By The most memorable moments from the Republican presidential debate featured establishment figures like Nikki Haley and Mike Pence sparring with political newcomer Vivek Ramaswamy.
Eight Republican presidential hopefuls stepped onto the debate stage for the first time Wednesday night as they sought to boost their campaigns and batter their rivals.
They sparred early on in the debate over leadership experience, abortion and climate change.
Later on, they split over whether they would support former President Donald Trump as the nominee, if he were convicted of crimes in one of his four cases.
The debate offered them rare chance to massively disrupt a primary cycle that, despite featuring more than a dozen GOP candidates, has often looked more like a two-man race between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Trump refused to participate in the debate, effectively treating his potential nomination as a foregone conclusion.
Instead, the current Republican frontrunner taped an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson that was broadcast on X, formerly Twitter.
Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:
Vivek Ramaswamy said that if he were elected president, he would not support additional aid to Ukraine amid Russia’s war.
Of the eight Republican candidates, Ramaswamy slammed the current administration’s support and dismissed Mike Pence and Chris Christie’s visits to Ukraine.
U.S. support of Ukraine is “disastrous,” he said, and resources going to Kyiv should instead be used domestically.
“This is disastrous, we are protecting against an invasion across somebody else’s border, when we should use those same military resources to prevent the invasion across our southern border here in the United States of America,” Ramaswamy said, adding that the U.S. should pivot its focus on China instead.
The response to his remarks was swift and sharp.
“You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” Nikki Haley shot back.
— Amanda Macias
Trump, who has spent years falsely claiming that the 2020 election was rigged against him, is already floating baseless claims that the 2024 will be stolen from him, too.
Trump was asked by former Fox host Tucker Carlson, “If you’re saying they stole it from you last time, why wouldn’t they do the same this time?”
Trump replied: “Oh, well they’ll try. They’re going to be trying, yeah. And not only me.”
— Kevin Breuninger
Chris Christie just thanked his debate rival, Mike Pence, for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Mike Pence stood for the Constitution, and he deserves not grudging credit, he deserves our thanks as Americans for putting his oath of office and the Constitution of the United States before personal, political and unfair pressure.”
Christie said it was important for the party to move on from Trump.
“The argument that we need to have in this party before we can move on to the issues that Ron talked about, is we have to dispense with the person who said that we need to suspend the Constitution to put forward his political career. Mike Pence said ‘no’ and he deserves credit for it.”
— Emma Kinery
Neither President Joe Biden nor former President Donald Trump is on stage in Milwaukee, but they are both hoping the shots being taken at them during the debate can rake in some campaign cash.
Biden’s joint fundraising committee is running ads on Facebook during the debate, according to the social media giant’s ad archive.
Biden’s Facebook ads have a donation link calling the GOP candidates on the debate stage a “threat to our democracy.”
Since Aug. 15, the Biden Victory Fund has spent over $150,000 on Facebook ads. Over the past month, the same committee has spent north of $1 million on ads.
Former President Donald Trump’s campaign sent out a fundraising pitch during the debate, saying that as long as there are still other GOP candidates in the race, the party is wasting resources that could be spent attacking Biden.
– Brian Schwartz
Nikki Haley said it’s time for the Republican Party to turn the page on Donald Trump.
“Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can’t win an election that way,” Haley said.
She noted that most Americans don’t want a rerun of the 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden.
– Dan Mangan
Candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would support Trump as the GOP nominee if he is convicted of crimes “in a court of law” stemming from his four active criminal cases.
Every candidate except Hutchinson raised his or her hand. Christie, Trump’s top critic on the stage, appeared to wag his finger.
Asked to clarify, Christie said, “No, I’m doing this,” and moved his finger briefly.
— Kevin Breuninger
Christie fumed at the Department of Justice offering Hunter Biden a pre-trial diversion program on a felony gun charge, saying, “In a Christie administration, he would go to jail for 10 years.”
But a ruling on another gun law last year by the Supreme Court, which has a conservative supermajority, has raised the possibility that the charge prosecutors lodged in Hunter’s case may be unconstitutional.
The law in Hunter’s case bars drug addicts from possessing firearms. It has a 10-year maximum prison term, but Hunter, even if convicted of it, would likely get a much lower sentence than that by a federal judge given his lack of a criminal record.
– Dan Mangan
Before throwing to a commercial, Fox showed footage of the outside of the jail in Fulton County, Georgia, where Trump said he will surrender tomorrow on criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Questions on Trump, the absentee frontrunner, are coming up.
— Kevin Breuninger
Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley pushed back against Vivek Ramaswamy after he claimed climate change was a “hoax.”
“We do care about clean air and clean water, and we do want that to be taken care of,” Haley said, adding that climate change is real.
“We need to start telling China and India that they have to lower their emissions,” Haley said.
— Amanda Macias
Asked if he would sign a national six-week ban on abortion, DeSantis didn’t directly answer but said he would “support the cause of life.”
“I’m going to stand on the side of life,” DeSantis said, noting states may decide to do it differently. “I will support the cause of life as governor and as president.”
DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida earlier this year.
