Daniel Dale is a fact-checker over at CNN, which as you may know is famously anti-Trump. So it was surprising when he offered multiple rulings against Joe Biden over claims the Democratic presidential nominee made during last week’s presidential debate.
Dale appeared on CNN’s post-debate coverage to talk about the heated exchange between Trump and Biden over the former vice president’s stance on fracking.
Biden claims to have never been opposed to fracking but Trump has video evidence that he did.
“You said it on tape!” Trump said.
“Show the tape! Put it on your website!” Biden exclaimed. “The fact of the matter is, he’s flat-lying.”
Dale reluctantly credited the president for being correct about the issue.
“So in this case, Trump is correct. Biden did make anti-fracking comments in 2019 and 2020, and Trump was not lying,” Dale said to anchor Anderson Cooper.
The Trump campaign did immediately put up a montage video of Biden repeatedly opposing fracking on their website. Dale played a clip from a debate during the Democratic primary campaign during which Biden was questioned if there would be “any place for fossil fuels, including coal and fracking, in a Biden administration.”
“No,” Biden said in the clip. “We would work it out. We would make sure that it’s eliminated and no more substitutes for either one of those, any fossil fuels.”
Dale pointed out, “So Biden didn’t say the words ‘I oppose fracking’ there, but he clearly was at least very strongly suggesting that he was an opponent.”
The CNN reporter also called Biden out on his claim that “not one single person” lost their health insurance during the Obama administration.
“Biden was flat wrong when he declared last night that ‘not one single person’ lost their private insurance under Obamacare,” Dale wrote in a tweet. “This was litigated at great length during the Obama presidency.”
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