Former Top Clinton Adviser Calls on ABC to Launch Internal Probe into Whether Debate Was Rigged

Mark Penn, a former top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, called Thursday for ABC to launch a formal internal investigation into its news division’s planning and execution of this week’s presidential debate to determine if there was some effort at “rigging the outcome of this debate.”

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‘Don’t Know What She Is For’: Undecided Voters Unimpressed by Harris After Debate Performance

Kamala Harris

Several undecided voters said they are leaning toward voting for President Donald Trump after Tuesday night’s debate, Reuters reported.

Reuters interviewed 10 undecided voters following Tuesday’s debate, with six claiming to be leaning toward or voting for Trump and three claiming they would support Vice President Kamala Harris. Those who switched toward Trump cited the state of the economy in their decision, while four of the six said Harris’ performance at the debate did not show she has different policies than President Joe Biden.

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Trump Says ABC’s License Should Be Yanked over Debate Moderators’ Performance

Debate Moderators

Republican nominee Donald Trump said on Wednesday that ABC’s license should be revoked over their alleged bias toward Vice President Kamala Harris at the presidential debate.

Trump told the co-hosts of “Fox & Friends” that ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis were “dishonest” for not correcting Harris’s false statements about the Charlottesville riot in 2017, his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. The former president said the ABC moderators unfairly fact-checked him while allowing Harris to state false and misleading claims.

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Commentary: A Viewer’s Guide to Harris vs. Trump Debate

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will soon meet in a high stakes nationally televised debate, perhaps the only one of this campaign.

In previous elections – 1960, 1976, 1980, 2000, and 2020 come immediately to mind – the election contests were heavily influenced by such encounters. This year, for sure, it is “high risk, high reward.” With an election so close, we believe this debate will be important – maybe even decisive – in determining the winner.

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Trump Announces Agreement on ABC Debate Rules

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday revealed that he agreed to debate rules from ABC News ahead of his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris next month. The debate will take place on Sept. 10, in Philadelphia. It will be moderated by ABC News’ “World News Tonight” anchor and managing editor David Muir and ABC News Live “Prime” anchor Linsey Davis and will be the first debate between Trump and Harris. The first presidential debate in May was between Trump and President Joe Biden.

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‘Not Coherent’: Jake Tapper Unloads on Biden for ‘Failed’ Post-Debate Press Appearances

Jake Tapper

CNN host Jake Tapper began his Monday show by railing against President Joe Biden for his widely-panned press appearances following a disastrous debate performance.

Since his late June debate with former President Donald Trump, Biden has appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” two black radio shows and participated in an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. Tapper, on “The Lead With Jake Tapper,” argued that these appearances have not been reassuring to voters after the concerning debate.

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Commentary: Stephanopoulos, Biden, and the Lord Almighty

ABC News' Stephanopoulos interviews President Joe Biden

George Stephanopoulos’ interview of President Biden was painful to watch — unless, probably, you’re Donald Trump. Even partisan Trump supporters could feel sorry for the president — though that would be a mistake: if you were in Biden’s shoes, he would not feel sorry for you.

At least some people were not sure Stephanopoulos would ask, and then press, hard questions. He did. But there was no real reason to suppose he would let Biden off lightly: he surely wants the Democrats to win the election as much as any other partisan Democrat, and letting Biden remain the party’s candidate is — now, clearly — not in their best interest.

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Commentary: The Most Disastrous Debate Performance in U.S. History

Joe Biden Debate

It started with a “Hello, Cleveland” moment. Joe Biden gingerly shuffling to the podium and saying in a husky whisper “Great to be here, thank you” to an empty room foreshadowed.

The 90 minutes that followed showcased a candidate struggling to articulate coherent thoughts in complete sentences and occasionally suffering brain freezes.

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Commentary: The Presidential Debate Should Expose a Fragile Biden

Joe Biden

While sometimes it is unavoidable, lawyers do everything they can not to become witnesses in their own cases. Such a contingency may require new counsel, adding to client expense. It also leads to some real ethical minefields. While as a witness they are obliged to tell the truth, they are also bound as lawyers by their duties of confidentiality and zealous advocacy for their clients, creating conflicts between these competing obligations.

