Biden ally James Clyburn clashes with CNN host for not fact-checking Trump during the debate

Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C. clashed with CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday over how the news network conducted the first 2024 presidential debate.

Bash asked Clyburn, who’s been a longtime ally of the president, whether there are any concerns over Biden following what many people, including Democrats, considered to be a lackluster performance during the debate against former President Trump. Some of the president's biggest allies called for him to drop out ahead of the election.

While defending Biden, Clyburn called out the structure of the debate for not doing any "fact-checking" on Trump’s comments.

Rep. Clyburn supported President Biden after the latter's first presidential debate on Thursday. (AP)

"I don’t like the debate where nobody will do any fact-checking," Clyburn said on Sunday. "You just say what you want to say. You know it’s a lie. The guy told 30-some odd lies! And nobody checked him on it! And said that was up to Joe Biden to do it. I’m not too sure." 

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He continued, "If I ask you a question, and you lie to me with the answer, I ought to follow up, and give you what the facts are. and see what your reaction to that would be. So that, to me, was not the way to plan the debate. And whoever, did that, agree to that, really should think about what they’re doing."

Bash, who co-moderated the debate with Jake Tapper, reminded him, "Well, it was a debate agreed to by President Biden, first who proposed this debate."

Bash also pressed Clyburn as he argued Biden can serve another four years beyond a poor debate performance.

Rep. James Clyburn discussed Biden's debate performance on CNN. (CNN screenshot)

"Yes, it was a bad performance," Clyburn said. "I’ve been around these things. I’ve been a part of debate preparation before, and I know when I see what I call preparation overload. And that’s exactly what was going on. The other night, I saw Joe Biden grabbing for words and phrases and even numbers that he was loaded up with. The next day, he gets to North Carolina, he’s freewheeling, and he captivated the audience."

"I believe on Friday in North Carolina, he had a teleprompter," Bash noted.

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Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro similarly criticized CNN and defended Biden’s debate performance while speaking with CNN host John Berman.

"Frankly, I think CNN could have a done a better job in calling [Trump's] lies out," Shapiro said.

Some Democratic leaders have defended Biden as others have called on the president to step down ahead of the election. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

He added, "Joe Biden had a bad debate night, but Donald Trump was a bad president. I‘ll be the first to admit that that was not a good look in that debate last night."

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Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and on Twitter: @lmkornick.