ABC News debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis spent Tuesday night fact-checking former President Donald Trump's comments while basically giving a free ride to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Muir and Davis debated Trump multiple times on their denial of facts on abortion, migrants in Ohio, crime, the 2020 election, Jan. 6, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
Harris not being fact-checked was not an issue for the mainstream media. NPR claimed the fact-checking "was not a reflection of bias; it was because of just how many things Trump said there were blatantly false."
Below are issues on which Muir and/or Davis fact-checked Trump or clarified his responses.
Abortion
Asked why women should trust him on the issue, Trump gave a lengthy answer.
"They [Democrats] even have, and you can look at the governor of West Virginia, the previous governor of West Virginia, not the current governor, who's doing an excellent job, but the governor before," Trump said, apparently confusing West Virginia with Virginia.
"He said the baby will be born and we will decide what to do with the baby. In other words, we'll execute the baby.
Democrat former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was widely believed to have said in a 2019 radio interview that he supported "after-birth abortions." His spokesperson at the time said Northam was trying to describe the “tragic or difficult circumstances” often involved in late-term abortion.
Trump continued: "And her vice presidential pick [Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz], which I think was a horrible pick, by the way, for our country, because he is really out of it. But her vice-presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth – it's execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is OK.
"And that's not OK with me."
Davis responded: "There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it's born."
But Davis is the one with incorrect facts in her debating Trump on Harris' behalf.
Senate Democrats blocked the Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act in 2019, with just three of 50 Senate Democrats voting to allow failed aborted babies to receive healthcare after birth.
Migrants in Springfield, Ohio
Trump said migrants in the town are "eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats. They're eating — they're eating the pets of the people that live there. And this is what's happening in our country, and it's a shame."
Muir quickly responded: "I just want to clarify here, you bring up Springfield, Ohio. And ABC News did reach out to the city manager there. He told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community."
After Trump added he had seen people on TV say migrants were eating pets, Muir replied: "I'm not taking this from television. I'm taking it from the city manager."
Trump responded: "Maybe he said that, and maybe that's a good thing to say for a city manager, but the people on television are saying the dog was eaten by the people that went there."
"Again the city manager said there was no evidence," Muir debated.
"We'll find out," Trump said with a defiant, skeptical nod.
Crime
Trump said crime "in this country is through the roof. And we have a new form of crime. It's called migrant crime. And it's happening at levels that nobody thought possible."
Muir replied: "President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is coming down in this country."
Trump said "excuse me, the FBI defrauded" Americans.
"They were defrauding statements," Trump said.
2020 Election
Muir asked Trump whether he acknowledged losing the 2020 election when he said he lost the election by a whisker.
"I said that sarcastically. You know that. It was said, 'Oh, we lost by a whisker.' That was said sarcastically," Trump said.
"I did watch all of these pieces of video," Muir shot back. "I didn't detect the sarcasm."
Trump reiterated he is not backing down from his claims the election was not free and fair, noting his legal challenges were shot down on the technicality of "lack of standing" and not the lack of evidence.
Jan. 6 and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi
When Trump spoke of Jan. 6, 2021, and said Pelosi rejected his request for 10,000 National Guard members or soldiers at his rally that day, Muir responded: "The question was about you as president, not about former Speaker Pelosi."
Ukraine-Russia War
Muir twice asked Trump whether he believed it is in the U.S.'s best interests for Ukraine to win the war.
"I think it's in the U.S. best interest to get this war finished and just get it done; all right?" Trump said. "Negotiate a deal, because we have to stop all of these human lives from being destroyed."
Muir and Davis failed to correct Harris for saying Trump once described "very fine people" on both sides of the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally in 2017. White supremacists and Neo-Nazis participated in the rally.
Actually, Trump was talking about people protesting over a Gen. Robert E. Lee statue.
The moderators also failed to correct Harris when she tied Trump to Project 2025.
"Number one, I have nothing to do, as you know, and as she knows better than anyone, I have nothing to do with Project 2025," Trump said. "That's out there. I haven't read it. I don't want to read it, purposely. I’m not going to read it."
Harris also was not corrected after falsely stating no U.S. troops currently are in combat zones. U.S. troops are deployed in Iraq and Syria.
Harris mischaracterized Trump's "bloodbath" comment about potential violence after the election, and the former president's stance on IVF.
"Excuse me, I have to respond: Another lie; it's another lie," Trump interjected. "I have been a leader on IVF which is fertilization."
Newsmax's Eric Mack contributed to this report.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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