Did CNN's fact checker say that Kamala Harris "lied 17 times in the first ten minutes" of the presidential debate? No, that's not true: The claim comes from a network of websites that clearly labels the work as satire, parody and fiction. Also, a spokesperson for CNN told Lead Stories that the claim was "false."
The claim appeared in a post on Facebook on September 10, 2024, with the caption, "She's not doing well." The post had a photo with text overlay that read:
CNN's official fact-checker says Kamala lied 17 times in the first ten minutes: 'It would be easier to count truths'
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Sep 12 13:54:42 2024 UTC)
The post does not specify what event Vice President Harris was at but it appeared at 9:39 p.m. on the night of the September 10, 2024, presidential debate.
Lead Stories contacted CNN. In a September 12, 2024, email, Dylan Rose Geerlings, director of communications for CNN, wrote:
Can confirm that's false. Please see below.
Geerlings then linked to two CNN articles. One fact checked the whole debate; the other was a video featuring CNN senior reporter on fact checking Daniel Dale, who called Trump's debate performance "staggeringly dishonest," and "odious" when referring to Trump's claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people's pets. Lead Stories has debunked the Haitian immigrant story here. Dale also did not say "It would be easier to count truths" in the 3:13-minute video.
The CNN article that fact-checked the entire debate said Trump made 30 false claims, Harris one.
America's Last Line of Defense
A sticker in the bottom left corner of the Facebook post says, "America's Last Line of Defense," "Nothing on this page is real," and a large "S" with "SATIRE" above it. The Facebook page that posted the claim's bio (archived here) reads, "A subsidiary of the America's Last Line of Defense network of trollery. Nothing on this page is real."
The site is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run by self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. He runs several websites and Facebook pages with visible satire disclaimers everywhere. They mostly publish made-up stories with headlines specifically created to trigger Republicans, conservatives and evangelical Christians into angrily sharing or commenting on the story on Facebook without actually reading the full article, exposing them to mockery and ridicule by fans of the sites and pages.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with 'comedy':sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites that omit the satire disclaimer and other hints the stories are fake. One of the most persistent networks of such sites is run by a man from Pakistan named Kashif Shahzad Khokhar (aka "DashiKashi") who has spammed hundreds of such stolen stories into conservative and right-wing Facebook pages in order to profit from the ad revenue.
When fact checkers point this out to the people liking and sharing these copycat stories some of them get mad at the fact checkers instead of directing their anger at the foreign spammers or the liberal satire writers. Others send a polite "thank you" note, which is much appreciated.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on the September 10, 2024, U.S. presidential debate are here. More Lead Stories fact checks on claims concerning Kamala Harris are here. Other Lead Stories fact checks on claims about the 2024 election can be read here.
