Image source, EPA

The first – and potentially, only – presidential debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is over. It was an action-packed 90 minutes - here’s what you need to know.

• The two candidates shook hands as the debates began, with Kamala Harris striding across the stage and introducing herself to Trump (this is the first time they have met).
• The debate started with a focus on policy but took a turn when Harris made a pointed remark about Trump’s rallies, saying people left early from boredom and exhaustion. Trump launched into an extended defence of his rally attendance. The moment changed the tone of the debate; both candidates, but especially Trump, were more heated after that.
• Trump attacked Harris on immigration and the border, her flip from opposing fracking to vowing not to ban it, the economy, and inflation. He also questioned why she had not achieved more policy goals as part of the Biden administration.
• Harris blamed the former president for "Trump abortion bans” across the country, and criticised his fitness for office. She blamed Trump for the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and said Trump was “weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy”.

• Immediately after the debate ended, pop superstar Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris in an Instagram post, writing that she saw Harris as a “steady-handed, gifted leader”. She signed the post “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” an apparent dig at Trump’s running mate JD Vance, who used the term during a 2019 interview.

Holly Honderich
US reporter

Abortion rights are back in the spotlight in the US - and the topic led to some of the most heated moments of this presidential debate.

Access to the procedure in the US has been in flux for more than two years, since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and rescinded the constitutional right to abortion.

The June 2022 decision returned control over the procedure to individual states. Access now varies depending on where you live. Some states have enacted total bans, while others protect the procedure throughout pregnancy.

This patchwork map of rights will change again after the November election. Exactly how it changes will depend on who wins.

Harris has promised to "restore" abortion rights federally while Trump has said recently he will leave the issue to states. Some states are also voting in referendums specifically on abortion.

Read more about where abortions are illegal in the US at this link.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the debate in Philadelphia

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC News

The spin room is slowly clearing out, and is now mostly populated by haggard, tired looking reporters.

One of the few lawmakers still in the room is Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, with whom I just spent a few minutes speaking in the corner of the the room alongside a handful of other reporters.

The debate, he told us, was a "disastrous meltdown" for former President Trump.

"Pay attention to Donald Trump's social media feed tonight," Murphy said. "It will probably be a raging dumpster fire. Tomorrow will be another series of online meltdowns. He lost."

Murphy also told us he was excited by the news that Taylor Swift endorsed Harris. He's a fan.

"That builds on the momentum," he said. "I was an original Kamala Harris supporter. And I'm a Swiftie."

Did Donald Trump say there will be a ‘bloodbath’ if he loses the election?published at 05:15 British Summer Time 11 September

05:15 BST 11 September

During the debate, Kamala Harris talked about the attack on the Capitol building on 6 January 2021 and claimed: “Donald Trump, the candidate, has said, in this election, there will be a bloodbath if […] the outcome of this election is not to his liking.”

Trump has mentioned the term “bloodbath” in relation to the election before, but in a different context - when he was talking about trade.

In a speech in March this year, Trump said: “We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars, if I get elected."

“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath, for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars,” he added.

John Sudworth
North America Correspondent Reporting from Michigan

Kimberley Clark has been an auto worker in Michigan for 13 years, working in a plant making Dodge pickup trucks.

She's a rare undecided voter at this union watch party, and exactly the kind of voter, in this crucial swing state, that both candidates were targeting with their messaging tonight.

After the debate, Kimberley told me she listened with a genuine open mind.

She said she'd got to know Harris a little better and was impressed with a number of her positions including on reproductive rights.

And on Trump, she was decidedly "not impressed". She wouldn't be voting for him, she said.

Was Trump unemployment rate worst since 1930s?published at 04:58 British Summer Time 11 September

04:58 BST 11 September

In a heated exchange over the economy, Kamala Harris said: “Donald Trump left us the worst unemployment since the Great Depression”.

This is false. At the end of Trump’s term of office in January 2021, the unemployment rate was 6.4%.

It has certainly reached higher levels in the years since the Great Depression, when it peaked at 24.9% in 1933.

In October 2009, unemployment peaked at 10% in a period of deep economic recession.

It has steadily fallen since then, apart from a sharp peak during the Covid pandemic, and in the most recent data for August 2024, unemployment stood at 4.2%.

Image source, Reuters

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in Philadelphia tonight as the debate got underway.

They waved Palestinian flags and held signs with slogans such as, "No arms embargo, no vote!"

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the protest was mostly peaceful, but tensions rose into the night as the debate progressed.

A journalist reported, external that a protester wearing a horned hat was detained by police after lighting a flare.

The Philadelphia police department has not yet responded to our request for comment.

The Harris campaign is clearly pleased with their candidate's performance, and are calling for a second debate to take place between Trump and Harris.

Harris-Walz campaign spokeswoman Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement that the proposed debate should take place in October.

"Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?” she wrote.

There are no other debates scheduled to take place between Trump and Harris before the election on 5 November.

But on 1 October, vice-presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz will face off in New York City for a debate on CBS News.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Philadelphia

South Carolina Senator - and former Republican presidential candidate hopeful - Tim Scott entered the spin room and quickly declared the debate a victory for Donald Trump.

"Donald Trump is in the driver seat," he told reporters. That, he said, was "good news" for the American people.

The Senator reacted angrily when asked about Trump's election denialism, cutting reporters off as he walked away.

