New York
CNN
—

CBS moderators Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan had to make an important choice ahead of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate: Should they immediately fact-check the candidates’ statements live? Or would they take a hands-off approach and let the candidates fact-check each other?

O’Donnell and Brennan chose to thread the needle. At the top of the debate, the moderators said their role was “to provide the candidates with the opportunity to fact-check each other’s claims,” ​​but they occasionally made factual statements, often not in direct response to the comments of a candidate. Other times they offered the opportunity for the opposing candidate to correct the record.

But the evening’s most direct fact-check also led to its most dramatic moment on stage, turning the otherwise largely civil debate on its head and prompting moderators to turn off the microphones of Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz during a controversial discussion. back and forth about Haitian immigrants in Ohio.

Early in the debate, Vance was answering a question about immigration when he brought up Springfield, Ohio, saying “he’s concerned about the Americans there” whose “lives have been destroyed by Kamala Harris’ open border.”

“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities across the country, you have schools that are overwhelmed, you have hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have housing that is completely unaffordable because we have brought in millions of illegal immigrants. to compete with Americans for scarce housing,” Vance said.

After Walz responded, Brennan stepped in to lay out the facts on the matter.

“And just to make it clear for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio has a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status,” Brennan said.

Vance spoke out to complain about the fact check.

“Margaret, the rules were that you couldn’t fact-check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s really going on,” he protested.

Brennan tried to go further, but Vance continued to describe the process by which immigrants can apply for temporary protected status, which would allow Haitian immigrants to move to places like Springfield.

After a few lines from Vance and an attempted intervention from Walz, the microphones were muted as the men continued to talk over each other.

“The audience can’t hear you because your microphones are broken,” Brennan told the candidates. “We have so much we want to accomplish.”

Last month, ABC moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis cross-checked former President Donald Trump during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, angering Trump and his right-wing media allies. That was the case again Tuesday night, when Trump and some of his top media supporters expressed outrage at the moderators’ decision.

Margaret Brennan just falsely checked JD’s facts on ‘Climate Change,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social after Brennan stated that scientists overwhelmingly agree that the Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. “When is she going to fact check Tampon Tim on all his false statements? Another iteration of the Fake News being unfair to the Republican candidate and trying to get the pathetic Democrat across the finish line. But it doesn’t matter, the public sees it for what it is: FAKE NEWS!”

“Both young ladies have been extremely biased anchors!” Trump raged in another post.

Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News and NBC host turned conservative podcaster, also attacked CBS for fact-checking Vance’s claims. “F you CBS – how DARE YOU,” she wrote on X.

On Fox News, the issue was a top priority for Brit Hume, the right-wing newspaper’s chief political analyst. “The moderators were obnoxious and made it seem like it was three against one against Vance,” he said.

Walz asked Vance if Trump lost the 2020 election. Listen to how Vance responded

Fox primetime host and Trump booster Laura Ingraham added: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Republican so deftly maneuver what was smug and arrogant bias on the part of those moderators. Nearly every question was designed to cast Republicans in a bad light, undermining Trump’s views on child care.”

But the Trump campaign itself didn’t seem too bothered by the moderators.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told CNN after the spin room debate: “I didn’t like that they went back on their word on the fact-checking issue. But I thought Senator Vance handled that situation masterfully and was able to get his full answer out and set the record straight.”