Why CNN’s debate moderators didn’t fact-check the candidates (2024)

A debate “is not the ideal venue for a live fact-checking exercise,” CNN political director David Chalian told The Washington Post ahead of the event. His moderators’ role, as he saw it, was “to plainly facilitate and moderate a debate … not to be a participant.”

By that measure, Bash and Tapper achieved their mission. Throughout the 90-minute debate, the moderators interjected only sporadically. On two occasions, they pressed Trump to answer their questions he had dodged; on another, Bash stepped in to end a meandering conversation about who was better at golf.

But they made no corrections, even as Trump made so many false statements — more than 30, according to CNN’s fact-checker — that anchor John King would later say the former president “broke the fact-check machine more than I can count tonight.”

Some observers approved of the choice.

“Less was more from the moderators,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN bureau chief who now teaches at George Washington University. “I do not think it should be the role of the moderators to fact-check. Then they become the story. Then they become the lightning rod.”

“Our job was to make sure candidates were heard so voters can make informed decisions and we are pleased we were able to do that,” a CNN spokesperson said.

Still, the decision to keep Bash and Tapper on the sidelines drew criticism, especially among left-leaning commentators who were aghast by Trump’s performance.

“The absence of real-time fact checking is the biggest failure of this debate,” wrote Anthony Coley, a contributor for NBC News and MSNBC, on X.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) even called out the network on its own air Friday, saying CNN “could have done a better job of calling those lies out!”

Chalian had left open the possibility of fact-checking “if there is some egregious mistruth put forward,” but the moderators chose not to.

Some on social media felt that Trump met that bar when he claimed that his opponents support abortion in the eight or ninth month of pregnancy — or “after birth.”

“How are none of the moderators fact checking this post birth abortion nonsense??” Kate Smith, senior director of news for Planned Parenthood, wrote on X. “That was a dumpster fire.”

Ameshia Cross, a Democratic strategist, called Trump “an assertive and authoritative liar” and said that “not having fact checking was a dumb decision.”

Even within CNN, there were questions about whether the network’s moderators “should have been better prepared” for Trump’s “mountain of lies,” as one veteran producer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, put it.

Yet others argued that the onus was upon Biden to push back on Trump’s falsehoods in real time.

“Donald Trump lied over and over and over and over again, and Joe Biden couldn’t respond to any of those lies,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on his daily show Friday morning.

Instead of fact-checking the candidates, Tapper and Bash focused mostly on keeping them within the time limits, stopping and starting and going back and forth between the candidates.

During a question about immigration, Trump said Biden “has killed so many people at our border by allowing all of these people to come in.” Instead of requesting the factual basis behind Trump’s assertion, Tapper responded, “Thank you, President Trump,” and passed the mic to Biden.

At another point, Biden ended his response midsentence — with the words “by the way” — when Bash said “thank you” and moved on to Trump.

Even when Trump seemed to ignore a question about the opioid crisis by instead criticizing Biden’s economic policies, the moderators said nothing and allowed Trump to keep talking.

Only when Trump wrapped up did Tapper nudge him: “The question was: What are you going to do to help Americans who are in the throes of addiction?” Tapper then gave Trump 67 seconds to answer the actual question.

The moderators also opted not to act immediately when Trump answered a question about whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election by continuing his criticisms of the Biden administration.

Eventually, Bash prodded him: “President Trump, the question was: Will you accept the results of the election, regardless of who wins? Yes or no, please.”

But for Sesno, Bash and Tapper balanced their obligations as moderators — to both viewers and to the country — adeptly.

“They asked their questions, which were very carefully and deliberately framed and worded, they were specific and clear, and they came back to their questions frequently when the candidates didn’t answer,” he said. “I think Dana and Jake came across as smart, calm, very well-prepared, deliberate, serious journalists who took this moment with all the heft and weight and consequence that it carried.”

Across all major channels that carried CNN’s broadcast, the debate drew about 51 million viewers — down from the 73 million that watched Biden and Trump debate in the first debate of the last presidential cycle, though that one was held in September, just weeks before the election.

Chris Wallace, who now works for CNN, received a lot of attention for his performance as moderator of that first 2020 debate, which quickly went off the rails when Trump interrupted him and Biden repeatedly.

This time around, the post-debate conversation has centered mostly on the performance of the current president, not Bash and Tapper.

“The fact they’re not the story is the highest compliment of all,” said Matt Gorman, a Republican strategist who most recently worked for Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential bid.