Curtains, sleeping with teachers: 2024 Republican debate takes strange turns

Two White House hopefuls squabbled over curtains on live television, while a third boasted he had been sleeping with a teacher for the past 38 years who happened to be his wife as a Republican presidential debate took some strange turns.

The seven Republicans on stage at their party's second 2024 presidential primary debate on Wednesday night sought to convince voters they could be a viable alternative to frontrunner Donald Trump, who skipped the televised event.

Instead, the debate often devolved into petty fights and some bizarre comments.

US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina criticised former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley over the purchase of $50,000 curtains at the residence of the US ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

Haley, UN ambassador in Trump's administration, said the curtains had been bought during the previous Obama administration, and told Scott to "do your homework."

Scott responded by asking three times: "Did you send them back?" before the exchange devolved into cacophony with the two candidates, joined by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, talking over one another.

The New York Times in 2018 reported that $52,701 had been spent for "customised and mechanized curtains" for the residence. The article said plans to buy the curtains were made in 2016, before Trump took office.

In another moment, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie used a question about education to mention that Democratic President Joe Biden was "sleeping with a member of the teachers' union" — a reference to his wife Jill Biden, a teacher.

Only Christie answered, saying he would vote off Trump. "He needs to be voted off the island, and he needs to be taken out of this process," Christie said.