Former Clinton advisor Mark Penn watched the presidential debate Tuesday between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, and like so many viewers he was appalled by the blatant bias shown by ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. They frequently interrupted Trump and delivered dubious, sometimes incorrect fact-checks on the former president while letting Harris say whatever she wanted, whether it was true or not (plenty of it wasn’t). They did not seem to care that their favoritism toward the Democrat ticket was as clear as a sunny day.
Penn, a former top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton who in more recent years has publicly defended Donald Trump and consulted with him on his 2020 presidential campaign, said ABC needed to investigate what led up to this fiasco:
"I actually think they should do a full internal investigation, hire an outside law firm. I don't know how much of this was planned in advance," Penn told the "John Solomon Reports" podcast.
Someone this biased should not be allowed to moderate a debate. @DavidMuir
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) September 9, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/hXEtaMWwip pic.twitter.com/6KtYfBJhHD
Penn called what transpired a “rigging” of the debate:
"I don't know what they told the Harris campaign. 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 by an independent party to find out to what extent they were planning on, in effect, you know, fact-checking just one candidate and in effect, rigging the outcome of this debate. I think the situation demands nothing less than that," he added.
Penn also appeared on Fox News on Thursday and said the moderators did a "real disservice to the voters of America." Watch (Penn appears at the 2:06 mark):
'Finger On The Scale': Former Clinton Pollster Says ABC Hosts Put Future Debates 'In Jeopardy' pic.twitter.com/B6Yd76433s
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 12, 2024
My reaction is I'm really concerned about what ABC did, when the refs put their finger on the scale, you got to throw out the score of the game.
What would have happened in that debate had they challenged Harris and said, you know, that's not right what you said there about Charlottesville. We don't know how she would have reacted. And then Trump wouldn't have to spend all his time on the [inaudible, sounded like “defensive”].
I think they were did a real disservice to the voters of America when they did that, and they put in jeopardy the institutions of debate.
Shortly after the first debate’s conclusion, Harris called for a second round—it’s up to you whether you think she did that because she felt so good about her performance or because she felt she lost and needed another try—but Trump said on Thursday, no thank you. He posted to Truth Social: “KAMALA SHOULD FOCUS ON WHAT SHE SHOULD HAVE DONE DURING THE LAST ALMOST FOUR YEAR PERIOD. THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!”
Whether or not it was “rigged” we don’t know—there’s been no formal evidence of that (other than Muir and Davis’ shameless performance)—but there is no question is that it’s one of the most disgraceful examples of a corrupt press that we’ve seen.
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I seriously doubt ABC News will do any sort of investigation or self-examination; after all, Kamala is "extraordinary friends" with Dana Walden, a senior Disney executive whose portfolio includes ABC News. No conflict of interest there, right? Reason #2? They simply don’t care if everybody knows they’re biased—their need to push their leftist agenda is more important to them than their professionalism.
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