Donald Trump has alleged that ABC News provided Vice President Kamala Harris with the moderators’ questions before the presidential debate, and unfairly fact-checked him on air. Unconfirmed reports have emerged on social media that an ABC whistleblower would soon confirm Trump’s story. ABC News has denied the Trump campaign’s accusations.
Reports of an ABC whistleblower seem to have started in a Black Insurrectionst X post. In it, Black Insurrectionist claims an ABC whistleblower affidavit will confirm that Harris was tipped off in advance, and that her campaign was assured by the network that Trump would be fact-checked, but that she would not be.
The post provides no other information about the purported whistleblower, citing a non-disclosure agreement with their attorney. Black Insurrectionist claims that they’ve seen the affidavit, however, and in their Sept. 12 post, announced they would release the affidavit before “the weekend is out.”
Since then, the whistleblower story spread to Leading Report, a website that has shared confirmed misinformation. ABC News told The Daily Beast, “Harris was not given any questions before the debate.” The debate rules also stated, “No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.”
Trump fanned the flames
Kamala Harris is widely considered to have won the ABC debate. Since then, Trump has claimed he won and said, “Remember, I wasn’t debating one person, I was debating three,” adding, “They should fire everybody at ABC Fake News, whose two lightweight ‘anchors’ have brought disgrace onto the company!” Trump also confirmed there will be no third debate. Meanwhile, false allegations have emerged online that during the debate, Harris wore Bluetooth earrings and was coached. The maker of the Bluetooth earrings denied the allegations.
A former Clinton advisor chimes in
Despite the lack of evidence, Mark Penn, a former Clinton advisor, said ABC News should hire an independent law firm to investigate claims that the Harris campaign and ABC News cheated. Penn told the John Solomon Reports podcast, in part, “I think the day after, suspicion here is really quite high, and I think a review of all their internal texts and emails really should be done.” Several major news outlets, including The New York Times, TIME, and Slate, have lauded the moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis’ performance.
Trump laid the groundwork to doubt the debate outcome before it happened, writing on Truth Social, “Will panelist Donna Brazil give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton?” In 2016, Brazile, former Democratic National Committee chair, admitted she leaked CNN Town Hall questions to Hillary Clinton. Brazile is now an ABC News contributor.
Trump also told Sean Hannity on Fox & Friends that Harris seemed “awfully familiar with the questions.” Trump said ABC News “should be embarrassed” by fact-checking him several times during the debate and, in his view, giving Harris “a free pass.”
For now, we agree with this comment on tech entrepreneur Bill Ackman’s X post, sharing the cheating allegations, “Come on! Even my middle school kid could have predicted the topics: immigration, abortion, the economy, and so on. What wasn’t expected was the debate about eating dogs and cats.” We’ll update this story if Black Insurrectionist’s purported ABC News whistleblower affidavit emerges, or if the supposed whistleblower speaks out.
Published: Sep 13, 2024 02:47 pm