— Emma Kinery
Haley pointed to her personal struggle with having children as she defended her “unapologetically pro-life” views on abortion.
But “we need to stop demonizing this issue,” she said.
She called for finding common ground where it might exist, suggesting that policies like a late-term abortion ban have broad appeal.
“Let’s treat this like the — like a respectful issue that it is and humanize the situation and stop demonizing the situation,” she said.
— Kevin Breuninger
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy took a shot at all of the Republicans on the debate stage, saying every candidate was “bought and paid for” by donors and special interests.
“I’m the only person on this stage who isn’t bought and paid for,” Ramaswamy said after the group was asked whether climate change was real.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responded to Ramaswamy in that exchange.
“I’ve had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT,” Christie said to Ramaswamy. He then compared Ramaswamy to former President Barack Obama.
— Brian Schwartz
North Dakota Republican Gov. Doug Burgum addressed his injury on the basketball court leading up to the debate in Milwaukee.
“I think I took it a bit too literally when they said ‘go to Milwaukee and break a leg,'” Burgum told the crowd watching the debate.
Burgum picked up a leg injury while playing basketball with his staff that sent him to an emergency room before the debate.
— Brian Schwartz
Carlson asked Trump twice whether he believes notorious sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein actually killed himself.
Trump demurred twice. “I don’t know. He was a fixture in Palm Beach,” he said the first time.
When asked again, Trump said of Epstein, “Oh sure, it’s possible. I mean, I don’t really believe – I think he probably committed suicide.”
Carlson then asked if Trump is “worried they’re going to try to kill you.”
The former Fox host did not specify who “they” were, but asked: “Why wouldn’t they try to kill you – honestly?”
Trump replied, “They’re savage animals. They’re people that are sick – really sick.”
— Kevin Breuninger
Former Vice President Mike Pence just tussled with Vivek Ramaswamy over the question of experience.
“Now it’s not the time for on-the-job training,” he quipped at the 38-year-old entrepreneur and political neophyte. “We don’t need to bring in a rookie. We don’t need to bring in people with no experience.”
— Christina Wilkie
DeSantis blasted the Trump administration, which included Pence, for “locking down the economy” during Covid and letting top pandemic doctor Anthony Fauci be the point man for the nation’s response.
“As your president, I will never let the deep state bureaucrats lock you down. You don’t take somebody like Fauci and coddle him!” DeSantis said. “You bring Fauci in, you sit him down, and you say ‘Anthony, you are fired.”
— Dan Mangan
Chris Christie touted his records as a two-term governor of New Jersey, saying “I was elected as a conservative Republican in a blue state with 61% of the vote.”
Despite being faced with a Democratic-controlled legislature, “We cut taxes in New Jersey, we cut debt.”
Christie called for cutting spending in Washington, saying “we cannot sit by any longer and allow this kind of spending.”
“It’s robbing our country,” he said.
But Bret Baier pushed Christie, noting that when he was governor New Jersey had the second-worst credit rating of any state in the nation.
“That’s what happens when you inherit a blue state,” Christie answered.
But by the time of Christie’s last year in office, New Jersey had seen nearly a dozen credit downgrades, the most of any governor in U.S. history.
— Dan Mangan
Haley threw some of the first intra-Republican punches of the night, name-checking Trump, DeSantis, Pence and Scott as she decried reckless government spending.
“No one is telling the American people the truth,” Haley said. “Biden didn’t do this to us, our Republicans did this to us, too, when they passed that $2.2 trillion Covid stimulus bill.”
She called for cutting spending and borrowing and eliminating earmarks to address the issue.
“You have Ron DeSantis, you’ve got Tim Scott, you’ve got Mike Pence, they all voted to raise the debt, and Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt and our kids are never going to forgive us for this,” Haley said.
You tell me who are the big spenders? I think it’s time for an accountant in the White House,” she said.
— Kevin Breuninger
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C, came out swinging against President Joe Biden and his administration and what he sees as excessive government spending.
Scott told the crowd in Milwaukee that under Biden “we’ve seen inflation explode” and noted how mortgage rates are up to around 7%.
When pushed by the Fox News hosts that Scott supported spending increases during former President Donald Trump’s administration, Scott insisted that was due to the federal emergency from the Covid-19 pandemic.
— Brian Schwartz
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was the only candidate on the stage to receive boos from the audience in the opening minutes of the debate.
Within the GOP field, Christie stands out as the toughest critic of the frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.
Trump skipped the debate, but he nonetheless cast a long shadow across the stage in Milwaukee.
— Christina Wilkie
Vivek Ramaswamy opened up with the question he said was on everyone’s mind: Who is he and “what the heck is he doing in the middle of this debate stage?”
Ramaswamy introduced himself as an outsider best positioned to lead the Republican Party.
“I do think it’s going to take an outsider. Because for a long time we’ve had professional politicians in the Republican Party who have been running from something, now is our moment to run to something.”
— Emma Kinery
Ron DeSantis said ‘Bidenomics’ isn’t working and it is time for President Joe Biden to go “back to his basement.”
“Our country is in decline. This decline is not inevitable, it’s a choice,” DeSantis said. “We need to send Joe Biden back to his basement and reverse this decline.”
