Fact check: During speech in which he used teleprompters, Trump falsely claims he doesn’t use teleprompters

Washington (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed at a Friday rally that Vice President Kamala Harris used a teleprompter during her Univision town hall on Thursday. Univision itself debunked that claim on Thursday night.

Trump also made a false claim that he doesn’t use teleprompters himself. In reality, Trump regularly uses teleprompters for his speeches and, as usual, had one visible to his left and one visible to his right during this very speech.

Trump said at the Friday rally in Aurora, Colorado: “Did you see where she did a town hall yesterday and she used a teleprompter? I never saw a town – they never – you don’t use teleprompters, we don’t use teleprompters, period, pretty much. You don’t use ‘em for town halls.”

Facts First: Trump’s claims are both wrong. The moderator of the Univision town hall and the president of Univision News both refuted the claim that Harris used a teleprompter at the town hall, noting Thursday that the teleprompter that was seen on the broadcast had text in Spanish, not English, and that it was material for the moderator, not Harris. And Trump uses teleprompters for most of his speeches, though he also regularly ad-libs additional remarks.

The false claim that Harris used a teleprompter at the town hall generated millions of views on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It was made by several right-wing commentators with significant followings, including Benny Johnson, Charlie Kirk, Greg Price and Fox News host Sean Hannity.

Univision News president Daniel Coronell, responding to Price’s claim that “Kamala is using a teleprompter during her ‘town hall’ with Univision,” wrote on X: “That’s not true. The teleprompter that displays a text written in Spanish was a support element for the town hall moderator. I can tell you this with first-hand knowledge because I was in charge of the television program.”

Town hall moderator Enrique Acevedo, responding to Johnson’s claim that “Univision accidentally broadcast proof that Kamala used a teleprompter at her town hall,” wrote on X: “The prompter displayed my introduction (in Spanish) and then it switched to a timer. Any claim to the contrary is simply untrue.”

Acevedo and Coronell both posted their debunkings late Thursday night, but the viral posts from Price, Johnson and Kirk remained online as of 4 p.m. on Friday; Hannity deleted his post. Price, Johnson and Kirk did not respond to CNN requests for comment on Friday.

Trump has made teleprompter-related comments a staple of his recent criticism of Harris as he has insulted her intelligence. Last month, he falsely claimed that Harris used notes in a televised interview with CNN.

The right-wing commentators’ inaccurate posts claiming Harris used a teleprompter at the Univision town hall relied on a 12-second clip that was posted Thursday by the Trump campaign’s “Trump War Room” account. The campaign did not make an explicit claim in its own post; rather, it simply wrote, “The teleprompter” and added an emoji of big eyes.

Its allies did the rest.

The-CNN-Wire
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