{"id":2339624,"date":"2024-09-11T08:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-09-11T12:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abc-should-be-prosecuted-for-illegal-contributions-to-harris\/"},"modified":"2024-09-11T08:22:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T12:22:32","slug":"abc-should-be-prosecuted-for-illegal-contributions-to-harris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/abc-should-be-prosecuted-for-illegal-contributions-to-harris\/","title":{"rendered":"ABC Should Be Prosecuted For Illegal Contributions To Harris"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fabc-should-be-prosecuted-for-illegal-contributions-to-harris%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2339624&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a\u2063 recent political\u200d debate, former President Donald Trump faced off against Vice President Kamala\u200c Harris, but the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/gold-star-father-who-was-arrested-at-state-of-the-union-speaks-out-the-circus-it-just-got-to-me\/\" title=\"Gold Star Father, Arrested at State of the Union, Speaks Up: &#039;The Circus Got to Me\">event quickly turned<\/a> into \u2064what some viewed as a biased scenario\u200b favoring Harris. ABC hosts\u200b David Muir and Linsey Davis allegedly used their roles\u200d to interrupt Trump frequently, allowing\u200c Harris more \u2064speaking time and even providing\u200c her with rebuttals to Trump&#8217;s comments, which is considered inappropriate for moderators. The \u2064discussion\u2062 deviated towards\u200c rehashing the January 6 Capitol\u200d riot and questioning Trump \u2064about \u2062the 2020 election rather than focusing \u200bon pressing topics like the economy.<\/p>\n<p>Critics argue that \u2064this debate was less\u2064 about a fair \u200bexchange of ideas and more about supporting Harris&#8217;s \u200ccampaign. The\u200c financial \u200bimplications of the debate were\u200c also highlighted; based on previous advertising \u2064costs during major televised\u200c debates, the time spent favoring Harris \u2062could be approximated to provide \u200cher campaign with substantial monetary \u200bvalue, potentially amounting to \u200cover $40 million. This has \u2063raised concerns about media \u200bbias and the potential for such events to be classified as in-kind contributions to\u2064 a \u200cpolitical campaign, as defined by election laws.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Former President Donald Trump showed up for a traditional political debate Tuesday night, but he instead found himself in the middle of a 90-minute ambush to boost Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<p>Working as a team, ABC hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis propped up Harris and repeatedly tried to vanquish Trump by talking over him, cutting him off, and asking bizarre questions they did not ask Harris. At one point, Davis jumped in for Harris and offered a rebuttal to one of Trump&rsquo;s comments on abortion, a move beyond the scope of a moderator.<\/p>\n<p>They allowed Harris more time to respond and followed her when she veered off topic, but gave Trump no such breaks. It was not a debate, but a campaign contribution. That&rsquo;s not a big surprise from either moderator, as Muir <a href=\"https:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/rich-noyes\/2024\/09\/09\/100-abc-debate-moderator-david-muir-hosts-most-pro-harris-left-wing\">hosts the most Trump-negative<\/a> network news evening broadcast and Davis has <a href=\"https:\/\/newsbusters.org\/blogs\/nb\/geoffrey-dickens\/2024\/09\/06\/worst-abcs-debate-moderators-muir-and-davis\">a long track record<\/a> of promoting Democrat talking points including stolen election claims from Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n<p>The moderators wasted time rehashing the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and pressed Trump on whether he really believes he won the 2020 election, at times putting words in his mouth. They barely touched on the economy, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/election-night-livewire-virginia-new-jersey-governor-races-battles-across-america-set-tone-10-months-into-biden-era\/\" title=\"*** Election Night Livewire *** Virginia, New Jersey Governor Races, Battles Across America Set Tone 10 Months into Biden Era\">top voter issue<\/a>, and not once did the moderators acknowledge <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/11\/debate-moderators-bringing-up-j6-but-not-trump-assassination-attempt-tells-you-everything-about-media-corruption\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the attempted assassination<\/a> of Trump. Nor did they question Harris about the lax security the Biden-Harris administration provided for Trump on the campaign trail that contributed to the shooting.<\/p>\n<p>In broadcasting, where advertising is sold by the second, time really is money. A 30-second commercial in the February <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/lifestyle\/superbowl-lviii-ads-to-cost-7-million-per-30-second-slot\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Super Bowl <\/a>cost $7 million. <\/p>\n<p>CBS <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/05\/31\/2024\/cnn-seeks-millions-in-debate-ads\">charged <\/a>$225,000 for a half-minute ad during a 2016 debate between former President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. CNN sold <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semafor.com\/article\/05\/31\/2024\/cnn-seeks-millions-in-debate-ads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ad packages<\/a> for the June 27 debate between Trump and President Joe Biden for a minimum of $1.5 million per package, which included two 30-second ads, plus a few online ads.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s not immediately known how much ABC charged advertisers for time in Tuesday night&rsquo;s debate, but the bigger the audience, the more the broadcaster can charge for each precious second. We can be confident ABC charged top dollar.<\/p>\n<p>That means the shamefully biased minutes the moderators, Muir and Davis, contributed to the Harris campaign were worth big bucks. Let&rsquo;s rough out the math to see approximately how much Harris benefited.<\/p>\n<p>Using the lowball figure of $225,000 for a half-minute charged back in the 2016 debate, we won&rsquo;t factor in inflation, but we will consider the entire 90 minutes. Again, these are only rough figures.<\/p>\n<p>Break 90 minutes into half minutes and you get 180 ad segments, multiplied by $225,000. That comes to a contribution to the Harris Walz campaign of at least $40.5 million. Even selecting only the minutes the moderators intervened on behalf of Harris would yield millions of dollars in benefits to her campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Election Commission (FEC) might consider it an &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/help-candidates-and-committees\/filing-reports\/in-kind-contributions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in-kind contribution<\/a>,&rdquo; which is a non-monetary contribution to a campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The FEC could consider the debate a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/help-candidates-and-committees\/candidate-taking-receipts\/coordinated-communications\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coordinated communication<\/a>,&rdquo; which can be a type of in-kind donation that is made in consultation with the candidate. We know both campaigns spoke with ABC to arrange the debate, so the communication lines were open for such an arrangement.