2016 vice presidential debate - live blog
10:35 p.m. ET The first and only vice presidential debate of the 2016 has ended.
10:31 p.m. ET Kaine is asked what he would do to unite Americans if he and Clinton do win the White House. He said that he’s amazed at how many GOP senators “respect” Clinton from her work as first lady and as a U.S. senator from New York.
“She has a track record of working across the aisle to make things happen,” Kaine said, adding that he served as governor of Virginia with a GOP-controlled legislature.
To unify the country, Pence said the best way to bring people together is “through change in Washington, D.C.”
“The potential is there to change the direction of this country, but it’s going to take leadership to do it,” Pence said.
10:29 p.m. ET Kaine asked why Trump said that women should be punished for undergoing abortions. Pence said, “He’s not a polished politician like you and Hillary Clinton.”
Pence said he couldn’t be prouder to stand with Trump because he stands for life.
10:23 p.m. ET Candidates are asked if they’ve ever struggled to balance their personal faith with their governing choices. Kaine said the “hardest struggle” was on the death penalty because the Catholic Church is against the policy and he opposes the policy, but also allowed executions to proceed as governor.
Pence questioned Kaine’s and Clinton’s position on partial birth abortion or the federal funding of abortion.
Kaine said he and Clinton both come from religious backgrounds, but said it’s “not the role of a public servant” to mandate their views on the American public. Kaine said they support Roe v. Wade and they trust American women to make their own choices on the matter. Kaine said that Pence has said he would want to reverse Roe v. Wade.
“I think you should live your moral values, but the last thing the government should do is to punish women who make their choices,” Kaine said.
10:21 p.m. ET Candidates are asked if they would support the U.S. taking preemptive action if U.S. intelligence found that North Korea had plans to launch a nuclear-armed missile capable of reaching the U.S.
“A president should take action to defend the United States against an imminent threat,” Kaine said.
10:17 p.m. ET Pence said that while Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, the Clinton Foundation accepted foreign donations. He brought up an Associated Press report that said many of Clinton’s meetings at the State Department were with foundation donors.
Kaine said the Clinton Foundation is “one of the highest-rated charities in the world.” Clinton “took no action as secretary of state to benefit the foundation,” Kaine said, adding that she acted “in the interest of the United States.”
Kaine said that the Trump Foundation likely has conflicts of interest around the world, which could be revealed if Trump releases his tax returns. Kaine said that the Trump Foundation made an illegal contribution to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s campaign several years ago.
10:09 p.m ET Candidates are asked what steps their running mates would take to respond to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kaine said that the U.S. must be “tough on Russia” which should start with “not praising” Putin as a leader.
“Trump and Pence have said he’s a great leader,” Kaine said.
Pence said he and Trump have never said that. Kaine also said that Trump said a few months ago that he didn’t know Russia had invaded Crimea. Pence called it “nonsense.”
Pence said that Putin would respect a Trump administration because of “strength.”
“America is stronger than Russia,” Pence said.
10:06 p.m. ET Pence said that while he served in Congress, he helped passed tough sanctions against Iran to respond to its nuclear program.
10:02 p.m. ET Kaine said that the report about Trump potentially not paying taxes for up to 18 years includes 2001, during the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Kaine said that while Clinton helped the state of New York rebuild, Trump was fighting a different fight that involved not paying taxes in which Kaine said Trump wouldn’t support efforts against terrorism and wouldn’t support U.S. troops.
9:58 p.m. ET Candidates are asked if the U.S. should be responsible for protecting civilians in Syria. Pence said that the “U.S. needs to exercise strong leadership” and it “begins with rebuilding our military.”
Pence said that the U.S. should “immediately establish safe zones” and work with Arab partners to make that happen. He added that the “provocations by Russia” need to be met with American strength. He argued that the U.S. should deploy a missile defense shield to countries in eastern Europe.
Kaine said that he and Clinton have argued for a humanitarian safe zone as well. He then listed Trump’s campaign’s connections to Ukraine and Russia and mentioned that Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin a better leader than President Obama.
9:51 p.m. ET Candidates are asked how they would prevent homegrown terrorist attacks. Pence said that Trump’s plan begins with “reforming the immigration system.”
“Donald Trump has called for extreme vetting for people coming into this country,” Pence said, adding that the U.S. shouldn’t allow “hostile” people into the country.
Pence said he and Trump are “committed to suspending the Syrian refugee program” and blocking people from other areas of the world “compromised” by terrorism.
Kaine said that it would violate the Constitution to block “people based on their national origin.” Kaine slammed Trump for his proposed plan from last December to block Muslims from entering the U.S. and said that the goal shouldn’t be “based on discriminating against you based on the country you come from or your religion.”
9:49 p.m. ET Pence said that “America is less safe today” as a result of President Obama’s administration, which involved Clinton as secretary of state. He said it’s “absolutely inarguable.” The Obama administration “weakened America’s place in the world,” he said.
Pence added that while he gives Mr. Obama “credit” for bringing bin Laden to “justice,” he said the truth is the “primary threat today” is ISIS, not al Qaeda.
9:46 p.m. ET Candidates are asked if the world is a safer or more dangerous place than it was eight years ago. Kaine said it’s a less dangerous place now that Osama bin Laden is dead and now that an Iranian nuclear deal is in place to roll back its nuclear capabilities.
Kaine said that Clinton is the candidate to take on terrorism, which includes taking out the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and disrupting its recruiting and propaganda online. He then lambasted Trump’s rhetoric including his comments about the physical appearance of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.
9:43 p.m. ET Pence is asked if under a Trump administration, undocumented immigrants would be “forcibly removed.” Pence responded saying that they would first secure the border and “do internal enforcement” and there would be a focus on “criminal aliens.”
