Edited by Phil McCausland

Trump and Harris at 9/11 memorial morning after debate

published at 14:10 British Summer Time14:10 BST

Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden have arrived at the 9/11 memorial in Manhattan ahead of ceremony that will commemorate one of America’s greatest tragedies.Donald Trump arrived at the same memorial with his running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio just moments before.Stick with us as we bring you more about the two presidential contenders, who seeing each other for the first time after a fiery debate in Philadelphia.

US news organisations agree Harris did better than Trump

published at 13:55 British Summer Time13:55 BST

Coverage of the debate by news organizations across the political spectrum appeared to come to the same conclusion on who won, Kamala Harris, though some conservative outlets criticised the moderators for fact checking.The conservative-leaning Wall Street Journal published articles and commentary pieces from multiple opinion writers, external that called the debate for Harris. Trump “threw away his chance to deliver some knock-out blows”, one commentator wrote.Opinion pieces in the New York Post, another conservative publication, say Harris rattled Trump and appeared well prepared, external, but it criticised her policy shifts and the moderators for “targeting far more tough questions at Trump than Harris”.Fox News bluntly declared Harris “won” the debate, external but also said she had help from moderators.The liberal-leaning MSNBC framed the debate as one in which Harris “brushed off” Trump’s attacks while pushing the former president’s buttons, causing him to be on the back foot.The New York Times and The Washington Post also noted Harris’s attacks and her ability to put Trump on the defense. A Times opinion piece says the former president “made a raving, rambling fool of himself, external“.The Post’s opinion writers said Harris did a good job and may have persuaded voters despite coming off as “scripted” to some watching.

Was it Trump’s ‘best debate’? Here’s what a young Republican had to say

published at 13:32 British Summer Time13:32 BST

Jack Gray
BBC NewsbeatDonald Trump said last night was his “best debate” – do his supporters agree?“I think he did very well,” says Patrick Burland from the New Haven Young Republicans, stopping short of calling it the former president’s best.“Some of his 2016 debates were even better,” the Connecticut native adds.Even if it wasn’t the Republican nominee’s number one performance, Patrick tells BBC Newsbeat that his candidate still came out on top and “skewered” Kamala Harris.Patrick agrees with Trump’s claims that moderators were against him, arguing there’s a “liberal” bias in the media.He says it doesn’t mean the media is always wrong, but the moderators “definitely followed up and would try and pin [Trump] down… They gave Harris a lot more leeway.”His final verdict?“I think this will be a very close election but Trump will get it over the line.”

Harris and Trump to attend same 9/11 ceremony – morning after debate

published at 13:05 British Summer Time13:05 BSTImage source,Getty ImagesKamala Harris and Donald Trump had never met in person or directly spoken to each other before Tuesday’s debate.On Wednesday, though, there is a chance they may cross paths again – and in consecutive days.Today marks the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, when 2,996 people died on 11 September 2001. It’s typically a day when presidential campaigning gives way to remembrances of the deadliest attack on American soil.Both presidential candidates are planning to attend the traditional memorial service that begins at 08:30 local time (13:30 BST) in New York City’s Memorial Plaza at ground zero.Also attending the day’s activities are Harris’s boss, President Joe Biden, and Trump’s running mate, JD Vance.Harris and Biden are then expected to travel to Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where Flight 93 crashed.Harris’s vice-presidential pick, Tim Walz, will meanwhile attend a 9/11 commemoration in his home state of Minnesota, where he currently serves as governor.

Trump responds to Taylor Swift’s Harris endorsement

published at 12:57 British Summer Time12:57 BST

Fox News is first to ask Donald Trump about the news that dropped immediately after the debate – a Kamala Harris endorsement by pop culture icon Taylor Swift.The former president says he is not a Swift fan and “it was just a question of time”.”She couldn’t possibly endorse Biden,” he went on. “But she’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat, and she’ll probably pay a price for it in the marketplace.”Trump also needles the singer by referencing her close friend Brittany Mahomes, the wife of Super Bowl champion quarterback Patrick Mahomes. She has ignited backlash in recent weeks by appearing to show support for Trump and Republican policies.”I actually like Mrs Mahomes much better if you want to know the truth,” Trump quipped. “She’s a big Trump fan.”

