the claims and statements both nominees made throughout the evening Refresh this story for updates.
CLAIM: When Joe Biden was vice president, 60 million Americans contracted swine flu.
This is an accurate representation of CDC data, although the time range is not the same. According to the CDC, there were an estimated 60.8 million cases of H1N1 from April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010.
The agency noted the number of cases ranged from 43.3 million
The two candidates for vice president are participated in their only debate of the election on Wednesday night.
The 90-minute debate between Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence covered a variety of topics. We fact checked statements made by both candidates.
Coronavirus
The first topic discussed was the coronavirus pandemic.
Pence lauded President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions on China during the beginning stages of pandemic. Pence said Biden called that order “xenophobic.” Our partners at FactCheck.org say that’s unclear.
On the day Trump imposed the travel restrictions, Biden criticized Trump for his “record of hysteria and xenophobia,” but it is unclear whether Biden was referring to Trump’s travel restrictions, or Trump’s overall qualifications to deal with the epidemic.
Pence also said the Obama administration left the federal stockpile of emergency medicine and supplies empty when Trump took office. FactCheck.org says that claim is false, though some materials were
Mike Pence and Kamala Harris went head to head in the US vice presidential debate on Wednesday, sparring over issues including the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus, taxes and health care.
AFP breaks down some of the main topics from the debate below.
– Coronavirus response –
Harris said US President Donald Trump and Pence knew about the dangers of the coronavirus — which has killed more than 211,000 people in America — in late January, but “covered it up” and “minimized the seriousness of it.”
This is supported by tapes of interviews with Trump conducted by investigative journalist Bob Woodward, such as one from March 19 in which the president said: “I wanted to always play it down,” and “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.”
Pence — who is in charge of the administration’s coronavirus response — countered that, “From
During their first and only debate, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris argued about the administration’s handling of COVID-19, the Supreme Court, the Swine Flu, climate chang and more. CBS News’ fact-checking team evaluated the truth of some of their claims. Here’s what we found.
Statement — Mike Pence: “That Rose Garden event — there’s been 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, were actually tested for coronavirus, and it was an outdoor event, which all of our scientists regularly and routinely advise.”
Claim: Pence says that Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court nomination event was outdoors.
Fact check: Partially true
Details:
Vice President Pence defends Amy Coney Barrett’s
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