Following the heated debate on Tuesday between Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, tensions have escalated over the conduct of ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. While many media outlets declared Harris the winner, accusations of moderator bias have stirred controversy, including from a prominent figure within the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., co-founder and co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, publicly criticized the ABC moderators for what he viewed as a breach of protocol. His concerns focused on the moderators’ role in the debate, highlighting what he perceived as favoritism toward Harris during the event.
ABC News’ David Muir and Linsey Davis faced significant backlash online during Tuesday night’s presidential debate for perceived bias against Trump. Critics pointed out various forms of bias, including asking Trump more confrontational “gotcha” questions than those directed at Harris, pressing Trump with follow-up questions while allowing Harris to avoid answering without similar scrutiny, and fact-checking Trump rigorously while letting Harris make unchallenged statements.
“I thought one of the things that really shocked me last night was the way the moderators handled it. We always explain to our moderators, and we’ve done 33 of those, Greta, starting back in 1988, that their job is to be facilitators,” he told host Greta Van Susteren. “They’re not to get involved themselves. It’s different than if you had someone on your show and you asked them a question and they answered it in a different way than they said a month before, you would correct them. But moderators are not supposed to do that. A debate is between the candidates, not a debate between the candidate and the moderators.”
Continuing, he said: “And these moderators, so far as I was concerned, it was the worst performance that I’ve seen. And I’ve — as I said, I’ve done 33 of these things over the years. I don’t know what their thoughts were, but they clearly were oversized, I think, on the way they treated the former President and the way they treated the present Vice President, I think they bent backwards to help her.”
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Donald Trump Jr. criticized fact-checkers for only fact-checking his father but not Harris. “Weird how the hack moderators at @abcnews are only ‘Fact checking’ Trump and allowing Kamala to lie nonstop,” he posted. “The Fake News is the enemy of the people!” City Journal contributor and researcher Christopher Rufo chimed in on X: “These overtly partisan, often misleading ‘fact checks’ are absurd. It’s not journalism. It’s propaganda.”
“Harris just lied about the SCOTUS ruling on immunity,” noted conservative commentator AG. “Zero fact-checks from the moderators after multiple fact-checks against Trump. Really bad look for ABC News.” Sirius XM host Megyn Kelly blasted Muir and Davis, writing: “These moderators are a disgraceful failure and this is one of the most biased, unfair debates I have ever seen. Shame on you @ABC. The pile-on against Trump is so bad and so obvious this will backfire.”
Disclaimer: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.