Many questions have been raised following last week's highly anticipated ABC debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and an anonymous whistleblower has confirmed what many viewers suspected under penalty of perjury.
Since becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris has largely avoided talking to the media, waiting over a month to do her first interview and even longer to do her first solo interview. So far, she hasn't performed particularly well in her media engagements, with prominent Democrats forced to acknowledge their disappointment. In the first ABC debate, most agreed she came out looking the best she has so far, but the contrast was so stark between that and her unscripted interviews that it left some viewers with the impression she received questions in advance. Viewers on both sides of the aisle both recognized that the two moderators began debating Trump themselves, lessening the value of her “victory.”
The whistleblower insists that the Harris campaign dictated the terms of the debate, including the highly controversial one-sided live “fact checking.”
Per the affidavit, moderators were prohibited from asking any questions about Kamala Harris's tenure as California Attorney General or about Biden's health/cognitive decline.
This is significant, because in her first run for president, her campaign was ended when Tulsi Gabbard grilled her on her prosecutorial record and Harris had no response. Despite a whopping five years to come up with an explanation for voters, she instead insists on ignoring her record and demanding friendly media outlets do the same.
Joe Biden's cognitive decline (and the coverup surrounding it) is also arguably one of the greatest scandals in American politics, raising serious concerns about those closest to him and their beliefs about the transparency owed to voters. Some might argue that the debate moderators had a responsibility to ask both questions.
The whistleblower signed an affidavit in New York and forwarded a copy to Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and claim to be in possession of audio recordings that verify their allegations.
In the affidavit, the whistleblower states they've worked at the news outlet for over a decade, and that in that time, they've seen it transform into an organization they no longer recognize, with a mission more rooted in partisan ideology than objective reporting.
The whistleblower also made a point of explicitly stating that he isn't a Trump supporter, and his motivations for his actions are not political, but about the integrity of his network.
In his affidavit, he wrote, “For the record, I do not endorse Donald Trump in his capacity as candidate for President of the United States. The intent of this affidavit is to address concerns regarding perceived biases within news reporting within my employer's debate that will be hosted on September 10, 2024.”
While he himself doesn't support Trump, he noted that the environment at ABC News was hostile to Trump supporters, and made employees feel like they couldn't outwardly express favorable views of the Republican candidate.
He wrote, “I have observed a pronounced bias against Donald Trump within ABC News. Employees expressing favorable views towards him experience significant concerns about potential retribution.”
Former Clinton adviser Mark Penn said he had serious concerns about ABC's actions, saying he thought they did a “real disservice to the voters” and “put in jeopardy the institutions of debate,” calling for a probe.
