Congress is demanding that ABC News and Vice President Kamala Harris turn over all communications with the network and the campaign team related to the debate earlier this month.
This follows a sworn statement from a whistleblower who claimed to be an employee who knew ABC gave Harris an edge in the debate with Donald Trump by giving her the questions in advance.
Trump claimed before the debate that Harris would somehow find a way to cheat because she is good friends with Disney executive Dana Walden.
And Senator JD Vance told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that it would be a “national scandal” if the whistleblower’s claim is true.
“During the debate, it became abundantly clear that ABC News and its respective moderators had a biased agenda,” Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) wrote to ABC News President Almin Karamehmedovic and Harris campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodriguez.
Congress is demanding that ABC News and Kamala Harris turn over all communications between the network and the campaign team regarding the September 10 debate with Donald Trump
Marshall questions whether Harris was asked questions, but also whether ABC deliberately left out certain topics to appear more favorable to Harris.
He also pointed to the real-time fact-checking of Trump by moderators Linsey Davis and David Muir and questioned whether this was intended to negatively impact the former prophet’s performance on September 10.
“The American people deserve transparency and accountability from the mainstream media and a full accounting of whether ABC News colluded with the Harris campaign to influence debate questions and face control in favor of the Vice President,” Marshall wrote.
Asked to comment on the terms of the whistleblower affidavit, Vance told DailyMail.com: ‘If it happened, it’s outrageous. It should be a national scandal.’
An ABC News whistleblower claims the network provided Harris with the questions in advance and that moderators were told to avoid certain topics
Vance told DailyMail.com on Tuesday that it would be a “disgrace” and a “national scandal” if the ABC whistleblower’s allegations are true.
However, Vance said he will still participate in his upcoming debate with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, hosted by CBS — even if he doesn’t think it will be a fair confrontation.
The Ohio senator will debate Harris’ running mate in the vice presidential debate on October 1. The debate will be hosted by CBS News in New York City.
But even as the network cheats and leaks information to Governor Walz, Vance remains committed.
“You know, in my own debate, the position I take – and I know President Trump takes it too – is that we have to go everywhere, we have to talk to everyone,” Vance told DailyMail.com.
“And if that means there’s a slightly biased debate, I don’t care,” he added. “That’s the price of doing business.”
“And if that means there will be a slightly biased debate, then I don’t care,” he added
Vance was in Sparta, Michigan, on Tuesday for a barn rally where he aired the campaign’s grievances over the ongoing Democratic rhetoric that led to another assassination attempt on Trump over the weekend.
He told reporters on the platform in Sparta that the biggest problem with the Democrats is that they keep calling Trump a “threat to democracy.”
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre did so again on Tuesday.
The Democrats “have learned nothing at all,” he said during his rally with a few hundred MAGA supporters in the key swing state.
“I think it’s time to tell the Democrats, stop it or people are going to die,” the Republican vice presidential nominee said in his speech.
Vance will debate Walz on October 1 in their only showdown. The moderator will be CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan.
The ABC News whistleblower document in question is reportedly a sworn statement written by an employee of the network. It was first published Sunday by an X account called “Black Insurrectionist.”
The unverified document, said to be an affidavit signed by a notary on September 9, has sparked controversy as it has spread online
The photo shows some of the alleged agreements reached by the two sides
The document, reportedly an affidavit signed by a notary the day before the debate, says the network asked Harris questions beforehand and also agreed to a number of other conditions designed to give the vice president an advantage over Trump.
According to the document, questions about Harris’ time as California attorney general and questions about her brother-in-law, Tony West, were prohibited during the debate.
It contains a number of other provisions and additional wordings have been made to protect the identity of the whistleblower.
“ABC News followed the debate rules agreed to by both campaigns… No topics or questions are shared with campaigns or candidates in advance,” the network said in a statement, which did not address the specific claims.
The whistleblower said in the statement: “I have worked for ABC News for over 10 years in various technical and administrative roles.
The alleged employee, who says he does not support Donald Trump, claims he observed “significant changes in the nature of news reporting within the organization” during that period, as well as a “shift from objective reporting to a model influenced by external factors.”
They argue that the oath is only intended to “address concerns about perceived bias in my employer’s coverage of the debate.”