Did ABC News strike a deal with Harris campaign in Trump debate? Congressman wants company, whistleblower to testify

A Republican congressman from Pennsylvania wants ABC News to testify about its arrangements for the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

“We’re going to do what we can to bring ABC in and have them answer some questions,” Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, told Fox Business.

A possible whistleblower has alleged ABC News cooperated with the Harris campaign to give the vice president an unfair advantage during the debate, including sharing questions with the Harris campaign prior to the showdown.

Meuser’s suspicions, and the suspicions of like-minded conservatives, have roots in the all-too-cozy relationship they feel the press has shown liberal presidential candidates.

In July, for example, it was revealed that the Biden campaign team was feeding journalists around the country with pre-approved questions prior to interviews.  

Criticism of ABC News debate moderators immediately after the debate centered on their numerous “fact-checks” of former President Trump, while they allowed Harris to talk without being challenged. 

The criticism exploded, however, when a former advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Mark Penn, wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, calling on ABC News to do a full investigation of the debate arrangements. 

“As we reviewed the video and compared notes, we became concerned about the role of ABC News and what it did to our democracy,” said Penn, questioning the fairness of the debate moderators.  

One of the moderators, Linsey Davis, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that ABC News studied up prior to the debate to fact check Trump, but didn’t do the same for Harris, who was allowed to make questionable statements during the debate, unchallenged.  

“There can be no fair game or debate no matter what the score when the referees put their fingers on the scale,” Penn wrote on X. “What ABC did in poorly fact checking one side while letting the other side repeat serial falsehoods meant that one side had to do its own defense.” 

It later was revealed that Harris and Davis are both members of the same sorority, raising questions of a conflict of interest.  

The conflicts of interest aren’t just limited to Davis. 

The Media Research Center claims after analyzing all the stories anchored by Davis’s debate co-moderator, ABC’s David Muir, that his newscast from July 21, when Harris entered the presidential race, through Sept. 6, “computes to a gravity-defying 100% positive spin score for [Harris] and 93% negative for Trump.” 

CNN got mired in a similar conflict of interest scandal in 2016 when a former Clinton advisor, then-CNN commentator Donna Brazile, leaked townhall questions to Hillary Clinton as she ran for president against Trump. 

Brazile just months later left CNN to take over as head of the Democrat Party. 

The questions about debate leaks take on added consequence as conservatives fume on X about an unverified document from an alleged whistleblower who claims ABC News gave the Harris campaign several advantages, including sharing the substance of the questions with the campaign in advance. 

Hedge fund billionaire, Bill Ackman, called out ABC’s parent company, Disney, saying he thought the document looked “credible.” 

In an open letter to Disney’s chief, Bob Iger, Ackman asked him “to launch an immediate investigation of this matter.” 

“Our democracy depends on transparency, particularly with regard to events which can impact the outcome of the presidential election,” wrote Ackman. “I ask on behalf of all voters that you treat these allegations with the seriousness they deserve.” 

Some social media posts have claimed that the document was given to Penn, and that he has made statements about it, but those claims appear to be a hoax. 

When asked to validate statements attributed to him about the whistleblower document, Penn said, “This is completely fake. Please do not post.” 

ABC News for its part has denied it did anything wrong, but didn’t address the allegations in the affidavit directly or the existence of a whistleblower. 

“ABC News followed the debate that both campaigns agreed on and which clearly state: No topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates,” reported the Daily Mail. 

A copy of the whistleblower’s affidavit dated prior to the debate and posted on X said that one copy of the affidavit was sent to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, also dated one day before the debate. 

“We should find out soon how legit this is if Mike Johnson confirms he received the letter postdated 9 September,” noted one commenter on X.   

Johnson’s office did not respond to an inquiry by The Lion about receipt of the letter. 

Another offer of proof would be to produce the whistleblower. 

Rep. Meuser said he’ll call on the whistleblower to testify in front of Congress. 

ABC News is “trying to tear down the First Amendment,” with its pro-Harris bias in the debate, said Meuser.