CNN host John Berman defended the ABC News debate moderator's alleged bias during an interview with former President Donald Trump's campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt on Wednesday.
ABC News debate moderators Lindsey Davis and David Muir relentlessly fact-checked Trump on Tuesday, accusing Harris of allowing him free reign to lie. CNN News Central's Leavitt echoed the criticism, but Berman brushed it off, saying: post He defended the network before fact-checking it with a Trump campaign spokesman. (Related: Kamala Harris once thought a border wall was “un-American.” Now she supports it.)
“President Trump, [Vice President] “Unfortunately, the debate moderators did not fact-check anything Kamala Harris said. The moderators fact-checked President Trump five times, but never fact-checked Kamala Harris, despite her having lied multiple times about President Trump and her positions on issues,” Leavitt said. “Harris stated that President Trump supports a federal ban on abortion. This is patently false. President Trump has repeatedly stated that he does not support an abortion ban. Kamala Harris stated that she supports Project 2025. She does not.”
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CNN host carries water for ABC host, rides the wave of fact-checking during interview with Trump pic.twitter.com/IjKsegSGRG
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 11, 2024
Berman interrupted Leavitt. He denied Harris' false claims and instead asked the spokesperson about former President Trump's comments about abortion during the debate.
“Caroline, I'll say this from last night's debate: He didn't say he would veto a nationwide abortion ban, which is a position I've never heard from him before,” Berman said. “He had multiple opportunities to say he would veto a nationwide ban and he didn't.”
“Yes, he has also said multiple times that he would not sign an abortion ban because it is now a states' rights issue. And Kamala Harris has also refused to say whether she would support a ban on late-term abortions in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy,” Leavitt responded. “President Trump has directly confronted her with that question twice. She has refused to answer and laughed it off. Voters have a right to answer that question.”
Berman then read a post from Atlantic staff writer Tim Alberta that read, “One way to look at it is that the ABC hosts fact-checked Trump 2-3 times and Harris zero. Another way to look at it is that the ABC hosts fact-checked Trump 2-3 times, not 500 times.”
The CNN host asked Leavitt about the health care reform plan that President Trump has vowed to unveil soon, and when that plan might be released. Leavitt told Berman that there is no set date for the plan's release yet.
“President Trump's plan to cut health care costs is about revitalizing the free market, increasing competition in the health care market, and giving Americans more health care options,” Leavitt said. “That's the exact opposite of what Kamala Harris wants to do with health care. Harris was a co-sponsor of Bernie Sanders' socialist Medicare for All plan. Last night, she said she no longer supports it, another lie that was not fact-checked by the moderator. Kamala Harris' radical health care would ultimately kick every American off private health insurance…President Trump wants to lower the cost of health care in the country and improve the quality of health care, but he's not going to get there by kicking Americans off private health insurance, as Kamala Harris wants to do.”
“She said last night that that was not her plan,” Berman said before ending the interview.
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