WorldNetDaily’s coverage of the Donald Trump-Kamala Harris debate was largely focused on lazily parroting right-wing attacks on ABC’s debate moderators for purported bias, particularly in daring to fact-check Trump’s numerous lies:
- ‘Serial lies and distortions’: Network stung for letting Kamala Harris get away with lying
- ‘Linsey Davis is a liar’: Social media deliver abortion truth bomb to presidential debate moderator
- ‘I’m ashamed’: WATCH Megyn Kelly, veteran presidential debate moderator, give her take on Trump-Harris matchup
- ‘It was not a debate, but a campaign contribution’: New push for ABC to be prosecuted
- ABC goes silent when asked whether debate time was donation to Harris campaign
What WND didn’t do, however, is report the fact that Trump performed poorly at the debate — a fact acknowledged by conservatives such as Andy McCarthy, Frank Luntz, Karl Rove and even Robert Kennedy Jr., as well as a Fox News voter panel.
Meanwhile, the attacks on ABC continued. A Sept. 13 article by Bob Unruh tried to make a big deal out of moderator Linsey Davis being prepared to respond to false claims by — shocking! — preparing beforehand to respond when Trump predictably made those false claims again.
Then, Joe Kovacs spent a Sept. 15 article latching onto a “bombshell” claim about ABC and the debate:
Claims of a purposeful scheme to skew the Sept. 10 ABC News presidential debate in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump are now intensified with the Sunday release of a sworn statement by a network whistleblower specifying the allegations.
The affidavit under penalty of perjury released by @DocNetyoutube indicates ABC coordinated with the Harris campaign to give her sample questions, along with assurances Trump would be fact-checked while Kamala would not, and favorable accommodations for the Democrat’s appearance on screen.
The document, dated Sept. 9, one day prior to the debate and redacted in portions to conceal the whistleblower’s identity, is from a Manhattan, New York, resident who has worked at ABC News for more than 10 years in “various technical and administrative positions.”
“For the record, I do not endorse Donald Trump in his capacity as candidate for the president of the United States,” the whistleblower says.
“The intent of this affidavit is to address concerns about perceived biases within news reporting within my employer’s debate that will be hosted on September 10, 2024.”
The ABC employee says Harris received “particular accommodations including, but not limited to, the providing of a podium significantly smaller than that used by Donald Trump, and assurances regarding split-screen television views that would favorably impact Kamala Harris’s appearance relative to Donald Trump.”
[…]The statement also indicates: “The Harris campaign was provided with sample questions that, while not the exact questions, covered similar topics that would appear during the debate.”
Just one problem: it wasn’t real. That purported affidavit was completely unsubstantiated and riddled with typos, something a legitimate affidavit wouldn’t have, and it was created the day before the debate. As Mediaite pointed out: “Any basic computer and printer from the past thirty years could have been used to type up this exact document, print it out, scrawl some signatures on it, and then black out sections. Posting a scan of it online proves nothing except that someone owned a computer and printer and had a little free time.”
Nevertheless, Kovacs pushed the fake affidavit again in a Sept. 17 article:
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.
Kovacs also uncritically quoted the Twitter/X account claiming that “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,” but no evidence to prove that claim was ever provided.
Since then, even the “sworn” affidavit’s promoters now admit it’s fake, and the source of the claim has deleted his Twitter/X account. It has since been revealed that despite the account bearing the name “Black Insurrectionist,” it was operated by a white guy who is known for defrauding investors and owing millions of dollars in back taxes. (Newsmax columnist Michael Dorstewitz also bought into this fake story.)
Kovacs, meanwhile, has never told his readers the truth about this fake story, let alone apologize or correct the record (which, granted, is something WND rarely does).