In the aftermath of the fiery September 10 debate between Democrat presidential candidate Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, tensions have flared over the conduct of ABC News moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. While many media outlets claimed Harris was the winner, allegations of moderator bias have sparked controversy, particularly from a notable figure in the Commission on Presidential Debates.
Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., the co-founder and co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, openly criticized the ABC moderators for what he considered a breach of protocol. His concerns centered on the role of moderators in a debate and the apparent favoritism shown toward Harris during the event.
“What really shocked me last night was the way the moderators handled it,” Fahrenkopf said. “You know, we always explain to our moderators — and we’ve done 33 of these debates, starting back in 1988 — that their job is to be facilitators. They’re not supposed to get involved themselves.”
Throughout the debate, Muir and Davis frequently interjected, fact-checking Trump’s statements while offering Harris a smoother path to rebuttal. According to Fahrenkopf, this was a clear violation of the role moderators are supposed to play. “It’s different than if you had someone on your show and you asked them a question, and they answered in a different way than they said a month before. You would correct them. But moderators are not supposed to do that,” he explained.
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Fahrenkopf stressed that the debate should focus on the candidates, not on interactions with the moderators. “A debate is between the candidates, not a debate between the candidate and the moderators. And these moderators, as far as I was concerned, it was the worst performance that I’ve seen.”
He didn’t mince words when discussing the imbalance in treatment between Trump and Harris. “I don’t know what their thoughts were, but they clearly were oversized, I think, on the way they treated the former president and the way they treated the present vice president. I think they bent backwards to help her.”
Trump referred to the ABC-hosted debate as a “rigged deal” and claimed he did “great” despite the odds being “3-to-1.” On Thursday, Trump announced that there would be no more debates. He took to his social media platform, Truth Social, to declare his victory in the debate and to address future plans. Trump wrote, “When a prizefighter loses a fight, the first words out of his mouth are, ‘I WANT A REMATCH.’ Polls clearly show that I won the Debate against Comrade Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ Radical Left Candidate.”
The former president went on to accuse Harris of dodging debates in the past, specifically mentioning her absence at a previous Fox News-hosted event. He used the post to emphasize his unwillingness to engage in any future debates with her. “THERE WILL BE NO THIRD DEBATE!” Trump wrote in all caps.
Harris’ team initially requested an additional debate following the vice president’s face-off with Trump at ABC’s presidential debate. Trump’s statement came as no surprise to many, given his history of criticizing the debate process, moderators, and media outlets. Throughout his political career, Trump has frequently expressed his dissatisfaction with the format and fairness of debates, often accusing the media of bias.
