A viral post on X claims that CNN will broadcast tonight’s presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden with an elongated delay. “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,” reads the post, which had more than 2.4 million views as of Thursday evening.
The tweet was shared by prominent accounts, including by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and Donald Trump Jr., though both deleted their tweets.
CNN’s communications team quickly denied the claim, stating in a response that the debate would be broadcast live. “This is false. The debate will begin live at 9pm ET,” it said.
While CNN’s statement confirms that a 1-2 minute broadcast delay will not be used, it does not specify whether a shorter delay could be implemented. Networks often broadcast live programming with a standard delay—typically around 7 seconds—so that producers can prevent unwanted content such as profanity or nudity from airing. The Dispatch Fact Check reached out to CNN for comment, but has not yet received a response confirming whether the network plans to use such a delay during tonight’s broadcast.
Update, June 27, 2024: This fact check has been updated to include that a CNN spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment.
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