A high-ranking Disney executive, Dana Walden, has been called out over her “extraordinary” friendship with Vice President Kamala Harris and the implications it may have had on the controversial ABC News debate. Critics have slammed the debate as being biased against former President Trump, who was incessantly fact-checked by the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, who constantly interjected during the discussion.
As a result of the apparent bias during the debate, some have speculated whether the Disney executive’s friendship with Harris may have influenced how the debate was handled. When Walden was asked by a reporter from Variety about criticism from conservatives alleging that her relationship with Harris led to bias during the debate, she said, “You know I really don’t want to dignify it with much of a response.”
Walden further praised the journalistic integrity at ABC News, claiming, “I have the highest regard for everyone at ABC News. It’s the most professional organization, the most top-notch journalists.” She further emphasized that she did not feel compelled to address the accusations directly. “It doesn’t really dignify much of a response,” Walden added.
Despite Walden’s claims, recent reports came out that moderator Linsey Davis had admitted that the fact-checking throughout the debate was only planned for former President Donald Trump. Reportedly, Davis claimed that she and co-moderator David Muir intentionally targeted Trump over perceptions that he had gotten away with False statements in the first debate with President Biden.
“People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators,” Davis said. “Politicians tend to say the same things again and again,” she added. However, many have pointed out that they refused to fact-check Kamala Harris despite the dubious comments she made throughout the evening.
Amid the outrage toward the presidential debate, The American Tribune reported on remarks from billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who blasted ABC News after bombshell accusations came out against the network that it had colluded with the Harris campaign to stage questions while vowing to target Trump with fact checks and not the vice president.
“I assume that you have been made aware of this affidavit which was made public earlier today in which a whistleblower states that @ABC worked closely with the @KamalaHarris campaign in sharing the substance of the questions, avoiding certain topics, agreeing on the staging, committing to fact check @realDonaldTrump and not Harris, and more disturbing details,” Ackman wrote on X.
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Ackman continued, “I find the allegations credible as written and also because the affidavit was apparently made and filed the day prior to the debate and makes mention of Harris’ smaller podium and other details that only became public thereafter. While I can’t determine the veracity of the allegations, they do match substantively what took place during the debate. The moderators of the debate — @DavidMuir and @LinseyDavis— have yet to respond to the allegations. Since they have not yet done so, one must draw a negative inference.”
Watch Walden below:
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.