Former President Donald Trump suggested on “Fox & Friends” on Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris may have been given the debate questions in advance.
“She seems awfully familiar with the questions,” Trump told the hosts, prompting New York Times writer Michael Grynbaum to say Trump was presenting a “conspiracy theory.”
“On ‘Fox & Friends,’ Trump veers into a conspiracy theory that Harris was given debate questions by ABC ahead of time. (She wasn’t.),” Grynbaum said on X.
On “Fox & Friends,” Trump veers into a conspiracy theory that Harris was given debate questions by ABC ahead of time. (She wasn’t.)
“She seems awfully familiar with the questions,” Trump says.
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) September 11, 2024
There is precedent for Trump’s suggestion. In 2016, months after a Democratic primary debate, WikiLeaks revealed an email from Donna Brazile — a CNN contributor and then-interim DNC Chairwoman — that showed she provided Hillary Clinton a debate question prior to the March 12 primary debate.
“From time to time I get the questions in advance,” Brazile wrote in the subject line of the email, which was sent to then Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri the day before Clinton’s primary debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
The body of the email contained a question about unions that Clinton was asked.
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Brazile denied that the email was real in an interview with Megyn Kelly, but a security expert verified the email’s authenticity.
WikiLeaks didn’t reveal the original email until October 11, and shortly after, it released another email from Brazile in which she provided another debate question to Clinton ahead of a primary debate.
Brazile resigned from CNN after the emails were released, but played it off as if it were merely an amicable split.
In November of 2016, just before the election, WikiLeaks released another email from the same chain, showing Brazile providing more questions to Clinton ahead of the debates.
Brazile refused to express any regret over her actions, telling SiriusXM’s Joe Madison, who is now deceased, that her “conscience, as an activist, as a strategist–my conscience is very clear.”
She also told Madison that “if I had to do it all over again, I would know a hell of a lot more about cybersecurity.”
Trump pointed out Brazile’s actions during a rally in 2016.
“And speaking of draining the swamp, Donna Brazile did it again,” he said. “WikiLeaks, today. She gave the questions to a debate to Hillary Clinton and that was from a couple of weeks ago. Happened again, but this time far worse. She gave the questions to the debate to Hillary Clinton. Now, they’re all blaming Donna Brazile and frankly, I think she just got fired from the network. She should be fired from the DNC.”
It’s likely we won’t know if Harris was provided debate questions outside of another WikiLeaks hack, but it’s unfair to say Trump is pushing a conspiracy theory when this has happened before.
Grynbaum did not respond to a Daily Wire question on X prior to press time.
