CBS moderators slammed for going against VP debate rules, fact-checking Vance and muting mics

CBS’s vice presidential debate moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, took heat online for their fact-checking of Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and then muting his microphone despite debate rules against such actions.

As the Republican vice presidential candidate, Vance faced off against Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), the running mate of Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, on the debate stage Tuesday night ahead of the 2024 elections. 

Vance argued the open border policies of President Joe Biden and Harris have created economic, healthcare, and educational crises in cities, such as Springfield, Ohio, a city Vance suggested has been negatively impacted by illegal immigration.

“The people I am most concerned about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens who have had their lives destroyed by Kamala Harris’s open border. It is a disgrace,” Vance said.

Before moving on to the next question, Brennan addressed the audience to fact-check Vance, saying, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary-protected status.”

As both Brennan and O’Donnell attempted to quickly move on, Vance interjected to note that the debate rules were to include no fact-checking. Vance then went on to explain the Biden administration’s “CBP app” that provides immigrants legal status “at the wave of a Kamala Harris open border wand,” noting a distinction between others who pursue legal immigration through green card applications.

“That is the flirtation of illegal immigration, Margaret, by our own leadership and Kamala Harris opened up that pathway,” Vance continued. 

As Vance continued, Walz also sought to comment before having their microphones muted.

“The audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut,” Brennan then said.

Many people took to social media to comment on Brennan’s fact-checking and the muting of the microphones.

“The CBS moderators just MUTED JD Vance’s mic as he called them out for their lies about Kamala Harris’ open border policies,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) said on X. “DISGRACEFUL.”

Political commentator Collin Rugg noted that Vance himself fact-checked Brennan and O’Donnell.

“JD Vance fact-checks the CBS moderators after they tried ‘fact-checking’ him about the Haitian migrant crisis in Springfield, Ohio,” Rugg said.

Libs of TikTok called the situation “incredible.”

Outkick founder and political commentator Clay Travis commended Vance for how he handled the fact-checking.

“Here is JD Vance destroying the CBS moderators,” Travis wrote on X alongside video of the exchange.

The Trump campaign also responded to the fact-checking and microphone-muting.

“@JDVance just fact checked CBS News’ @NorahODonnell and @margbrennan’s ‘fact check’ on Kamala Harris’ app that allows illegal aliens to enter this country,” the Trump campaign’s X account, Trump War Room, stated. “They got so annoyed that they cut off his mic.”

Others questioned the bias displayed by CBS News against Vance in how questions were presented throughout the debate.

“CBS doesn’t think anyone sees this? When they ask Vance to respond, they load the question to shield Walz’s last answer,” author and political commentator Andy McCarthy said. “When they ask Walz to respond, it’s ‘however you want to respond, big guy.’ And still Vance is in command.”

Washington Examiner commentary writer Quin Hillyer also asked if “ANYBODY in the establishment media have a friggin clue how to be remotely fair, or what journalistic ethics entails?”

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Both Vance and Walz were praised for their civility with one another through the debate. 

Tuesday night’s debate is the only scheduled debate between Vance and Walz.