Fact checks were prevalent during and after the Biden-Trump debate — but not for real-time viewers

Those with an interest can find several exhaustive, independent fact checks of claims made by Joe Biden and Donald Trump during their televised debate on Thursday night. But there was nothing for the estimated 50 million people who watched the event in real time. That prompted some criticism of CNN and moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. But CNN said ahead of time that it wanted its moderators to be questioners, not umpires, and pronounced itself satisfied with the network's performance on Friday. Independent fact checks found Trump had made many more false statements than Biden.