Third 2024 Republican presidential debate

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for recruiting a Chinese fiberglass company to come to her state during her term.

“She welcomed them into South Carolina, gave them land near a military base, wrote the Chinese ambassador a love letter, saying what a great friend they were. That was like their number one way to do economic development,” DeSantis claimed.

“In Florida, I banned China from buying land in the state,” DeSantis claimed. “We kicked the Confucius institutes out of our universities. We've recognized the threat and we've acted swiftly and decisively.”

Haley, not given an opportunity to immediately respond, later attacked DeSantis’ own record through his state's economic development agency.

“Yes, I brought a fiberglass company 10 years ago to South Carolina, but Ron, you are the chair of your Economic Development Agency that as of last week, said Florida is the ideal place for Chinese businesses," she claimed.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he agrees with DeSantis’ attacks on Haley for her previous welcoming of Chinese-based businesses into the US as governor and in her previous role as ambassador to the UN – but went on to criticize DeSantis for his ties to a donor who lobbied on behalf of Chinese investment in the US.

Ramaswamy said DeSantis was “correct” to point out Haley’s previous support Chinese investment, but appeared to refer to reports that DeSantis donor Ken Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund Citadel, lobbied on behalf of China to amend a bill that allowed Chinese nationals to purchase property near military bases in the US. DeSantis denied Ramaswamy’s assertions.

“That’s not true,” DeSantis said in response.

Former President Donald Trump, at his rally not far from where the GOP debate was being held, continued pushing his hard-line immigration proposals and touted the travel ban on Muslim-majority countries he implemented as president.  

Trump promised to implement an expanded travel ban should he be reelected next year as he warns about a potential terrorist attack taking place within the US.

The former president on Wednesday said he would “begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” if elected — a promise that has become a regular part of his campaign stump speech.

He went on to condemn the thousands of people who gathered in Washington, DC, to push President Joe Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Trump even went as far as to say he wanted to deport what he called “resident aliens” who participated in the protests.

The former president has vowed to revoke student visas of those who participate in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses and has said he would send Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to what he described as “pro-jihadist demonstrations.”

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley condemned the uptick in antisemitism on college campuses following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, saying “no person should ever feel in danger like this.”

This analogy was notable given Haley’s experience as the governor of South Carolina. In 2015, Haley signed a law to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol, the culmination of a years-long movement that was reignited by the murders of nine members of a historically black church in Charleston. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he would not send US troops to Ukraine as president. 

“We are not going to send our sons and daughters to Ukraine,” DeSantis said. “I am going to send troops to our southern border.”

On the campaign trail, DeSantis has said he believes another terrorist attack on the United States will be linked to the US southern border. 

DeSantis called Biden’s $105 billion national security package, including $61.4 billion for Ukraine, “a totally ridiculous use of American tax dollars.”

“We need to bring this war to an end. We need the Europeans to step up and do their fair share. And we need to get serious about the top threat that this country faces, which is the Chinese Communist Party,” DeSantis said. 

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie highlighted his experience reaching out to Jewish and Muslim communities in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks when asked on Wednesday about rising threats of Islamophobia in the United States.

Christie, who was appointed to be the US Attorney for New Jersey on September 10, 2001, said he's "the only one on the stage who's actually had experience in dealing with this."

He called the environment in a highly diverse state like New Jersey in the wake of attacks "explosive," and recalled having to send federal agents to respond to threats against Jewish students and synagogues, urging "the same thing should be being done now."

Christie said he also went "from mosque to mosque" in his state, telling members of the Muslim community, "law enforcement is on your side to protect you, regardless of your religion if you are going to comply with the law."

He said his team "stopped any hate crimes that were going on" against Jewish and Muslim Americans in New Jersey, emphasizing that doing so takes "leadership" and work with "both sides."

Making clear his position on the current dynamic in the Middle East, Christie stated, "let us never have a false moral equivalence between Hamas and Hezbollah, and the Jewish people. The Jewish people stand for right and justice, and Hamas and Hezbollah stand for death."

Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy claimed during the GOP debate on Wednesday that “Joe Biden’s son Hunter got a $5 billion bribe from Ukraine.” He claimed that this bribe was the reason the US has sent so much aid to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia last year. 

Facts First: The claim that any member of the Biden family received a bribe is unproven. An FBI informant who relayed the claim to the FBI in 2020 was merely reporting something he said he had been told by a Ukrainian businessman, the chief executive of the energy company where Hunter Biden had served on the board of directors; the informant provided no proof to the FBI, and no proof has publicly emerged in the subsequent years. In addition, there is no evidence that US wartime aid to Ukraine — which has been approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress — has anything to do with the president’s son. 

According to an internal FBI document made public by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa earlier this year over the strong objections of the FBI, the informant told the bureau in 2020 – when Donald Trump was president – that the CEO of Burisma, Mykola Zlochevsky, had claimed in 2016 that he made a $5 million payment to “one Biden” and another $5 million payment to “another Biden.” But the FBI document did not contain any proof for the claim, and the document said the informant was “not able to provide any further opinion as to the veracity” of the claim. 

Republicans have tried to boost the credibility of the allegation by saying it was in an FBI document and that the FBI had viewed the informant as highly credible. But the document merely memorialized the information provided by the informant; it does not demonstrate that the information is true. And Hunter Biden’s former business associate Devon Archer testified to the House Oversight Committee earlier this year that he had not been aware of any such payments to the Bidens; Archer characterized Zlochevsky’s reported claim as an example of the Ukrainian businessman embellishing his influence. 

The five Republican candidates are so far pretty even split in terms of speaking time during the debate. Follow our live graphic to see who’s getting the most and least airtime.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley strongly backed support for Ukraine while rebuking Vivek Ramaswamy's stance against supporting the country's war against Russia.

"Ukraine is not a paragon of democracy," Ramaswamy said.

Haley immediately pushed back.

"I'm telling you [Vladimir Putin] and President [Xi Jinping] are salivating at the thought that someone like that could become president. They would love to see that," she said pointing at Ramaswamy.

Haley then went on to say that the US needs to strengthen its partnerships to fight against countries like Russia, China and Iran.

"America can never be so arrogant to think we don't need friends," she said. "Now is the time to get partnerships."

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy began tonight’s Republican primary debate by sharply attacking the Republican National Committee (RNC) and its chair Ronna McDaniel, as well as criticizing the NBC moderators hosting the debate for previous coverage of former President Donald Trump.

Ramaswamy called the GOP “a party of losers” after Republicans “got trounced” in high-profile elections in Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky on Tuesday. He blamed McDaniel for Republican underperformance dating back to 2018.

Ramaswamy then invited McDaniel, who opened the debate with brief remarks to the audience, to respond to his criticisms, urging her to resign live on-stage at the debate.

The entrepreneur has often distanced himself from the Republican establishment and previously said he’s using the Republican primary process to advance his agenda, which he views as outside the mainstream Republican worldview.

He went on to criticize the RNC for choosing NBC as its broadcast partner, which he labeled as part of the “corrupt media establishment,” and portrayed the network as aligned with Democratic Party views. He said Republican voters and the party would be better served by having right-wing media personalities asking questions.