Chris Wallace says fact-checking during debates is ‘terrible’ and ‘a very slippery slope’

Chris Wallace is sharing his personal thoughts on the practice of fact-checking during the presidential debates, arguing that its use in recent on-stage sparring matches is “terrible” and “a very slippery slope.”

The veteran news anchor made the claim in an interview published Tuesday, recalling a moment during last month’s vice presidential debate when CBS moderator Margaret Brennan fact-checked Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) for his description of Haitian immigrants.

“And then Vance said, ‘No, you’re wrong,’ and he wanted to argue with her about it, and they cut the microphones,” Wallace said on Mediaite’s “Press Club” podcast. “I winced. I thought it was terrible. And I have to say I took some heat when I said I wasn’t going to fact-check.”

The former Fox News anchor moderated the third presidential debate of 2016 between former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and announced on air that she will not fact-check the proceedings.

“That’s not my job,” Wallace said at the time.

“I think my saying at the time, I’m not going to fact-check, stands up pretty well, because you look at what happened with ABC where they backtracked,” he told “Press Club.” “Look at what happened to CBS. It’s a very slippery slope.”

ABC News stated shortly before the September presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris that fact-checking would not dominate the proceedings, as “the debate belongs to the candidates.” CBS reportedly introduced an alternative at home where viewers could scan QR codes on the screen for fact-checking during the debate between Vance and Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).

“I guess I still feel like the onus is on the other candidate,” Wallace said on the podcast before making a bold claim: “fact-checking by moderators sometimes seems like virtue signaling to me.”

“It’s like, ‘I’m going to get high,'” she said.

While the host admitted his choice not to fact-check came “before Trump became president” in “a much more innocent time,” he doubled down and said the decision to do so in a candidate is a subjective act.

“There was a moment in the ABC debate where Trump had said, ‘Well, I lost (the 2020 election)’ and (moderator) David Muir asked him about that,” Wallace said. “And Trump said, ‘I was being sarcastic.'” And then Muir said, “Well, I didn’t think you were being sarcastic.”

“Really? Now let’s check if a guy was being sarcastic or serious? he continued

Near the end of the interview, Wallace also recalled talking to the late “PBS NewsHour” host Jim Lehrer, who hosted 12 presidential debates, about his thoughts on moderation.

“We had lunch before I did my first debate in 2016,” Wallace said. “And he said, ‘You have to understand, it’s not about you, it’s not about the moderator. And if at the end of the debate, people say: “It was a great debate, there was even a moderator”, that’s a success.”

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