“It’s a phony system. Lester’s a Democrat. They’re all Democrats. Ok, it’s a very unfair system.”

Trump says debate moderator being ‘intimidated' into favoring Clinton at next presidential clash

Donald Trump says the moderator of next week’s presidential debate is being pushed into favoring Hillary Clinton, unlike Matt Lauer did in the last contest. Trump says NBC anchor Lester Holt is being targeted for intimidation by those in the media and the Democrat party who don’t want a repeat of the September 7th forum in which Clinton was widely seen as the loser. “Matt did a fantastic job,” said Trump in an interview with Bill O’Reilly of Fox News Monday night.

“They came down on Matt, he was tough on me. He was tough on her and they really hit him because I won that debate. Everyone said I won, the polls all said I won. I won the debate. And they hit Matt because they said he should’ve been much tougher.” Lauer was attacked by many in the media for being too tough on Clinton over the email scandal. Conservatives complained that he didn’t ask her any questions about the Clinton Foundation pay-for-play controversy. Trump says the debates are unfair. “What they’re doing is gaming the system by gaming the ref. They’re going after Lester. They’re trying to intimidate Lester.” Holt will be the moderator at Hofstra University in New York in which the candidates will debate America’s Direction,” “Achieving Prosperity,” and “Securing America,” The 90-minute debate will begin at 9 p.m. next Monday and air without commercials.

O’Reilly says Holt won’t be ‘intimidated’ into helping Clinton and that he’s always been a ‘fair guy.’ Trump says he respects Holt but calls him a Democrat ‘like all the others.’ “It’s a phony system. Lester’s a Democrat. They’re all Democrats. Ok, it’s a very unfair system.” Of the other scheduled moderators, Trump was particularly critical of CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I think he’s very unfair at CNN. They call it the Clinton News Network. That’s why the ratings aren’t doing very well.” Despite his misgivings, Trump says he has no plans to boycott future debates in which Anderson is moderator, “I’ll show up,” he said.

Marc Patrone -- Bio and Archives Marc Patrone has had a long and successful career as a broadcast journalist, columnist and content creator for companies like Sunmedia and Bell Media. His work has been widely distributed and circulated through out the U.S and Canada. He also served as CRTC Commissioner for five years and works as a communications consultant for NY based Third Bridge Consulting. He is a married father of two living in the Toronto area.

{/exp:ce_cache:it}