ABC has denied Vice President Kamala Harris was given advance notice of questions ahead of her debate showdown with former President Donald Trump.
“Absolutely not,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement to The Daily Beast.
“Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”
None of Harris’ aides were in contact with debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, ahead of Tuesday night’s face-off in Philadelphia either, the network added.
The point-blank denial comes after Trump — who decried the debate as “unfair” and “rigged” — floated the idea that Harris had been given a head’s up on what questions to expect.
“I watched her talk, and I said, ‘You know, she seems awfully familiar with the questions,’” he told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” just hours after the debate.
In the lead up, ABC’s debate rules had spelled out that “no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.”
It comes as the 45th president and his campaign aides have repeatedly argued that his Democratic rival was given an unfair advantage during their first – and most likely only – presidential debate earlier this week.
In the aftermath, Trump quickly slammed both ABC and its moderators for repeatedly fact-checking and debunking him during the forum, arguing it was a “three on one” affair.
“It was a rigged deal, as I assumed it would be, because when you looked at the fact that they were correcting everything and not correcting with her,” he said.
“It was a three-on-one — that’s OK, I’ve had worse odds before, but never so obvious,” he said of the moderators.
Trump was fact-checked at least five times by moderators during the televised event.
Meanwhile, Harris was allowed to speak uninterrupted for the duration of the 90-minute debate.
