Will CNN implement a one- to two-minute delay during the 2024 U.S. presidential election debate on June 27, 2024? No, that's not true: CNN stated that such a delay will not happen. Instead, the organization said the debate will be aired "live" and that the claim was a "conspiracy theory."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on X on June 27, 2024. The text of the post read:
BREAKING: CNN will implement a 1-2 minute delay for tonight's presidential debate instead of the standard 7-second delay, potentially allowing time to edit parts of the broadcast.
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Jun 27 20:35:57 2024 UTC)
In a post (archived here) on X on June 27, 2024, and published by CNN's official communications account, the organization debunked the claim. The post read:
This is false. The debate will begin live at 9pm ET.
Lead Stories contacted CNN for additional comment. In an email sent on June 27, 2024, CNN spokesperson Dylan-Rose Geerlings reiterated that the claim is false and called it "a bit of a conspiracy theory going around."
Lead Stories also reached out to the campaigns of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the two presumed presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. We will update this story with any relevant responses.
Other Lead Stories fact checks related to the 2024 presidential election can be found here.