Trump appears reluctant to participate in another debate

published at 12:34 British Summer Time12:34 BST

While speaking to Fox News, Trump did not seem enthusiastic about participating in another debate after sharing a stage with Harris on Tuesday.He aired numerous grievances about how the event was moderated by ABC News. And he even seemed opposed to the invitation from Fox – a network he had pushed to host during debate negotiations with the Harris campaign – when asked about three potential dates.”Well, I’d be less inclined to because we had a great night. We won the debate,” he said.For its part, the Harris campaign said in the aftermath of Tuesday’s debate that it would be eager for its candidate to face Trump again.Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said the debate showed voters their choice in November. The options were “between moving forward with Kamala Harris, or going backwards with Trump”, she said.”That’s what they saw tonight and what they should see at a second debate in October. Vice-President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”

Trump defends ‘great’ debate performance

published at 12:24 British Summer Time12:24 BST

Donald Trump had just phoned into Fox News to defend his performance in last night’s debate.

“I think we did great,” he said.

The Republican nominee went on to attack the ABC moderators who presided over the debate and fact checked multiple claims, which he said amounted to a “three-on-one”.”When you look at the fact they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” he said.Trump then falsely claimed “every single poll last night had me winning like 90-10”.63% of registered voters said Harris was the better performer while 37% went with Trump, according to a CNN/SSR poll, external of 600 voters conducted after the debate.

Was the Kremlin watching? Here’s what they had to say about the debate

published at 12:03 British Summer Time12:03 BST

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editorIt was 04:00 (02:00 BST) in Moscow when Donald Trump and Kamala Harris began their debate in Philadelphia.Was the Kremlin watching?“We didn’t have the opportunity to watch live,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC. “But this morning we saw the news reports about what was said.”“We noted that both candidates mentioned President Putin and our country. The USA retains a negative, unfriendly attitude towards Russia. Putin’s name is used as one of the instruments for the internal battle in the US. We don’t like this and hope they will keep our president’s name out of this.”

A fierce debate that appears to have left Trump rattled

published at 11:42 British Summer Time11:42 BST

Phil McCausland
Reporting from New York

Hello from the US, where Americans are waking up after a fierce evening presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.Many expected Tuesday’s event to serve as Vice-President Harris’s introduction to American voters, and the Trump campaign promised the former president would use his time on stage to define his opponent as out-of-touch and extreme – particularly on issues like immigration and the economy.But Harris was regularly able to bait and trap him on his past policies and rhetoric in a way that seemed to fluster and rattle the former president.Early reviews of the pair’s debate performance suggests that voters found Harris did a better job than Trump, but both sides will continue to attempt to spin the evening to aid their own political narratives.Stick with us, and we will bring you the latest.

What do the polls say about who won the debate?

published at 11:28 British Summer Time11:28 BST

Mike Hills
Visual Journalist

We will have to wait a few days until the bigger national and state-level polls reflect any changes in the electoral mood following this debate, but we did get one limited snap poll immediately after.In a CNN/SSRS poll, external of 600 registered voters who watched the debate, 63% said Harris was the better performer while 37% went with Trump. Prior to the debate, the same voters were evenly split on who they thought would perform best.That does not necessarily translate to votes though – only 4% said the debate changed their minds about who they might vote for.We’ll be tracking the polls every day as we approach the election here.

Trump repeats baseless claims about immigrants and voter fraud

published at 11:12 British Summer Time11:12 BST

Mike Wendling
US reporter

Last night Donald Trump once again repeated his unsubstantiated claim that he would have won the 2020 election, were it not for “cheating” from the other side.After moderator David Muir suggested that Trump may have recently accepted his defeat when he said on a podcast that he lost by “a whisker”, the former president insisted his comments were made in jest.He then launched into his standard attack on the US electoral system.“Our elections are bad, and a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote,” he said.“They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in, practically. And these people (Democrats) are trying to get them to vote.”Immigrants who haven’t obtained US citizenship aren’t allowed to vote in presidential elections – breaking the law is punishable by up to a year in prison and deportation.And while there are definitely scattered cases of vote fraud, there’s no evidence that immigrants to the US vote in any noticeable numbers.But the idea of “rigged” elections has become a core part of Trump’s appeal to his fervent base. No doubt he’ll keep repeating these falsehoods as the election approaches.

