Former Clinton strategist and pollster Mark Penn said after watching ABC News’ debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris that an investigation needs to be launched into whether the network coordinated with Harris’ campaign.
His remarks come as the debate moderators were criticized for being biased, from pressing Trump with follow-ups to letting Harris off the hook when she refused to answer questions to repeatedly fact-checking Trump while never fact-checking Harris.
Speaking with John Solomon from Just The News, Penn said: “I actually think they should do a full internal investigation, hire an outside law firm. I don’t know how much of this was planned in advance.”
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“I don’t know what they told the Harris campaign,” Penn said. “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.”
WATCH:
LISTEN: Former top Clinton adviser Mark Penn calls on ABC to launch an investigation into whether debate was rigged.
Penn: ABC “should do a full internal investigation, hire an outside law firm. I don’t know how much of this was planned in advance. … I don’t know what they… pic.twitter.com/TNupZ187mQ
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) September 13, 2024
The Trump campaign released internal polling results after the debate, showing Trump receiving a slight boost after his performance while Harris’ support remained unchanged.
In a ballot configuration that included all of the other candidates — including Green Party candidate Jill Stein, independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Libertarian Chase Oliver, and independent Cornel West — Trump gained two points after the debate to take a 48-46 lead over Harris.
In the head-to-head ballot configuration, which only featured Trump and Harris, Trump gained three points after the debate, and Harris dropped one point, moving the race from 48-48 before the debate to 50-47 after.
