‘Total Nonsense’ And ‘Pure Fiction’: CNN Fact-Checker Exposes Trump’s False Debate Claims

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale offered a breathless breakdown of the misleading claims and false statements that former President Donald Trump made during his first 2024 presidential debate with President Joe Biden, which the network hosted in Atlanta on Thursday.

The presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s list of false claims is “way, way longer” than the president’s, Dale noted before reeling off and then debunking the many, many falsehoods uttered by Trump.

Dale, during his near-3-minute segment, described Trump’s claim that Biden wants to quadruple people’s taxes as “pure fiction” and said his line about Biden only creating jobs for “illegal immigrants” was “total nonsense.”

CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who moderated the debate, were criticized for not fact-checking Trump’s false claims in real time for the audience’s benefit.

The network did, however, run a live fact-check on its website.

Per CNN’s analysis, Trump made more than 30 false claims during the head-to-head compared to Biden’s “at least nine false or misleading claims.”