During a highly contentious moment during the Vice Presidential debate hosted by CBS News on the night of Tuesday, October 1, Senator and 2024 Trump running mate JD Vance pushed back on CBS debate co-moderator Margaret Brennan when she attempted to fact-check him, reminding her of the debate rules. His mic was cut as he responded to her breach of the pre-debate agreement.
As background, CBS announced before the debate that moderators would not attempt to call out or fact-check false claims during the debate. Rather, it said, if there were a false claim made, a QR code would appear on the screen and viewers could scan it to go to the CBS website and see real-time fact-checks of candidate claims.
That, however, is not what actually happened during the debate. Instead, at one point, co-moderator Margaret Brennan interjected and attempted to correct Sen. JD Vance when he argued that illegal immigrants who were plopped down in the town of Springfield, Ohio are overwhelming the town’s resources.
Brennan apparently couldn’t help herself, as she interjected that, contrary to what Sen. Vance said, the Haitians in Springfield, OH, have legal status and are not illegal immigrants. She said, “Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.”
Sen. Vance then shot back at Brennan, insisting that she had just violated the terms of the agreement for him to appear for the debate. He said, after Brennan’s interjection, “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check. And since you are fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.
Sen. Vance then continued and described the actual legal process for obtaining the legal status that Brennan described, tying it to a Harris-backed immigration policy, both moderators talked over him and snidely thanked him for “describing the legal process.” Brennan said, “Senator, we have so much we have to get to, thank you so much for explaining the legal process.”
Then, as Sen. Vance kept trying to respond and comment on Brennan’s against-the-rules fact-check, CBS cut off Sen. Vance’s mic. Brennan told him, after the network cut off his mic rather than give him a chance to respond to Brennan’s attempted, against-the-rules fact-check, “The audience can’t hear you because your mics are cut.”
Watch the incident here:
CBS News had announced before the debate that it would cut off the microphone of either candidate at its discretion, saying, “Unlike the presidential debates, a candidate’s microphone will not be muted when their opponent is speaking, but CBS News reserves the right to turn off the microphones.”
Sen. Vance, posting on X (formerly Twitter) about the debate, said, “Last night was fun! Remember: Kamala Harris has been in power for the last 3.5 years. She opened the border. She cast the deciding vote on trillions in new spending. The border and affordability crisis is on her. Donald Trump, by contrast, governed with common sense.