Beijing thinks little will change – whoever is in the White House

published at 11:03 British Summer Time11:03 BST

Laura Bicker
China correspondent, reporting from BeijingImage source,ReutersImage caption,File image of Former President Trump and President Xi in 2019

Kamala Harris was an unknown quantity to leaders in Beijing. She still is – even after the debate.She represents something China does not like – uncertainty. That is why President Xi used a recent visit by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to call for “stability” between the superpowers – perhaps a message to the current vice-president rather than President Joe Biden.The prevailing view among Chinese academics is that she will not stray too far from Biden’s slow and steady diplomatic approach.Instead of clarifying if this will indeed be the case, she went on the attack and accused Donald Trump of “selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernize their military,” during his time as president.She also said he “invited trade wars”. China would agree with this, but it will also be asking itself, does this line of attack suggest she will not do the same?Donald Trump has made it clear he plans has to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese goods. China retaliated and numerous studies suggest this caused economic pain for both sides.Beijing believes Washington’s trade tariffs are a way of containing China and ministers bristle with contempt at any attempt to curb the country’s rise as a global economic power.For Chinese leaders, this debate will have done little to assuage beliefs that Trump represents something else they don’t like – unpredictability.But in truth, there is little hope here that US policy on China will change significantly – no matter who sits in the White House.

Fact checking claims made in the debate

published at 10:49 British Summer Time10:49 BSTAs with many debates, claims (and counter claims) were flying around thick and fast over the 90 minutes.

The team at BBC Verify have been putting some to the test, and here’s what they found:Trump claim: “In Springfield, they’re [immigrants] eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats”.

• Verdict: Springfield city officials told BBC Verify: “There have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

• Verdict: This is false, at the end of Trump’s term of office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.4%. But it has been higher since the Great Depression, for example when it peaked at 10% in 2009.

• Verdict: This is false. Under President Biden, inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, at a time when prices were rising sharply in many countries. Inflation was last above 9% in 1981, but it has been significantly higher than that at several other points in US history.

• Verdict: This is misleading. Trump has denied that he would sign a national ban if elected.He has said that he would leave limits on abortion access up to individual states to decide.

Undecided voters on how the debate influenced them

published at 10:31 British Summer Time10:31 BSTWe can bring you some more perspectives now from some undecided voters who have been speaking to BBC News.William Hoekzema, 31, from Ohio, said Donald Trump was “all over the place” and he is leaning towards Kamala Harris after the debate.”He was lured into a lot of questions that he should have answered perfectly like immigration and abortion, but he was caught off guard with statements about crowd size, which was really revealing,” he said.The debate was an “audition for Kamala Harris”, according to Rohan Vijayan, from the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania.He’s still undecided, but leaning 51% towards Harris following the debate, although he was “looking for her to be a little more personable, a little more natural”.Tracy Murdock, 65, from South Carolina remains undecided, but said both candidates “spoke fairly well”.”I was rather pleased with some of what she [Harris] had to say and actually what ex-President Trump had to say, but I get a very shifty vibe from him,” she said.

• You can dig deeper into our voter panel here

Debate analysis from Americast

published at 10:13 British Summer Time10:13 BST

Americast’s Justin Webb, Sarah Smith, Marianna Spring and Anthony Zurcher have just convened for immediate post-debate analysis on their BBC podcast.”A historic night” says Sarah Smith, North America editor, kicking off the pod.Sarah and Anthony brought fresh takes right from the heart of the spin room, moments after Donald Trump came into the room.And Justin and Marianna reacted from across the Pond (they were recording when the Taylor Swift news broke).”Breaking news, Taylor has endorsed Harris,” says Marianna Spring, disinformation and social media correspondent.If you want analysis on the debate, Americast is a great thing to listen to.Listen on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.Image source,.

What does Russia make of the US presidential debate?

published at 09:57 British Summer Time09:57 BST

Steve Rosenberg
BBC Russia editorImage source,Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via ReutersImage caption,File image of Putin and Trump in 2019

