Donald Trump Attacks ABC As Biased For Kamala Harris, Claims Dana Walden Will Provide Debate Questions In Advance Ahead Of Next Week’s Face-Off With VP
Attacks on ABC and other broadcast networks are nothing new for Donald Trump, but tonight the former president went full rabid dog on the Disney-owned outlet, its boss and its star newsman.
Ahead of the ABC News hosted debate with Vice President Kamala Harris on September 10, Trump declared “ABC is the worst network.” Doubling down as he always does; Trump then took his grievance to the top and implied the fix was already in on next week’s debate.
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“I agreed to do it because they wouldn’t do any other network,” Trump insisted of the long scheduled ABC News debate to Sean Hannity tonight on a pre-recorded town hall on Fox News.
“The other thing is, her best friend is the head of the network,” Trump said in a red meat toss to the Fox crowd. While Trump never actually said the name of Dana Walden, it was pretty clear the Disney Entertainment co-chair and possible Bob Iger successor was his target.
It is true, the vice president and former Fox exec Walden have been friends for 30 years. It is also true that over the years, Walden has donated to the Democrat’s campaigns. In fact, as recently as April 2022 Walden hosted a fundraiser for the Veep in her Brentwood home.
Disney did not respond to requests for comment on the former president’s lashing out at Walden. However, the news unit has previously said that Walden has no impute on the direction of its coverage. “All editorial decisions are in the hands of ABC News management and the seasoned journalists and producers of ABC, who hold themselves to the highest journalistic standards,” the network said in a statement to The New York Times last month on any possibility of Walden leaning in corporately for her White House aspiring pal.
Still, not content to attack the unnamed Walden, Trump tonight went after her husband, producer Matt Walden too, and added an outlandish allegation as the cherry on the toxic cake.
Citing Walden’s over 40-year long friendship with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, Trump then proclaimed that Waldens would make sure Harris had the upper hand in the David Muir and Linsey Davis moderated debate next week. “Her husband’s best friend is married to the head of the network, and they’re going to get the questions I’ve already heard,” he said, offering zero proof.
“They’re going to get the questions in advance.” Trump said, repeating an unfounded claim he has made in the past.
Jumping from one subject to another with encouragement from Hannity, the ex-Celebrity Apprentice host whipped off one falsehood and sleazy attack on his poll rising rival after another on Wednesday. Trump’s slam of ABC, the VP and the Waldens come on the same day his team came to an agreement with Harris’ advisors on the final rules for the match-up. The debate rules, unveiled earlier today, spell out that the candidates will not receive questions in advance.
An ABC News spokesperson said, “Beyond the debate rules published today, which were mutually agreed upon by two campaigns on May 15, we have made no other agreements. We look forward to moderating the presidential debate next Tuesday.”
In that vein, Trump went on to claim to a sympathetic Hannity that ABC is “the most dishonest network, the meanest, the nastiest.” As well, in recounting a story about a 2016 ABC poll that had him down 17 points in the state of Wisconsin (which he won), Trump essentially accused the network of fudging the figures to suppress GOP voters.
Additionally, taking a potshot at GMA co-host and news anchor George Stephanopoulos, who he mocked as “George Slopodopoulos …he’s a nasty guy,” Trump ridiculed the July 5 primetime interview Stephanopoulos had with President Joe Biden. “It was like the softest interview I’ve ever seen,” Trump proclaimed of the sit-down Stephanopoulos had with Biden after POTUS’s disastrous June 27 debate with Trump on CNN. Jump forward to the Democrat he is now battling for the White House and a recent on-air chat Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz had with CNN’s Dana Bash, Trump added of the July 5 interview: “It was softer than the CNN interview of Kamala …but they’re very nasty.”
Sources at the network have grown accustomed to Trump’s attacks on ABC News in recent weeks.
Tonight’s remarks may have gone further than before, but it’s actually not a surprise, as Trump has gone after debate moderators in the lead up to debates in 2020 and 2016, as if to lay the groundwork to blame someone should things not go well during the events. Trump and his campaign attacked CNN and Jake Tapper in particular in advance of the June presidential debate, although the former president actually had some positive words for Tapper and co-moderator Bash afterward. That debate, of course, was a nightmare for Biden – who pulled out of the race at the end of July.
Trump has also claimed in recent weeks that ABC News would be biased given that he is litigation with the network and Stephanopoulos. He filed a defamation lawsuit in March over an interview Stephanopoulos had with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-NC). On This Week, Stephanopoulos said that a jury had found that Trump was “liable for rape.” In fact, the jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation, but the judge in the case has made comments that appeared to equate the verdict to rape.
Still, an attempt by ABC and Stephanopoulos to get the defamation suit dismissed fell short with a federal judge in Florida in July allowing the case to move forward.
That said, Trump agreed to the ABC News debate in May, months after filing his lawsuit against the network. Who will be watching the first and maybe only face-off between Harris and Trump is now a point of some contention for some cable customers. At odds over a new carriage contract with DirecTV, Disney saw 16 of its channels on the satellite cable provider go dark on September 1 – including ABC. If there is no deal before next Tuesday, than 11 million DirecTV subscribers will have no choice but to watch the simulcast debate on any channel but ABC.
That might hurt more than any indiscreet attacks on Walden and Stephanopoulos.
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