Have you seen this on CNN?
I doubt it.

'ABC News hits panic button after sworn statement alleging rigged
debate, David Muir does damage control'
<https://www.wnd.com/2024/09/abc-news-hits-panic-button-after-sworn-statement-alleging-rigged-debate-david-muir-does-damage-control/>

'ABC News is apparently pressing the panic button in the wake of fierce
criticism of its Sept. 10 presidential debate between former President
Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

A sworn statement by an ABC News whistleblower exposing network bias
favoring Harris continues to be in focus regarding "assurances" to the
Democrat's campaign days before the event.

Now David Muir, anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight" and co-moderator of
the debate, is defending his performance during the matchup, as ratings
for his evening news broadcast have plunged some 12% in the aftermath.

"ABC News has offered assurances to the Harris campaign that if there is
significant cross talk between Harris and Trump, the network may choose
to turn on the mics so that the public can understand what is happening,
the moderator would discourage either candidate from interrupting
constantly and the moderator would also work to explain to viewers what
is being said, according to the source familiar," CNN reported before
the event.

ABC News insists it did not break debate rules, initially stating: "ABC
News followed the debate rules that both campaigns agreed on and which
clearly state: No topics or questions will be shared in advance with
campaigns or candidates."

A network spokesperson later told the Daily Beast: "Absolutely not.
Harris was not given any questions before the date."

Kamala Harris debates President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday,
Sept. 10, 2024 (Video screenshot)
Kamala Harris debates President Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Tuesday,
Sept. 10, 2024
The X account that posted the purported affidavit, @DocNetyoutube,
reacted to ABC's denial, stating:

Yesterday, ABC made a statement regarding the whistleblower affidavit.
The only thing ABC said was that they did not give the questions or the
topics to the Harris campaign. Well, nobody accused ABC of doing that.
ABC has been accused of the following:

1.) Giving the Harris campaign sample questions, similar to the actual
questions that would be used for the debate.
2.) Agreeing to give Harris a smaller podium and other arrangements to
minimize the size differential between Harris and Trump.
3.) Fact Checking would be done for Donald Trump and NOT Kamala Harris
4.) Harris campaign gave questions to ABC that were not to be included
in the debate. Including questions regarding her time as DA in SF and
her time as California Attorney General.

Out of all these accusations, the fact checking of Trump has been
admitted to. The podium and split screen appearance to keep the height
differential have already been proven, ABC did NOT deny communications
with the Harris campaign without the Trump campaign being present and
they will never deny that because they cannot. According to the
whistleblower, ABC executives made numerous phone calls with the Harris
campaign without including the Trump campaign on the call. Everything
the whistleblower has submitted has been proven except for sample
questions. There will be another tweet later today announcing action to
be taken against ABC and the affiliates of ABC.

As WND reported Sunday, Sept. 15, an ABC News whistleblower released an
affidavit punishable by perjury specifying allegations that the network
made numerous assurances to the Harris campaign to favor the Democratic
nominee for president.

The sworn statement indicated: "It was agreed that Donald Trump would be
subjected to fact-checking during the debate, while Kamala Harris would
not comparable scrutiny. This was widely known throughout the company
that Donald Trump would be fact-checked. In fact, various people were
assigned to fact check observations it was perceived candidate Trump
would make during the debate.

Is the news we hear every day actually broadcasting messages from God?
The answer is an absolute yes! Find out how!

"In fact, [the] Harris campaign required assurances that Donald Trump
would be fact checked. This was done via multiple communications with
the Harris campaign whereas the Trump campaign was not included in the
negotiations. To my understanding, any rules negotiations and
conversations pertaining to the debate should have had both the Trump
and Harris campaign involved, the Harris campaign had numerous more
calls regarding the debate rules without the Trump campaign aware or on
the call."

Did ABC News rig the presidential debate to favor Kamala Harris?

Yes

No

I'm not sure
Enter Your Email
Submit

This poll gives you free access to our premium newsletter. You can
unsubscribe at any time.

The statement also says: "The Harris campaign was provided with sample
questions that, while not the exact questions, covered similar topics
that would appear during the debate."

"Furthermore, the Harris campaign imposed serious restrictions on the
scope of questioning, including:

No questions regarding the perceived health of President Joe Biden.
No inquires regarding her tenure as attorney general in San Francisco.
No questions concerning her brother-in-law, Tony West, who faces
allegations of embezzling billions of dollars in taxpayer funds and who
may be involved in her administration if elected.
The whistleblower claims to have "observed a pronounced bias against
Donald Trump within ABC News. Employees expressing favorable views
towards him experience significant concerns about potential
retribution."

On Tuesday, Muir called the controversy over ABC's performance "just
noise."

"All of the noise that you hear afterward about you know, 'Which
candidate won the debate, did the moderators win or lose?'" Muir told
the audience on ABC's "Live With Kelly and Mark."

"That's just noise. You all know that. The most important thing to
remember is you all have the power."

ABC Presidential Debate co-moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis (ABC
News)
ABC Presidential Debate co-moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis
He said it was the "duty" of him and co-moderator Linsey Davis to
discuss issues of importance to Americans, mentioning their inquiries
about the border crisis, economy, reproductive rights, Afghanistan and
the peaceful transfer of power.

"These are all really important issues, the issues of our time, really,
and I always say as a moderator, what the candidates decide to do with
that time – you can ask the questions, but they'll answer with whatever
they choose to answer with, and you have to be ready for whatever might
come your way, even the most unexpected of moments," Muir said.

Muir's appearance on Tuesday's talk show was perhaps prompted by a 12%
drop in ratings for his nightly news broadcast since the debate.

Fox News reports: "Muir's 'World News Tonight' averaged 6.7 million
viewers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the three episodes following
the debate, after averaging 7.6 million in 2024 leading up to the
debate.

"The 12% drop in viewers for 'World News Tonight' is more significant
than slight declines 'CBS Evening News' and 'NBC Nightly News' saw when
comparing the three episodes following ABC's debate to the year-to-date
totals, although Muir's newscast remained the No. 1 broadcast evening
newscast."

ABC News fact-checked Trump at least five times during the Sept 10
debate, but preferred not a single fact-check for Harris.

Davis told the Los Angeles Times last week that her intense
fact-checking of Trump was influenced by the June 27 debate on CNN that
prompted President Joe Biden to exit the 2024 race.

"People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not
[be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,"
Davis told the paper.

On Sunday, five days after the debate, Martha Raddatz of ABC News
finally admitted Harris was wrong when she said during the debate there
is "not one member of the United States military who is in active duty
in a combat zone in any war zone around the world."

"Our fact-checkers found that to be false," Raddatz said.

"There are currently 900 U.S. military personnel in Syria, 2,500 U.S.
troops in Iraq. All have been under regular threat from drones and
missiles for months. We also have action in the Red Sea," Raddatz added.
"Also, every single day, the Navy SEALs, Delta Forces special operators
can be part of any sort of deadly raid."

Neither Muir nor Davis alerted their 70 million debate viewers to the
egregious falsehood by Harris.