Harris puts Trump on defensive in combative debate

(Reuters)

PHILADELPHIA, Sept 10- Democratic candidate Kamala Harris put her Republican rival Donald Trump on the defensive in a combative presidential debate on Tuesday with a stream of attacks on his fitness for office, his support of abortion restrictions and his myriad legal woes.

A former prosecutor, Harris, 59, controlled the debate from the start, getting under her rival’s skin repeatedly and prompting a visibly angry Trump, 78, to deliver a series of falsehood-filled retorts.

At one point, she goaded the former president by saying that people often leave his campaign rallies early “out of exhaustion and boredom.”

Trump, who has been frustrated by the size of Harris’ own crowds, said, “My rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”

He then pivoted to a false claim about immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, that has circulated on social media and was amplified by Trump’s vice presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance.

“They’re eating the dogs!” he said, as Harris laughed in disbelief. “The people that came in, they’re eating the cats! They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

“Talk about extreme,” Harris replied. Her plan had always been to goad Trump into saying things that could become viral social media clips, her advisers said beforehand.

With eight weeks to go before the election, and days until early voting starts in some states, the debate – the only one scheduled – offered a rare opportunity for both candidates to make their case for a television audience of tens of millions of voters.