ABC has firmly denied former President Donald Trump’s latest claim that Vice President Kamala Harris was given debate questions in advance, dismissing it as baseless.
Trump has alleged that the debate was rigged before he even stepped on stage, suggesting that Harris received questions ahead of the debate—a talking point echoed by some right-wing commentators. An ABC News spokesperson firmly rebutted these claims, stating, “Absolutely not. Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”
The network’s debate guidelines explicitly prohibited sharing topics or questions with campaigns or candidates beforehand. Additionally, the spokesperson clarified that there was no contact between Harris’s team and the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, despite Trump’s accusations that they acted as “agents of the Harris campaign.” The moderators’ performance has been widely praised, contrary to Trump’s criticism.
Before the debate, Trump speculated on Truth Social and to Sean Hannity that Donna Brazile, an ABC panelist with a history of controversy over debate questions, would provide Harris with questions. Trump has frequently criticized ABC, which he is currently suing, accusing the network of bias. He questioned, “Will panelist Donna Brazile give the questions to the Marxist Candidate like she did for Crooked Hillary Clinton?”
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Trump’s claims gained traction on Wednesday when he told Fox & Friends that Harris seemed “awfully familiar” with the questions. This narrative was further propagated by Leading Report, a site known for spreading misinformation. The site claimed on X that an alleged ABC whistleblower would soon release an affidavit asserting that Harris had received sample questions and that Trump would be the only candidate fact-checked. However, a source familiar with the situation dismissed these “assurances” as untrue.
Leading Report has previously made false claims, including about CNN’s debate scheduling and the health of World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab. Their latest assertion appeared to originate from an X account named “Black Insurrectionist,” which promised to release the affidavit but provided no supporting evidence.
Despite the lack of proof, billionaire Bill Ackman shared the Leading Report’s post with his 1.4 million followers, suggesting that if true, it would severely damage ABC’s reputation.
Trump has continued to label the debate unfair, claiming he was outnumbered three to one, and has described his performance as his best yet. He criticized the network and called for a complete overhaul, declaring he would not participate in another debate with Harris. In response, the Harris campaign labeled Trump as evasive.
