Kamala’s ABC connection

Former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are at odds over where and when the pair will debate, with Trump rejecting a debate he had previously scheduled with President Joe Biden on September 10, hosted by ABC News. Instead, Trump says he will only debate Harris on September 4 in a debate hosted by Fox News: “I’ll see her on September 4th or, I won’t see her at all,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Harris has accused Trump of “playing games” and is keen to stick with the ABC debate. Trump has given two reasons as to why the ABC debate is no longer on the table for him. First, he agreed to that debate with Biden, not Harris. Second, he is in active litigation against ABC News and anchor George Stephanopoulos (or, as Trump calls him, “Slopadopoulos”). The defamation lawsuit cites Stephanopoulos wrongly claiming that the former president was found liable for raping E. Jean Carroll; a jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse but not rape.

There is a third legitimate reason why the candidates should not meet at ABC News. Vice President Harris has an extremely close relationship with a top executive at Disney, which oversees ABC News. Dana Walden, a co-chairman of Disney Entertainment, and Harris have been friends for three decades.

According to Walden’s biography page on the Disney website, she “leads Disney’s world-renowned, award-winning content brands and businesses, including ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Owned Television Stations, Disney Branded Television, Disney Television Studios, Freeform, FX, Hulu Originals, National Geographic Content and Onyx Collective.” [Emphasis added].

“Under Walden’s leadership… ABC News continues to dominate as the #1 news network in America, with such iconic programs as 20/20, Good Morning America, Nightline and World News Tonight,” the page reads.

Walden and Harris have been friends since 1994, according to Vanity Fair. When Harris ran for San Francisco district attorney in 2003, Walden and her husband hosted a fundraiser for her campaign. Harris’s Hollywood friends are credited with helping Harris raise enough money to become California attorney general in 2010 and with giving her a “glimmer of hope” during her failed run for the Democratic nomination in 2019. The Waldens helped Harris raise money as recently as 2022: “The Waldens hosted a fundraiser with Harris in 2022 at their Brentwood house, one of several boosts they’ve given Kamala,” Puck News reported.

“Harris and Emhoff, based mostly in Brentwood when they’re not in DC, have pretty strong ties to the entertainment community,” Matt Belloni writes. “Yet few, if any, go as far back with Harris as Walden does, nor do they enjoy the perch and purview Walden does at Disney. If Kamala ends up becoming president, might that ‘extraordinary’ friendship even give Walden a boost in the Disney CEO succession race? Probably not, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.” 

The Ankler similarly reports, “Her political benefactors are also her friends: Before the pandemic and Harris winning the vice presidency, one could find Walden, Harris and their husbands at such Westside dining haunts such as Toscana in Brentwood and El Cholo in Santa Monica.” 

Harris credits Walden with her marriage to entertainment lawyer Doug Emhoff. Walden set up two mutual friends, Chrisette Hudlin and director-producer Reginald Hudlin, on a blind date, who in turn set up Harris and Emhoff on a blind date in 2013. Harris said during the 2022 fundraiser, according to a pool report, “In many ways, Dana and Matt [Walden] are responsible for my marriage. But [they] have always been extraordinary friends.” 

Walden, who was named co-chairmen of Disney Entertainment in 2022, is apparently aware that her relationship with Harris poses a potential conflict of interest. Walden stopped fundraising for Harris once she was catapulted to her high-powered role at Disney because “as the head of Disney’s television business she runs ABC News,” reports the Wrap.  

Although Walden has eliminated a financial conflict of interest, no one seems to have raised questions about a possible editorial conflict. At the very least, there are ethical questions involved in Walden overseeing a news network that would host a presidential debate between Harris and her opponent.

We’ve already seen how ABC News treats Harris versus Trump. ABC News was a major corporate sponsor of the National Association of Black Journalists event last week where Trump was treated with open hostility and contempt. ABC News’s senior congressional correspondent Rachel Scott, one of the panelists in that interview, repeatedly sparred with the former president, who in turn accused her of being “nasty” and “rude.”

Harris, meanwhile, received little scrutiny from the network for failing to show up for the NABJ event. With Kamala’s ABC connection, it’s not at all unreasonable to suggest a presidential debate be held elsewhere.