ABC’s debate moderators, Linsey Davis and David Muir, failed to fact check Vice President Kamala Harris when she interrupted former President Donald Trump during Tuesday’s debate, saying, “That is not true” in response to Trump noting that under the leadership of Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), the state allows abortions up to nine months — despite ABC News itself recently reporting Trump’s claim to be true.
“The Democrats are radical [on abortion],” Trump said during Tuesday night’s debate, adding that Walz believes “abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine,” to which Harris reacted by interrupting Trump while he was speaking, declaring, “That is not true.”
Notably, Davis and Muir remained silent, failing to fact check Harris, despite their own outlet reporting in June that “Minnesota does not prohibit abortion based on how far along a woman is in pregnancy.”
The ABC moderators also failed to fact check Harris on a separate occasion on the topic of abortion when Harris interrupted Trump as he pointed out that states can allow abortion up to nine months under Roe v. Wade, despite their own outlet — again — previously reporting Trump’s claim to be true.
“You should ask, will she allow abortion in the eight month, ninth month, seventh month?” Trump said to moderators during the presidential debate, to which Harris replied, “Come on.”
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“Okay, would you do that?” Trump persisted, which was met with silence from Harris, who refused to answer the question altogether.
Trump then turned back to the ABC moderators, asking, “Why don’t you ask her that question?” and was again met with silence, this time from both Davis and Muir.
“That’s the problem, because under Roe v. Wade, you could do abortions in the seventh month, the eighth month, the ninth month,” Trump continued, to which Harris again interjected, replying, “That’s not true.”
But Harris’s claim that Trump’s statement is “not true” is false. Under Roe v. Wade, there existed a three-trimester framework, which allowed for abortions in each of the three trimesters, all the way up to birth.
Moreover, Davis and Muir failed to fact check Harris, despite their own outlet previously acknowledging that third trimester abortions did occur under Roe v. Wade.
Last year, ABC reported that experts have previously admitted that, while rare, abortions do occur “in the second and third trimesters.”
“And probably after birth,” Trump added during Tuesday’s debate. “Just look at the former governor of Virginia [Ralph Northam]. The governor of Virginia said, ‘We put the baby aside, and then we determine what we want to do with the baby.'”
As Breitbart News reported in 2019, former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) hinted at legally-permitted termination of newborn babies in a radio interview while talking about third trimester abortions, even “if a mother is in labor,” as he defended a Virginia Democrat’s abortion legislation.
During the interview, Northam said, “I can tell you exactly what would happen: The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mothers.”
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After that, Northam refused to recant his comments in support of legislation that would have allowed women in his state to request an abortion, even as they are about to give birth, stating, “I don’t have any regrets.”
These are not the only times in which Davis and Muir failed to fact check Harris during Tuesday night’s debate.
In fact, the ABC moderators remained silent on at least 21 occasions while Harris issued false claims and repeated long-debunked hoaxes on live television, in front of millions of Americans.
But Davis and Muir were not above issuing fact-checks mid-debate. As Breitbart News reported, the two moderators frequently tried to fact check Trump, with Muir even bizarrely fact-checking a joke the 45th president had previously made.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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