Mark Penn, a close confidant of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, is calling on ABC News to retain an outside law firm to conduct an investigation into the network's planning and execution of Tuesday night's debate to determine if there was some effort at "rigging the outcome of this debate."
"I don't know what they told the Harris campaign. I think the day after, suspicion here is really quite high, and 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. I think the situation demands nothing less than that," he said.
Penn, chairman of the Harvard CAPS Harris Poll, called the mainstream media's coverage of Harris "laughable."
"It's a 50-50, race. He's [Trump] got more obvious tools to get across the finish line than she does and part of the thing here is that if the referees have their finger on the scale, it's harder to, you know, break through and overcome. And certainly, general media coverage has been fairly laughable," he said.
Meanwhile, ABC issued a statement saying that it never, ever, ever, never gave Harris the answers to any questions — scout's honor.
“Absolutely not,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”
Just the News:
Penn, president and managing partner of The Stagwell Group, suggested the Trump campaign mail out to every voter the ACLU questionnaire that then-Sen. Harris, D-Calif., filled out and indicated she supports gender surgery for illegal immigrants and defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Other publications have disclosed a questionable coziness between Harris and Dana Walden, co-chairman of Disney and who oversees ABC News. The New York Times quoted Harris as calling their relationship "extraordinary friends,” and disclosed that Walden and Harris are neighbors in Brentwood, a wealthy Los Angeles enclave where Ms. Harris and her husband also own a residence. The Times also pointed out that The Waldens have donated money to Ms. Harris’s political campaigns since at least 2003, when she ran for district attorney in San Francisco.
I don't think Mark Penn likes Kamala Harris very much.
There can be no fair game or debate no matter what the score when the referees put their fingers on the scale.
— Mark Penn (@Mark_Penn) September 11, 2024
What ABC did in poorly fact checking one side while letting the other side repeat serial falsehoods meant that one side had to do its own defense.
It robs all sides…
One interview. One debate. Some rah rah stump speech you read over and over. And voila you have a 50 per cent chance of being president.
— Mark Penn (@Mark_Penn) September 4, 2024
Good gig if you can get it. No 3 debates. No 2 years of primaries, coalition building, no detailed policy development, and no daily press…
No, it's not likely that ABC will conduct an internal investigation into the planning and execution of the debate, but if the debate was rigged, that would be a clear violation of ABC's broadcast license. Perhaps the FCC should investigate. Or maybe Congress should look into it.
Or maybe it will be swept under the rug and we'll never hear about it again.
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