<\/p>\n<p>Or it could be an &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.fec.gov\/help-candidates-and-committees\/making-independent-expenditures\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">independent expenditure<\/a>,&rdquo; which is an expenditure for a communication, such as a television advertisement, that advocates for the election or defeat of a candidate and is not made in cooperation with the candidate.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, $40.5 million far exceeds contribution limits. Plus, corporations are barred from making such contributions.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called debate was a total disservice to serious American voters who wanted to get an honest look at both candidates. ABC put its thumb on the scale, and that is more than bad journalism. The public has no reason to trust this former news outlet ever again. This dog and pony show has killed ABC&rsquo;s credibility.<\/p>\n<p>The company should face scrutiny from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dwt.com\/blogs\/broadband-advisor\/2024\/04\/broadcasters-prepare-for-2024-election-obligations\">Federal Communications Commission<\/a>, which requires television and radio broadcasters to provide equal opportunities to opposing candidates in federal elections. There are some exceptions for certain types of news programming, including debates. But this was a DINO &mdash; a debate in name only.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lara-logan-challenges-media-to-ask-certain-questions-about-afghanistan\/\" title=\"Lara Logan Challenges Media To Ask Certain Questions About Afghanistan\">award-winning investigative journalist<\/a> with decades of media experience.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former President Donald Trump attended what was supposed to be a standard political debate on Tuesday night, but instead encountered a 90-minute setup aimed at promoting Kamala Harris. ABC hosts David Muir and Linsey Davis collaborated to support Harris while consistently interrupting Trump, cutting him off, and posing unusual questions that were not directed at Harris. At one point, Davis intervened on behalf of Harris to counter one of Trump&#8217;s statements about abortion, which went beyond the role of a moderator. They granted Harris more time for her responses and followed her when she strayed from the topic, while Trump received no such leniency. This was less of a debate and more like an endorsement for her campaign.<\/p>\n<p>This behavior from the moderators is not surprising; Muir leads an evening news program known for its negative coverage of Trump, while Davis has a history of advocating Democratic viewpoints, including claims about stolen elections made by Hillary Clinton. The moderators spent considerable time revisiting the January 6 Capitol riot and pressed Trump on his belief regarding the 2020 election outcome\u2014sometimes even putting words in his mouth\u2014while barely addressing economic issues that are crucial to voters. They also failed to mention Trump&#8217;s attempted assassination or question Harris about the inadequate security provided by the Biden-Harris administration during Trump&#8217;s campaign that contributed to this incident.<\/p>\n<p>In broadcasting where advertising is sold by duration, time equates to money; for instance, a 30-second ad during February&#8217;s Super Bowl cost $7 million. CBS charged $225,000 for half-minute ads during a 2016 debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton. CNN offered ad packages starting at $1.5 million each for their June debate featuring Trump against President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s unclear how much ABC charged advertisers for Tuesday&#8217;s debate airtime\u2014larger audiences typically allow broadcasters to charge higher rates\u2014it\u2019s reasonable to assume they commanded premium prices given their viewership numbers.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the biased minutes contributed by Muir and Davis towards supporting Harris could translate into significant financial value for her campaign. Using conservative estimates based on past ad costs (like CBS&#8217;s $225,000), if we break down 90 minutes into half-minute segments (180 total), it would amount to approximately $40.5 million in potential contributions benefiting Harris&#8217; campaign\u2014even considering only those moments when moderators intervened directly on her behalf would still yield millions.<\/p>\n<p>The Federal Election Commission (FEC) might classify this as an &#8220;in-kind contribution,&#8221; which refers to non-monetary support given directly or indirectly through communications with candidates involved in federal elections\u2014a situation complicated further since both campaigns coordinated with ABC regarding this event.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless if it\u2019s deemed an \u201cindependent expenditure\u201d advocating either candidate without direct cooperation with them or classified differently under FEC rules\u2014the estimated value far exceeds legal contribution limits set forth since corporations are prohibited from making such donations.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, this so-called debate failed serious American voters seeking genuine insights into both candidates\u2019 positions; ABC clearly favored one side over another\u2014a practice detrimental not just as journalism but also damaging public trust in media outlets like theirs moving forward. This spectacle has severely undermined ABC\u2019s credibility and warrants examination from regulatory bodies like the Federal Communications Commission due its obligation toward providing equal opportunities in electoral broadcasts\u2014even though exceptions exist within certain news programming formats including debates themselves; however this event can hardly be considered anything other than what it truly was: A DINO\u2014a &#8220;debate in name only.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Beth Brelje serves as an elections correspondent at The Federalist with extensive experience as an investigative journalist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":2339625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/presidential-debate-moderators.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[7261,4021,40628,40629,5932],"class_list":["post-2339624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-abc","tag-harris","tag-illegal-contributions","tag-political-ethics","tag-prosecuted"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/presidential-debate-moderators.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2339624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2339624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2339625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2339624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2339624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2339624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}