Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., criticized ABC News for not fact-checking Vice President Kamala Harris' comments about U.S. troops during the recent presidential debate. He accused the network of siding with the Harris campaign after a new video surfaced contradicting her claim.
"ABC letting Kamala Harris say ‘no U.S. troops are in combat zones’ without pushback is outrageous. This is more than bias—it's like the media joining her campaign," Cotton posted on X.
In the debate, Harris stated, "There is not one member of the U.S. military in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, for the first time this century."
David Muir and Linsey Davis, the ABC moderators, fact-checked Trump several times but didn’t question Harris' statement.
Later, ABC’s Martha Raddatz admitted that their fact-checkers found Harris’ claim "to be false," though the moderators failed to correct her during the debate.
"There are 900 U.S. troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq, regularly under threat. We also have action in the Red Sea. Special forces like Navy SEALs can be involved in dangerous raids every day," Raddatz said.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., reignited the controversy by sharing footage of American soldiers under fire in the Middle East. He argued it disproved Harris' claim that U.S. troops are not in harm’s way globally.
"These attacks happened recently," Banks posted. "Reminder, Kamala Harris lied to the world when she said we have no active-duty troops in war zones! She's unfit to lead!"
Cotton echoed the accusation, telling Maria Bartiromo, "I don’t know where the moderators were when Harris made that lie... Maybe they were too busy wrongly fact-checking Trump."
He said Harris' comment likely shocked thousands of troops in Iraq and Syria who face frequent attacks. Cotton also blamed Harris and Biden for emboldening Iranian-backed terrorists.
"This just shows why she’s a weak, failed San Francisco liberal who isn’t ready to be our commander in chief," he added.