Donald Trump really did not like getting live fact-checked by ABC News during Tuesday night’s debate, so much so he wants the network shut down.
In a call to Fox & Friends Wednesday morning, Trump called the debate “rigged” and claimed that due to the moderators debunking his false statements, “it was a three-on-one.”
Trump to Fox & Friends: “ABC took a big hit last night. I mean, to be honest, they are a news organization, they have to be licensed to do it. They ought to take away their license for the way they did that.” pic.twitter.com/yN6HCo4ilh
— Media Matters (@mmfa) September 11, 2024
“So many things I said were debunked, totally debunked, like Charlottesville,” said Trump, referring to his infamous “very fine people” line referring to neo-Nazis. Trump went on to complain that as he was under the microscope during the “unfair” debate, “[Kamala Harris] could say anything she wanted.”
“They ought to take away their license for the way they did that,” said Trump, in a clear threat to ABC News.
Trump lied for a good portion of Tuesday night’s debate, and ABC News moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir occasionally tried to chime in with a correction.
For example, when Trump said Democrats, including vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, “execute” babies after they are born, Davis clarified, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.” And when Trump claimed, “They’re eating the pets,” referring to Haitian asylum-seekers in Ohio, Muir interjected that “there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.” As Trump sparred with Muir over the correction, Harris looked on with disbelief.
When asked by Fox News why Trump felt moderators hadn’t given the same treatment to Harris, Trump answered: “Because they’re dishonest.” Perhaps, instead, Harris didn’t have the gall to lie so flagrantly and frequently on the national stage.
