CBS debate moderators pummeled for 'obnoxious' fact-checking of Vance: 'A terrible look'
CBS News anchors Norah O'Donnell and Margaret Brennan were panned by critics as they moderated Tuesday night's vice presidential debate between Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Despite CBS announcing that it would not allow live fact-checking during the debate, the moderators repeatedly did so. Brennan interjected to correct Vance after he suggested that illegal immigrants are overwhelming resources in Springfield, Ohio.
"Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status," Brennan said.
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As the moderators attempted to move on, Vance pushed back.
"The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check," Vance reminded them. "And since you are fact-checking me, I think it's important to say what's actually going on."
While explaining the process of obtaining legal status and tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, the moderators again spoke over Vance, thanking him for "describing the legal process" before they cut off his microphone as Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz attempted to argue with him.
The fact-checking by the CBS moderators was slammed by critics.
"The moderators were obnoxious and made it feel like three on one on Vance," Fox News' Brit Hume reacted.
Fox News' Laura Ingraham called out the "smug, arrogant bias" of the moderators.
"Almost every question was designed to make Republicans look bad, slanting Trump’s views on childcare. And yet Vance seemed to take it all in stride. And he really, I think, with most questions, really showed his humanity and also his knowledge of the issues," Ingraham said.
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Critics also took to social media to pile on the CBS anchors.
"Once again another major media outlet embarrasses themselves on a debate stage," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., wrote. "In just the first 30 minutes of the CBS debate the moderators have already offered two gratuitous editorial statements, (one of them misleading), taking a shot at JD Vance under the guise of ‘fact checking’."
"CBS literally cut off @JDVance’s mic mid-sentence as he was trying to fact-check Tim Walz. They’d never do it if the tables were turned," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah said.
"Margaret Brennan interrupting JD Vance technically correcting her false fact check of him is a terrible look for @CBSNews," conservative strategist Brad Todd said. "They just cannot help themselves. Democracy Dies in Muted Microphones."
"What is this CBS bulls---? If you're going to fact check, then say you will. Don't say you won't and then do!" exclaimed "Breaking Points" co-host Saagar Enjeti.
"The way the moderators think it's their job to have the last word on how to frame an issue is amazing," Wall Street Journal film critic Kyle Smith quipped.
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Fox News' Bill Melugin, who has extensively covered the migrant crisis during the Biden-Harris administration, provided his own fact-check of the debate exchange.
"CBS cuts Vance’s mic while he’s explaining how the Biden/Harris admin has allowed over 800,000 migrants to enter the U.S. via the CBP One App 'lawfully'. It then sounded like Walz claimed the CBP One app has been used since the 90s, which is completely false," Melugin wrote on X. "The Biden/Harris admin started using it in winter 2023 to begin mass paroling migrants into the country by the hundreds of thousands, typically between 1,300-1,500 every single day."
Notably, O'Donnell and Brennan cooled off on the fact-checking after they returned from the commercial break.
The backlash the CBS News moderators received resembles the uproar sparked by ABC News' David Muir and Linsey Davis for their partisan moderating during the first presidential debate between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Fox News' Yael Halon and Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report.