Quick Hit:

ABC News moderators fact-checked former President Donald Trump at least seven times during a debate but failed to fact-check Vice President Kamala Harris even once, raising questions of media bias.

Key Details:

• ABC News moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir fact-checked Trump at least seven times during a presidential debate.
• Harris was not fact-checked, despite several controversial statements, including the "very fine people" Charlottesville hoax.
• Some fact-checks targeting Trump were incomplete or incorrect, yet no similar scrutiny was applied to Harris.

Diving Deeper:

During a recent presidential debate moderated by ABC News’ Linsey Davis and David Muir, former President Donald Trump faced at least seven fact-checks, while Vice President Kamala Harris received none, highlighting a stark disparity in treatment. According to the ABC News transcript, the moderators repeatedly interrupted Trump to "clarify" his statements but allowed Harris’s comments to go unchecked, despite several dubious claims.

Among the most glaring examples of bias was Harris’s mention of the widely debunked Charlottesville "very fine people" hoax. The claim falsely suggests Trump praised white supremacists during the 2017 rally. Despite this, neither Davis nor Muir challenged Harris. The absence of scrutiny starkly contrasted with how Trump was treated. Several of his remarks—on crime rates, immigration, and the 2020 election—were fact-checked in real-time.

For instance, Muir interrupted Trump to assert that violent crime was decreasing nationally, citing the FBI, even though recent data shows rising crime in many major cities. Similarly, a fact-check concerning Springfield, Ohio, where Trump alleged pet harm by immigrants, was called into question despite existing anecdotal reports supporting Trump’s claim.

Fact checks for Trump: 

• LINSEY DAVIS: There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born. Madam vice president, I want to get your response to President Trump.
• DAVID MUIR: I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community
• DAVID MUIR: President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country…
• DAVID MUIR: The question was about you as president, not about Former Speaker Pelosi. But I do want Vice President Harris to respond here.
• DAVID MUIR: I did watch all of these pieces of video. I didn’t detect the sarcasm, lost by a whisker, we didn’t quite make it, and we should just point out as clarification, and you know this, you and your allies, 60 cases in front of many judges…
• DAVID MUIR: Mr. President, thank you. Vice President Harris, you heard the president there tonight. He said he didn’t say that he lost by a whisker. So he still believes he did not lose the election. That was won by President Biden and yourself.
• DAVID MUIR: President Trump, thank you. You did bring up something, you said she went to negotiate with Vladimir Putin. Vice President Harris, have you ever met Vladimir Putin, can you clarify tonight?

This one-sided fact-checking approach has led to widespread criticism. As Trump faced immediate rebuttals for his statements, Harris’s remarks, some of which have been labeled false or misleading by independent outlets, went unchallenged.