Unfair and unbalanced? Report suggests first debate’s moderator was DNC tool

by WorldTribune Staff, September 27, 2016

Hillary Clinton appealed several times to the “fact-checkers” during the first presidential debate. Observers have been quick to point out on non-Mainstream Media outlets that Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) already had a fact-checker on hand: the debate’s moderator.

NBC News’s Lester Holt challenged Trump multiple times during the debate but failed to call out Clinton.

Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and debate moderator Lester Holt. /Getty Images
Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and debate moderator Lester Holt. /Getty Images

Trump “was kept on the defensive” and “in several instances” had to debate Holt as well as Clinton, the Washington Examiner reported on Sept. 27.

Trump was left to to fact-check Clinton on his own, and did so successfully, particularly on the former secretary of state’s claim that she was not a proponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which she previously referred to as the “gold standard” for international trade.

A New York Times reporter wrote on Twitter that Trump “accurately” called out Clinton’s about face on the trade matter.

Trump also pressed Clinton on the email scandal. Holt did not question Clinton on either the TPP, her email controversy or the multiple issues related to the Clinton Foundation.

Holt asked follow-up questions to Trump on his tax returns, how he would heal racial divisions, the “birther” issue and Trump’s claim that he had been against the Iraq war.

Trump maintained that he had always been against the Iraq war, but Holt shot back, “the record shows otherwise.” Fox News’s Neil Cavuto subsequently released an interview in 2003 in which Trump said he opposed the war.

“In the entirety of the debate, the closest follow-up question Clinton was asked at the debate dealt with racial issues. She was asked the same question as Trump on how to heal racial divisions and then, after her answer, was asked whether she believed police ‘are implicitly biased against black people,’ a reference to a recent comment she made about ‘implicit bias’ among police,” the Examiner report said.

According to a Gateway Pundit report, Holt interrupted Trump 41 times during the debate, compared to just 7 times for Clinton.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login