— Emma Kinery
Trump said he skipped the first presidential debate because he did not want to be “harassed” by candidates who are significantly behind him in the polls.
“I’m saying, do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it’s going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president? Should I be doing that?” Trump told Tucker Carlson in a pre-taped interview that went up on X, formerly Twitter, just before the debate began.
Trump also took a shot at Fox News, the network hosting the debate, accusing it of being not “friendly to me.”
“I don’t think it’s right to do it,” Trump told Carlson.
I’m gonna have all these people screaming at me, shouting questions at me, all of which I love answering but it doesn’t make sense to do it,” Trump said. “So, I’ve taken a pass.”
Trump previously signaled on social media that he could skip the Republican National Committee’s other scheduled debates.
— Kevin Breuninger
Nikki Haley is the former governor of South Carolina who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration. Haley resigned in response to Jan. 6 but has continued to be supportive of Trump. She has focused much of her campaign on her foreign policy chops, expressing support for Ukraine and Taiwan.
Haley, 51, became the first person of color to be elected governor in South Carolina when she took office in 2010. She is a graduate of Clemson University.
— Emma Kinery
President Joe Biden said he planned to watch at least some of the Republican debate while vacationing at Lake Tahoe.
“I’m going to try to see — get as much as I can, yes,” Biden told reporters.
Asked if he had any expectations for the event, Biden said “I have none.”
— Emma Kinery
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is widely seen as the most formidable challenger to frontrunner Donald Trump. DeSantis has consistently placed second in national polls of the sprawling GOP primary field. But his campaign has come under mounting pressure as Trump appears to be widening his lead over the governor and has already launched multiple “resets.” The 44-year-old former congressman is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School and a veteran having served in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
DeSantis’s right-wing policies have made him popular in his home state, but some worry stunts like sending migrants to democratic-run cities and his lawsuit against Disney may make him too polarizing for the general election.
— Emma Kinery
The Republican candidates are divided over America’s future role in Ukraine as the war marches into its 600th day.
Some candidates in the Republican field have come to the stout defense of Ukraine, NATO allies and American democracy. Others have called for policies that would pull U.S. involvement and support away from the European continent in order to deal with China’s global rise, North Korean ambition and Iranian aggression.
Nearly all of the candidates have leveled criticism over Ukraine at President Joe Biden.
Read the full story of where the candidates stand on the war in Ukraine.
— Amanda Macias
Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, is an entrepreneur and biotech founder with no prior military or political experience. He studied biology at Harvard University before attending Yale Law School. In 2014, he founded Roivant Science and resigned as CEO in 2021.
Ramaswamy recently suggested “the truth” about the September 11 attacks is still unknown. He initially claimed that he had been misquoted in an article by The Atlantic, however, the publication later released an audio clip of his interview showing that he was quoted accurately.
He has previously said that he opposes U.S. aid to Ukraine by arguing that the conflict on the European continent does not affect American interests. He says the Russia-China axis is by far the top threat to U.S. national security and should therefore pull more focus.
Ramaswamy has also detailed a peace settlement between Kyiv and Moscow that would include Ukraine conceding nearly all of its Donbas region to Russia in exchange for guarantees that Ukraine will not join the NATO alliance.
He recently pitched closing all American military installations located in Eastern Europe in order to appease the Kremlin. Ramaswamy says the U.S. in return should ask Russia to lessen its relationship with China.
— Amanda Macias
Around noon ET on Wednesday, hours before the first Republican debate was set to begin, the Trump campaign declared victory in the spar he isn’t participating in.
“President Trump has already won this evening’s debate because everything is going to be about him,” Trump campaign senior advisor Chris LaCivita said in a statement. “Only President Trump has the policy ideas, the fortitude, and the polling to go head-to-head with Crooked Joe Biden in the general election.”
LaCivita said the number of times Trump’s name was mentioned during the debate would be counted as his speaking time.
“When the other candidates do get a chance to speak, they will be a faint echo, or maybe even a copycat, of President Trump’s Make America Great Again agenda.”
LaCivita closed by saying the event “really shouldn’t even be called a debate” but was more of an audition to be part of Trump’s team.
— Emma Kinery
Candidates needed to meet the threshold set by the Republican National Committee in order to qualify for the debate.
Those benchmarks include at least 40,000 individual campaign donations and meeting the polling qualifications, either 1% in three different national polls, or 1% in two national polls and 1% in another poll from an early state like Iowa.
In order to participate candidates also needed to sign a pledge of support to whomever gets the party’s nomination. Donald Trump, who is the frontrunner in the race, has refused to sign the pledge.
In an interview with Newsmax, Trump was adamant he would not sign the pledge, saying “Why would I sign it? I can name three or four people that I wouldn’t support for president. So right there, there’s a problem.”
— Emma Kinery
The debate will start at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday in Wisconsin, a battleground state, at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.
Fox News is hosting the first GOP presidential debate in the leadup to the primaries, with network hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum at the moderating table. The debate will be available across all platforms operated by the Fox News network, including Fox Business Network, Fox News Digital, Fox’s website, the Fox Nation streaming service as well as Fox News Audio.
— Amanda Macias
