Did "leaked reports" say George Soros paid ABC moderators $1 million each to fact check Donald Trump during the September 10, 2024, presidential debate? No, that's not true: The story came from a website whose satire disclaimer reads: "These articles are meant to be humorous and are often entirely made up." No credible evidence of "leaked reports" or such payments to journalists could be located by Lead Stories.
The claim came from an article published by spacexmania.com on September 12, 2024, titled "Leaked Reports Claim George Soros Paid ABC Moderators $1 Million Each to Fact-Check Trump" (archived here). It began:
In a revelation that has sent shockwaves across the political landscape--and provided endless fodder for conspiracy theorists--leaked reports have allegedly confirmed that billionaire George Soros paid $1 million to each ABC moderator.
This is what the article on spacexmania.com looked like at the time of writing: