Fox News host Sean Hannity devoted a significant amount of airtime on Wednesday night to complaining about the moderators of the ABC News presidential debate.
Specifically, he derided David Muir and Linsey Davis for fact-checking multiple lies and exaggerations from Donald Trump, whom Hannity has a close relationship with.
“Last night was little more than a campaign contribution by ABC-Disney masquerading as a news division, which they are not, all while supporting the Harris campaign,” he said. “ABC News is a left-wing, woke, leftist talk network—but they’re not honest.”
In Hannity’s view, ABC News sinned by calling out Trump for falsely accusing Democrats of supporting the post-birth killing of babies (which is illegal across America), and by telling Trump that Haitian immigrants are not eating pets in Ohio, and for accurately telling Trump that violent crime is down when he said it was up.
According to the media analytics company Nielsen, the debate drew an estimated 67.1 million viewers across 17 networks—nearly 16 million more viewers than watched the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.
Hannity’s segment was a continuation of conservative attacks on the network that began before the debate had concluded. Figures like Sen. Tom Cotton referred to the event as “three-on-one,” as did others. And Trump later echoed that message in a Tuesday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends,” where he also argued for ABC’s broadcast license to be pulled for fact-checking him.
“I think ABC took a big hit last night,” Trump said.
Hannity repeatedly mentioned Disney, the parent company of ABC News, in an apparent reference to the ongoing campaign by Fox News and the conservative movement against the widely admired company. Conservatives have complained that Disney is “woke” because the company has expressed support for racial and gender inclusivity.
Attacking Disney was a key element in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ attempts to gain a national profile before his failed presidential campaign.
Hannity’s claim that ABC News is “masquerading” as a news network stands in marked contrast to Fox News’ longtime role as a consistent advocate for right-wing causes, often airing racist, false, and misogynistic content.
Most recently, the network was forced to pay nearly $800 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for falsely airing allegations that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by the Democratic Party and President Joe Biden.
ABC and most other networks did not air those falsehoods and were not sued by Dominion.
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