Mark Penn, a former top adviser to Bill and Hillary Clinton, called on ABC to investigate whether the network’s coverage of the 2024 presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris was biased in favor of Harris, according to Just the News.
Penn questioned whether ABC’s news department intentionally worked to “rig the outcome of this debate.” Observers noted that the moderators were more demanding when questioning Trump, while allowing Harris to avoid direct answers. Moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis frequently “fact-checked” Trump’s statements but did not scrutinize Harris’ remarks in the same manner.
Trump has already stated he will not participate in a third debate with Harris. Even CNN’s Jake Tapper remarked that Harris dodged questions during the debate. Despite what some perceived as a three-against-one scenario, a Reuters survey showed Trump emerged as the debate winner among undecided voters.
Penn suggested that ABC should conduct a thorough internal investigation, potentially involving an independent law firm, to determine if there was any bias or pre-planned coordination with the Harris campaign. “I think a review of all their internal texts and emails really should be done by an independent party to find out to what extent they were planning on, in effect, you know, fact-checking just one candidate and in effect, rigging the outcome of this debate,” Penn said on the John Solomon Reports podcast.
As chairman of the Harvard CAPS Harris Poll, Penn observed that Harris has been successful in portraying herself as the candidate of change, advocating for moving past Trump, even though she has been the Vice President under the Biden administration. He also criticized the media’s coverage of Harris’ campaign as being biased.
“It’s a 50-50 race,” Penn said. “He’s [Trump] got more obvious tools to get across the finish line than she does, and part of the issue is that if the referees have their finger on the scale, it’s harder to break through and overcome. And certainly, general media coverage has been fairly laughable.”