Suranjana Tewari
Asia business reporter

Investors in Asia have been watching the US debate closely. The markets don’t seem to be reacting to anything that was said, but the number of references to tariffs has piqued interest.

Harris attacked Trump's plan to impose high tariffs on foreign goods - which she says are being passed onto the customer.

Trump rejected that, adding that he made a lot of money from them for the government.

He also pointed out that the Biden administration decided to keep them.

That’s not wrong – President Biden has imposed restrictions on everything from semiconductors to electric vehicles. He has tried to prevent a flood of cheap Chinese goods which he says put US companies at a disadvantage, and costs the country jobs.

The Chinese government is concerned about losing a key market for its goods and there's been a lot of talk of retaliatory measures, deepening the trade war.

Rebecca Hartmann
Reporting from the spin room

Here in the spin room I've been listening to some key Democrats.

Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro said Harris "made clear she had a plan to move America forward and Donald Trump made clear he had a plan to take us back - more chaos, less jobs, less freedom - that was Donald Trump's plan. I though Kamala Harris prosecuted the heck out of the case and had a great night".

Governor of California Gavin Newsom said he thought "you had Donald Trump defensive the entire night talking about dogs and crowd sizes, easily triggered. It was a humiliating night for Donald Trump. It was a spectacular night for democracy, freedom, for the rule of law and for Kamala Harris".

Donald Trump is mobbed by reporters as he comes into the spin room after the debate.

He says the moderator were "very unfair" to him.

Harris "wants a second debate because she lost very badly... we will think about that," Trump tells reporters in the room.

"I say the truth if I lose votes or gain votes... this was my best debate. She was very weak on foreign policy she was very weak on the border."

Trump also mentions he had not yet heard the news about Taylor Swift endorsing his opponent.

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC

Image source, Indrani Basu / BBC

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the debate in Philadelphia

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC

Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, entered the spin room after the debate ended.

He was quickly swamped by dozens of reporters eager to get his assessment of the debate.

In Vance's view, Harris made "many mistakes" during the debate, namely a failure to explain why she didn't achieve any of her policy goals while vice-president.

"The American people are smart enough to see right through it," he said. "There was no real substance."

"If Kamala Harris wants to fix these problems, she should do it right now, not ask for a promotion," he added.

Much of the questioning of Vance, however, focused on claims made by both him and Donald Trump that migrants have eaten cats and dogs in American communities.

"Nobody has spread false claims," Vance said.

It was a tense atmosphere. At one point, Vance snapped at a reporter, asking her "do you want me to finish the question?"

While authorities in Springfield, Ohio have said no evidence of cats being eaten has been found, Vance continued to insist that it's a possibility.

"The problem is really that a small town in Ohio has been plagued by too many thousands of migrants," he claimed.

More now on Taylor Swift's endorsement of Kamala Harris. Her Instagram post has clocked up about 1.5million likes in the past 15 minutes.

Swift said in her post that she watched the debate, because "as a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country".

She says that she had recently been made aware of Trump's social media posts, which used fake AI images which claimed that she had endorsed him.

"It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter."

She said it made her decide it was time to tell the "truth" about her decision to back Harris.

Swift went on to praise Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, "who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades".

"I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make."

In a dig at comments made by Trump's running mate about single women who own cats, she signed her post:

"With love and hope,

Taylor SwiftChildless Cat Lady"

Pop superstar Taylor Swift has just endorsed, external Harris for president, writing in a post to her 283m Instagram followers "I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election".

"I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos."

She signed the post "Childless Cat Lady", a reference to comments made by JD Vance.

Is crime down in Venezuela because it sent criminals to the US?published at 04:10 British Summer Time 11 September

04:10 BST 11 September

In the debate, Trump claimed: “Crime in Venezuela… is way down because they have taken their criminals off the streets and given them to her [Harris] to put into our country”.

Although violent crime is down in Venezuela, there is no evidence this is because the country has been systematically sending criminals to the US.

The Venezuelan government does not publish reliable crime figures, but the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence does.

The Observatory’s 2023 annual report, external said that violent deaths that year – such as homicides – were down by a quarter compared to 2022.

But the Observatory told BBC Verify that "crime is reduced in Venezuela by a reduction in crime opportunities” and said it had seen no evidence that the Venezuelan government was sending criminals to the US.

Indrani Basu
Reporting from the debate in Philadelphia

Image source, Indrani Basu / BBC

Campaign surrogates from both sides are filtering into the spin room in Philadelphia now.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton says it was a "three against one" debate, accusing the moderators of joining forces with Kamala Harris to gang up on Donald Trump.

"She has no plans to do anything," Cotton told reporters just now.

"She refused to take a position on whether abortion should be regulated in the seventh, eighth and ninth months. That's because she has a radical left position."

Both vice presidential candidates just appeared on ABC News after the debate.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who's running with Harris, said she was “confident” and has “vision" while Trump “reminds you of an old man yelling at the clouds".

Ohio Senator JD Vance, who is Trump's running mate, said Harris is echoing "platitudes".

Both candidates were pressed to elaborate on their nominee's position on abortion restrictions.

Walz said Harris supports the standards set out by the US Supreme Court decision Roe v Wade, which gave women the constitutional right to abortion up to the point of foetal viability, which is approximately 23 weeks. The Supreme Court overturned its 50-year-old Roe v Wade decision in 2022.

Vance said that Trump would not sign a national abortion ban and finds the question "ridiculous" because they did not believe such legislation could pass Congress and make it to the president's desk.