Trump demands ABC shut down over ‘rigged’ debate where moderators repeatedly checked his facts

Former President Donald Trump slammed ABC News in a new interview, suggesting the network should revoke his broadcast license, after his answers during debates were subjected to real-time fact-checking and several conservative commentators said he had a bad night.

Trump, who has been on a media tour since the debate, was fiercely critical of the network, saying beforehand that he feared being treated unfairly.

“I think ABC took a big hit last night,” Trump told the rival network in a morning interview.

“To be fair, they’re a news organization — they have to have a license to do this. They should have their license revoked for the way they did it.”

Trump posted similar threats against other networks while in office.

The threat would be difficult to carry out. The Federal Communications Commission grants them to individual broadcasters for eight-year terms, but does not license the networks. Such action by the independents would likely lead to First Amendment lawsuits.

Trump called the debate a “rigged deal” and called the network the “most unfair.”

As he debated, Trump continued to praise CNN, a longtime adversary.

“CNN was much more honorable,” he told rival Fox. “The debate we had with Biden was a much more honorable debate.”

Donald Trump strongly opposed real-time fact-checking of his answers in the ABC News debate, saying he was “less likely” to participate in another debate after giving his own performance an excellent review.

“Well, I would be less likely to think about that because we had a great night,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox & Friends.

Trump is complaining despite the fact that his campaign sent out an email with the subject line “I love ABC News,” in which Trump says, “My debate with Comrade Kamala last night was a total OUTBREAK!”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign had called for a second debate in October in the minutes after Tuesday’s prime-time meeting, raising the possibility of a repeat of the high-stakes debate and placing the onus on Trump to signal his intentions.

Trump complained about the network that presented the questions and the moderators, even claiming, without any evidence, that his rival had seen the questions before.

“We won the debate. We had a terrible, terrible network,” he told Fox, again attacking ABC for its real-time fact-checking of some of his statements.

“I thought they were horrible. They should be ashamed of themselves. I mean, they kept correcting me and I said what I said was mostly right or I hoped it was right. But what they said was absolutely wrong.”

He said they “refused to correct Harris’s incorrect statements.” Moderators interfered with his remarks after his own comments on January 6, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and abortion.

“The other one, you know what she said. And they refused to correct it. I even complained a couple of times. Why don’t you correct them? Look, they should have corrected them seven times. She told a flat-out lie. Another one is Project 2025. They know it has nothing to do with me,” Trump said.

He was referring to Harris’s ongoing attacks linking him to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025. Several former Trump advisers have worked on the project, but his campaign has repeatedly said it has nothing to do with its policy platform.

Trump called the debate rigged and suggested Team Harris knew what it would be asked — in a comment that referenced the 2016 debate in which hacked emails revealed a tip to Hillary Clinton’s camp.

“They had a rigged show with someone who may have even had the answers. I mean, I’ll be honest, I saw her speak and I said, you know, she seems very familiar with the questions,” Trump said.

He also suggested that the network should have its broadcast license revoked. “Frankly, they’re a news organization, they should have a license to do this. They should have their license revoked for the way they did it,” Trump vented.

Trump lashed out at Fox News anchors Brett Baier and Martha MacCallum, hours after Baier said Trump had “taken the bait” from Kamala Harris during one of her most memorable attacks. Baier called Harris “clearly well-prepared” and “practiced” and also “on the attack.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want Martha and Bret,” Trump said. “I would like to have somebody other than Martha and Bret. I would like, quite frankly, to have Sean or Jesse or Laura. You know, somebody else. Let’s give other people a chance.”

He referred to Fox host Jesse Waters, who called the debate itself “rough” and “pretty intense,” to Laura Ingraham, who said Trump “missed a few opportunities,” and to host Sean Hannity.

Harris wants another debate with Trump, her campaign said shortly after a televised confrontation in which she enraged Trump by attacking the crowd at his campaign rally and Trump tried to brand her a “Marxist.”

Trump declined to comment on the matter when he said in the spin room a few minutes after the game that he had to think about it.

“Under the bright lights, Americans were presented with the choice they will face at the ballot box this fall: go forward with Kamala Harris, or go backward with Trump,” Harris campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon wrote after the debate. “That’s what they saw tonight, and what they should see at a second debate in October. Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”

Trump had previously called for three debates last month after President Biden withdrew from his campaign, having previously negotiated two debates with Biden. His stunning withdrawal from the race sparked a new wave of talk about the ABC debate.

But when the candidate sat down with friendly interviewer Sean Hannity from Fox News in the spin room after the debate and did not want to commit to an additional debate with Harris.

Going to the spinning room was one of the moves that contestants sometimes made to advance after performing on stage.

“I don’t know, I don’t want to think about it,” he replied when Hannity told him that Harris’ campaign wanted another one.

“But if you win the debate, I think maybe I shouldn’t do it. Why would I do another debate?” he said. He compared it to a boxer: “That’s, you know, what happens when you’re a prizefighter and you lose, you want another fight right away,” he said.

Trump admitted that he “might do it if it was on a fair network,” complaining that it was “three against one,” a reference to the times ABC moderators interrupted Trump’s remarks with fact checks.

Trump gave himself a good review, calling it his “best debate ever,” while also complaining about the moderators.

Hannity asked him again at the end of his interview whether he would do another debate, and Trump still sounded unwilling. “The reason you do a second debate is if you lose, and they lost … But I’ll think about it,” he said.

Trump entered the race as the most experienced debater, having participated in seven presidential debates and a series of primaries. Harris, by contrast, ended her campaign early in the 2020 primary process.

Shortly after the debate, a CNN poll showed Harris beating Trump 63-37. Viewers who had watched the debate were asked who won.

One of the most memorable moments was when Harris teased Trump about his campaign rallies.

“People leave his meetings early because they’re tired and bored,” Harris said. “The only thing you don’t hear him talk about is you.”

Trump demanded an answer, even as moderator David Muir tried to ask him a question.

“People don’t go to her rallies. There’s no reason to go,” Trump countered. “She busses them in and pays them to be there and then shows them in a different light,” he said, citing a debunked theory that Harris relied on AI to generate an image of a packed rally.

Trump kept going, claiming that migrants were eating people’s pets. “In Springfield, Ohio, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating—they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” earning him a fact check from the moderator.

“What an extreme…” Harris said with a laugh when asked for her response.