Kaine said Pence is trying to “fuzz up about what Donald Trump said” in his major immigration speech in August in Phoenix, Arizona. Kaine claimed that Trump said in the speech, “They will all be gone.”
9:39 p.m. ET Candidates are asked about immigration. Pence defends Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and said that after deporting criminal undocumented immigrants, a Trump administration would deal with the remaining people at that point.
Pence then responded to Kaine’s attacks a few minutes earlier and brought up Clinton’s statement last month when she called Trump’s supporters a “basket of deplorables.” Kaine pointed out that Clinton walked back that comment the next day.
Kaine said that he and Clinton would propose comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship. He said that Trump’s plan is to “kick out 16 million people.” Pence said it’s “nonsense” and he said that the government’s immigration force already exists.
Pence said that Clinton’s plan amounts to “amnesty.”
9:37 p.m. ET Kaine ripped Trump’s attacks on Judge Gonzalo Curiel, John McCain, and his comments about blacks are living in hell.
He said, “If you want to have a society where people are respected” and people respect law enforcement, “You can’t have someone at the top who demeans everyone we talk about.”
9:30 p.m. ET Candidates were asked to address policing in America. Kaine argued that he and Clinton are against an “overly aggressive more militarized model” for law enforcement.
Kaine said that Trump’s suggestion that cities should embrace “stop and frisk” would be a “big mistake” because it “polarizes the relationship between police and the community.”
Pence said he agreed with what Kaine said about community policing, but he slammed Hillary Clinton for suggesting in the first presidential debate that there’s “implicit bias” in everyone across the U.S. Kaine said people shouldn’t be afraid to bring up “implicit bias” when talking about this issue because otherwise it will never get solved.
9:26 p.m. ET The candidates were asked to address how they would reform Social Security. Kaine said that he and Clinton would “protect Social Security” and he vowed to “never, ever engage in a risky scheme to privatize Social Security.” Kaine then pointed out that in Congress, Pence was the “chief cheerleader” of the effort to privatize the entitlement program.
Pence said his plan would mean they would “meet the obligations of our seniors” and meet the obligations of Medicare.
9:22 p.m. ET Pence is asked about whether he thinks it’s fair that Trump said he “brilliantly” used the tax code to pay as little taxes as legally possible.
He immediately deflected the question about The New York Times’ report that said Trump’s 1995 tax returns showed a $916 million loss, which might have allowed him to avoid paying federal income taxes for up to 18 years. Pence began to hit back at Kaine and said their economic plan would mean Americans would have to pay more taxes, and it would lead to an increase in government spending and increasing deficits.
Pence was asked to answer the question again and he said that Trump used “what’s called net operating loss” and argued that the tax code “encourages entrepreneurship.”
Kaine then called on Trump to release his tax returns, but Pence repeated Trump’s argument that he would only release them once the IRS completes its audits.
9:17 p.m. ET Both candidates are asked if they are concerned about their running mates’ economic plans that are predicted to increase the gross national debt even after they were able to balance their state budgets as governors.
Pence argued that he and Trump have a plan to get the economy moving by lowering taxes for working families, ending the “war on coal” and repealing Obamacare and repealing all of President Obama’s executive orders.
Kaine said he and Clinton have a plan that’s a “you’re hired plan” that includes investing in clean energy, investing in the workforce, promoting fairness by raising minimum wage and promoting equal pay for equal work, helping small businesses and imposing a tax plan that asks wealthy people at the top to pay more. Kaine said that Trump’s plan is a “you’re fired” plan.
9:13 p.m. ET Pence was asked why voters thinks Trump is too erratic. Pence then claimed that the Clinton campaign has engaged in an “avalanche of insults” and went after Clinton without addressing the question directly.
Kaine began to interrupt Pence and shot back at his claims and slammed Donald Trump for praising Russia, for example.
Pence argued that Hillary Clinton negotiated the agreement that led to the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, and Kaine said it was decided by President George W. Bush before he left office.
9:11 p.m. ET Kaine is asked why voters should trust Clinton as president. He argued that Hillary Clinton has passion for “serving others” and has had a “special focus on empowering families and kids” in her career. He argued that Clinton puts others first, which stands in “sharp contrast” to Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump always puts himself first,” Kaine said, adding that Trump started his campaign with calling Mexicans rapists and has previously promoted the idea that President Obama was not born in the U.S.
9:07 p.m. ET Kaine said that he has a ton of experience -- he has served as a missionary, a civil rights lawyer, a lieutenant governor and governor as well as senator from Virginia. He said the test of a Clinton administration will not be signing or passing a bill, but “whether we can make someone’s life better.”
“It’s going to be about results,” Kaine said.
Pence said he would bring a “lifetime of experience” including growing up in a small town, serving in Congress and leading his home state of Indiana.
9:05 p.m. ET The debate is beginning now. The first question is about why Kaine and Pence feel they can take on the responsibility for the biggest job in the world in case they ever had to become president.
8:30 p.m. ET Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s running mates, Tim Kaine and Mike Pence, respectively, face off in the first and only vice presidential debate of the 2016 cycle about 30 minutes from now.
CBS News’ Elaine Quijano is moderating the debate, which will take place at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia.
Watch for whether Pence defends GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has had a rough last week since he participated in the first presidential debate against Hillary Clinton. Both presidential nominees will be watching -- Trump says he’s live-tweeting it, while Clinton will be watching from her home in Chappaqua, CBS News’ Hannah Fraser-Chanpong reports. Unlike Trump, she doesn’t plan to live-tweet, although her campaign will almost certainly be tweeting from the @Hillary Clinton account. But if you see an “-H” initialing the post, that’s from Clinton.
Nearly two hours before the debate, the Republican National Committee prematurely declared Pence the winner of the debate in a blog post on its website. The post has been taken down, and the link now leads to an error page.