ABC denies extraordinary allegation about collusion between Kamala Harris and debate moderators after fury from MAGA
ABC News is denying the extraordinary allegations there was collusion between the presidential debate moderators and Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign.
‘Absolutely not,’ an ABC News spokesperson told the Daily Beast. ‘Harris was not given any questions before the debate.’
Former President Donald Trump and his MAGA allies have stoked conspiracy theories that Harris had a leg up in the debate.
Most polling showed that Americans believed Harris had the more commanding performance onstage Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
So on Wednesday, Trump said on Fox & Friends that Harris was ‘awfully familiar’ with the questions being given to her by moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis.
ABC News is denying an extraordinary allegation that Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris had the debate questions ahead of time
Moderators David Muir (left) and Lindsey David (right) irritated former President Donald Trump’s MAGA allies for fact-checking the former president in real-time
On Thursday, a website called Leading Report pushed that an ABC News whistleblower was ‘allegedly’ going to come forward and release an affadavit saying the Harris campaign was given sample questions in advance and ‘assurances’ Trump would be fact-checked in real time, the Beast reported.
A source familiar with the matter told the news site that the ‘assurances’ claim was also untrue.
Muir and Davis did fact-check Trump in real-time, batting down some of his more outrageous claims – including that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating people’s pets and abortions were happening after babies were born.
They also allowed Harris to chime in and say that Trump’s claim that she had met with Russian President Vladimir Putin was untrue.
Trump tried to push that Harris was such a bad negotiator that Putin invaded Ukraine shortly thereafter.
That lop-sided scolding appeared as bias to Trump allies.
‘It was three-on-one. They continued to engage in so-called fact-checking of Donald Trump. They never did that to Kamala Harris,’ Republican Sen. Tom Cotton complained post-debate, according to Politico.
And the ex-president had laid the groundwork ahead of the debate to make unfairness claims.
Trump took issue with ABC News contributor Donna Brazile, who resigned as a CNN contributor in 2016 after Clinton campaign emails published on Wikileaks showed that she had shared a debate question with the Democrat’s campaign.
‘Will panelist Donna Brazile give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton?’ Trump mused last month. ‘Will Kamala’s best friend, who heads up ABC, do likewise. Where is Liddle’ George Slopadopolus hanging out now? Will he be involved.’
The best friend comment likely referred to ABC News’ Dana Walden, the co-chair of Disney, which owns ABC. Walden’s husband Matt has been close friend’s with second gentleman Doug Emhoff for decades.
‘George Slopadopolus,’ is Trump’s nickname for ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, a former Bill Clinton aide.
Stephanopoulos did not moderate Tuesday’s debate.