Journalists, too, used to have certain ethical restrictions, some formal and some that arose as part of the culture. One of those restrictions is similar to that facing lawyers: journalists are not supposed to “become the story.” Journalists should be neutral conduits through which the facts are presented.

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Trump’s Debate with Biden on CNN May Backfire, Ohio’s Zawistowski Warns

Joe Biden Donald Trump

Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, believes former President Donald Trump made a mistake in agreeing to a CNN debate against President Joe Biden.

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CNN’s Jake Tapper Trashed Trump for Years, Now He’s Moderating Presidential Debate

Jake Tapper

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.

The role is typically meant to be that of a neutral custodian of the conversation between the participants, though Tapper’s long history of harshly criticizing Trump while on the air raises questions about his ability to remain even-handed.

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Commentary: Take GOP Debates Away from the Mainstream Media

Tucker Carlson reportedly wants to host his own GOP presidential debate. The idea struck a chord with many people. It would be must-see TV for the most popular commentator on the Right to grill presidential hopefuls before a national audience. Republican voters would also prefer if those asking the candidates questions were not liberal reporters.

With Carlson now visible primarily on Twitter, it looks like he will have the opportunity to host the debate on the social media giant. According to the Washington Post, “Carlson wants to moderate his own GOP candidate forum, outside of the usual strictures of the Republican National Committee debate system.”

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Commentary: Biden’s Campaign Blew up in a Bad Way

The fraudulent Biden campaign effectively blew up on Thursday night in Nashville.

After five days of intensive subterranean preparation, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was coherent and gaffe-free for the first hour and got to the end without any horrifying blunders, though he trailed off into grammatical chaos and jumbled articulation a couple of times. There were relatively few interruptions and no persistent interruptions and neither candidate was acoustically or behaviorally irritating.

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Debate Commission’s New Rule Designates Mic Mute Times for Thursday’s Debate

President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden will have their microphones muted during Thursday’s debate when it is not their turn to speak, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.

The rule was created in order to avoid the interruptions and crosstalk seen during the first presidential debate, according to The New York Times. The commission noted the campaigns might not be pleased and both Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Donald  Trump’s aides were informed of the rule on Monday.

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Commentary: In 2020, Wallace Learned ‘Never Go Full Crowley’

In the second presidential election debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on October 16, 2012, CNN moderator Candy Crowley sensed that Obama, coming off a dismal initial September 26 debate, was again floundering.

Romney was driving home the valid point that the Obama Administration had inadequately prepared the American mission in Benghazi for likely terrorist attacks. And such laxity resulted in a horrific attack and the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

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Second Debate Moderator Steve Scully Interned for Joe Biden

C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, who is scheduled to moderate the next presidential debate, formerly interned for 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden.

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced in September that Scully, C-SPAN’s senior executive producer and political editor, would moderate the second presidential debate in early September. The debate is scheduled to take place October 15 in Miami, Florida.

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Debate Takeaways: Pugilist Trump Runs Rings Around Debate Opponents Biden and Wallace

After more than a year of circling each other, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio.

The 74-year-old president and the 77-year-old former vice president are similar in age, and they share a mutual dislike. But they differ starkly in style and substance. All of that was evident from the outset on the Cleveland stage.

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Biden Doesn’t Name Single Law Enforcement Group That Supports Him

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden didn’t name a single law enforcement group or agency that has endorsed him during the presidential debate Tuesday night.

Biden chose not to respond to the question posed by President Donald Trump during a discussion on law and order. Trump noted that several law enforcement groups have endorsed his reelection campaign.

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Trump, Biden Prepare to Debate Tuesday as National Tensions Rise

In an election year like no other, the first debate between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, could be a pivotal moment in a race that has remained stubbornly unchanged in the face of historic tumult.

The Tuesday night debate will offer a massive platform for Trump and Biden to outline their starkly different visions for a country facing multiple crises, including racial justice protests and a pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.

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