Kamala Harris told Donald Trump that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “a dictator who would eat you for lunch.”The expression ‘to eat someone for lunch’ (or breakfast, or any other meal) doesn’t exist in Russian. But one thing you will find in Moscow is the appetite for a US election result that benefits Russia.The Kremlin will have noted (with pleasure) that in the debate Trump sidestepped the question about whether he wants Ukraine to win the war.“I want the war to stop,” replied Trump.By contrast, Harris spoke of Ukraine’s “righteous defence” and claimed that Putin has “his eyes on the rest of Europe.”In public comments, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova played down the importance of the debate.“It’s like two famous boxers fighting it out on the Titanic,” Ms Zakharova told Sputnik radio.“At the end of the fight people ask ‘who won?’ But does it matter? This is the Titanic. In 15 minutes, they’ll hit the iceberg.”Last week, Putin claimed he was backing Harris in the election and praised her “infectious laugh.”Later a Russian state TV anchor noted that the Kremlin leader was being “slightly ironic” – cast doubt on whether the US vice-president was a serious politician and suggested she’d be better off hosting a TV cooking show.Might such a show feature “dictators” eating US presidential candidates “for lunch…”?

Trump performed ‘better than you’ll hear from political analysts’

published at 09:38 British Summer Time09:38 BST

Former President Donald Trump’s performance at the debate was “better than you’ll hear from the vast majority of political analysts across the world”, his former political adviser says.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sam Nunberg, who was part of the Trump 2016 campaign team, says the former president had a “very strong line” when questioning Vice-President Kamala Harris on her shifts in policy.He says, however, that Trump wasn’t as “energetic” as he was in previous debates and took “the bait” from Harris on several occasions.Nunberg says Trump “wasted valuable time” defending accusations about issues that were “not important for the debate” – such as Harris’s comments on the size and engagement of crowds at his rallies.“I was also quite surprised“, Nunberg adds, ”that not only did he just defend himself against her swipes, but he really didn’t get into the dirt with her”.

Does Taylor Swift’s endorsement swing the social media battle?

published at 09:11 British Summer Time09:11 BST

Marianna Spring
Disinformation and social media correspondentWhat does Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris to her 283 million Instagram followers mean for how the election plays out on social media?

The online world is a key battleground for both campaigns. Posts from the campaigns are starting to dominate some social media feeds – but what’s happening online is also feeding into what’s happening in the campaigns.I’ve been hanging out with some of the people involved in the Swifties for Harris campaign – who mobilised weeks before Swfit’s endorsement. Messaging them straight after her Instagram post was shared, they were very excited.The online army of her supporters has a reputation for being effective at pushing particular messages online. They also have a reputation for being devoted to Taylor Swift – and ferocious to those they see as her enemies.This online fandom could be a useful tool for the Harris campaign – especially when it comes to going head-to-head with Donald Trump’s already very active base of supporters online, which operates a bit like a fandom too.More broadly, it puts the election on the radar of younger less engaged voters. The memes and montages from supporters online can feel more authentic than paid adverts, which could also be useful in convincing undecided voters.But there’s a question over whether any of this would attract voters from the opposite team – and there’s a risk too that big stars turn off some people who feel like they’re a bit out of touch with their lives.You can listen to more analysis on BBC Sounds

Harris laid out a ‘very positive vision for the country’

published at 08:59 British Summer Time08:59 BSTImage source,Reuters

A Democratic Party congressman says their candidate laid out a “very positive, optimistic vision for the country” during the debate.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Texas Representative Joaquin Castro says Vice-President Kamala Harris showed she wants to “bring Americans together”, whereas Republican former President Donald Trump has done “everything he can to pull people apart”.When asked about Harris evading questions on her shifts in policy, the congressman says she stuck to her record as vice-president.“I don’t think there’s anyone in American politics who’s flip-flopped their position more than Donald Trump”, he adds.As for Harris’s admission that she has owned a gun, Castro says this is not new – and other Democrats also own guns for self-defence. He says it is not true that his party want to take away guns from Americans.

Debate brings some undecided voters closer to a decision

published at 08:46 British Summer Time08:46 BSTWe’ll be bringing you more expert analysis of the debate in the coming hours, but let’s turn for a moment to what some undecided voters made of it all.Vanessa Pierce, 33, from Wisconsin, was leaning towards Donald Trump before the debate and still feels that way, although she is now “less fearful” if Harris wins.”I do not want to vote for Trump, but I do not like this current administration,” she said.Jeremy Peterson, 26, from Utah, didn’t vote for the Democrats at the last two elections, but says Harris has his support following the debate.”Tonight was the first night where genuinely I would say I felt… scared at the prospect of a second Trump presidency,” he said.But for some voters, like Chance Phillips from Arkansas, the debate didn’t shift the dial either way. He wanted to hear more policy discussion, rather than personal attacks.