Republicans are crying foul after CBS' Face the Nation anchor Margaret Brennan, one of two debate moderators for the vice presidential showdown on Tuesday, fact-checked false claims by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, that "illegal immigration" was the root cause of a crisis in Springfield, Ohio.
Vance himself admitted in the past that he was "creating a story" about Haitian immigrants to draw attention to the apparent suffering of his constituents, who now face bomb threats from people who think Springfield is the epicenter of immigrant pet-eating and other crimes.
Blaming journalists for their own missteps has become a common tactic for Republicans to divert attention from poor performances or outright falsehoods. Former President Donald Trump hardly waited for Brennan and CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell to commit any apparent transgression, complaining that “both young ladies have been extremely biased Anchors!” barely two minutes into the debate on Truth Social. (O'Donnell and Brennan are 50 and 44 years old, respectively.)
In this case, Vance repeated his claim about Haitian immigrants early in the debate, prompting Brennan to interject that many of them had "legal status." Vance then complained that “the rules were that you were not going to fact check me" before trying to explain that the "illegal immigrants" could apply for asylum through the CBP One application and be granted legal status by the federal government. Midway through his speech, and with Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., trying to get in his own responses, CBS cut both of their mics.
The New York Post editorial board, declaring the fact-check "a load of horse manure," echoed Vance's invocation of CBP One and claimed that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have been abusing the process by potentially allowing 1,000 immigrants in per day, even if they're only seeking "better economic opportunity" rather than escaping from persecution. The right-wing tabloid did not mention that Haiti is in the throes of a political and humanitarian catastrophe where murder and kidnapping is rampant — and that the vast majority of asylum applications have historically been rejected.
The Biden administration has even been deporting Haitian migrants back to their country on chartered flights.
Brennan's fact-check and O'Donnell later clarifying that there was "no widespread fraud" in the 2020 election provoked a furious response by Republicans on social media within minutes of those happening.
"Margaret Brennan just lied again about the ILLEGAL MIGRANTS let into our Country by Lyin’ Kamala Harris, and then she cut off JD’s mic to stop him from correcting her!" Trump declared on Truth Social. "Norah just made a statement about the Election, not a question. She’s having a bad night!" he wrote in another post.
Some of Trump's Republican supporters also joined the protest. Former vice presidential prospect Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., fumed on X that the moderators "offered two gratuitous editorial statements, (one of them misleading), taking a shot at JD Vance under the guise of 'fact checking.'"
Fox News' Brit Hume, crowing that Vance won the debate, said that the debate moderators were "obnoxious" and that it felt like a "three-on-one" ganging up on the Ohio senator — repeating the line Trump used to blame his poor debate performance on the media. His former colleague Megyn Kelly was more concise: "F you CBS - how DARE YOU,” she wrote on X.
When ABC News fact-checked Trump during his debate with Harris, the GOP nominee and his supporters likewise railed against the network for holding him accountable rather than reflecting on a performance that prompted the fact-checking in the first place. The backlash may have persuaded CBS to relegate fact-checks to an opt-in, "second-screen" experience rather than correcting the candidates live, generally allowing Vance and Walz to speak without interruption from the moderators, with the rare exception by Brennan.
The decision by CBS angered some journalists who accused the network of sacrificing ethics in a vain attempt to assuage Republicans who want to make up stories with impunity.
“If there’s one thing Vance has learned from Trump, it’s that lying to get ahead is OK," former CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather wrote on Substack. "If you get caught, just double down and lie some more. Who’s going to fact check you? Well, apparently not CBS News.”
