ABC's David Muir dismisses post-debate 'noise' about moderators

ABC News' David Muir dismissed post-debate "noise" about the performance of the candidates and moderators in an interview on Monday, defending how he and Linsey Davis conducted the event.

"All of the noise that you hear afterward about you know, ‘Which candidate won the debate, did the moderators win or lose?’" Muir told the audience on ABC's "Live With Kelly and Mark." "That's just noise. You all know that. The most important thing to remember is you all have the power."

Muir said he felt it was the "duty" of him and Davis to discuss issues Americans cared about, citing their questions about the economy, the border crisis, reproductive rights, Afghanistan and the peaceful transfer of power.

"These are all really important issues, the issues of our time, really, and I always say as a moderator, what the candidates decide to do with that time – you can ask the questions, but they'll answer with whatever they choose to answer with, and you have to be ready for whatever might come your way, even the most unexpected of moments," he said, to chuckling from the audience.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump during the debate in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, 2024. (Getty Images)

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Muir said he disappeared at the end of the summer because of the weight of the debate and the amount of time necessary to prepare for the event. He praised the "extraordinary" team that helped him get ready.

Muir and Davis were criticized by conservatives for fact-checking Trump during the debate five separate times while never fact-checking Vice President Kamala Harris once. Trump, whose uneven performance at the debate received criticism, fretted afterward that it was "three on one."

While conservatives fumed, liberal media pundits widely praised Muir and Davis, contrasting them with the more passive performance of CNN's Dana Bash and Jake Tapper when they moderated the debate in June between Trump and President Biden. Biden's frail, dismal showing at the CNN debate led directly to him exiting the 2024 race and being replaced by Harris.

Davis, whose "fact-check" of Trump on an abortion claim went viral, referenced CNN in a post-debate interview.

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"People were concerned that statements were allowed to just hang and not [be] disputed by the candidate Biden, at the time, or the moderators," Davis told the Los Angeles Times.

Muir also discussed the second assassination attempt on Trump on Monday, expressing disbelief and calling the situation "horrific."

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"We have to condemn political violence, all violence in this country," the "World News Tonight" anchor said. "We have to keep the former president, we have to keep the current vice president, we have to keep both of them safe, get to Election Day, and I just hope we get back to a time in this country where the temperature comes down."