ATLANTA, Georgia: CNN did not report that Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris made 17 false claims in the first ten minutes of the September 10 presidential debate against Republican rival Donald Trump. The misleading narrative that circulated online was originally intended as satire.
The day after the debate, some Facebook accounts posted, “CNN’s official fact-checker says Kamala lied 17 times in the first ten minutes.”
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment, but the outlet’s reporting does not support the claim that Harris lied 17 times, either in the first ten minutes or throughout the debate, as suggested by the viral posts. A September 11 CNN report analyzing statements from both candidates indicated that Trump made over 30 false claims during the debate, while Harris made one.
The report noted that Harris incorrectly stated that Trump left office “with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression.” Additionally, CNN identified two misleading statements and three others that lacked context from Harris.
A video report featuring CNN fact-check reporter Daniel Dale supports these findings. The misleading narrative can be traced back to a September 10 post on the Facebook page “America – Love It Or Leave It,” which describes itself as part of “America’s Last Line of Defence network” that shares parody and satire content. Its bio clearly states, “Nothing on this page is real.”
VERDICT
False. CNN did not report that Kamala Harris made seventeen false claims during the September 10 presidential debate.
