Fact Check: CNN, New York Times Asked Zero Questions About Climate Change

CLAIM: CNN and the New York Times failed to ask a single question about climate change during the fourth Democrat debate on Tuesday evening.

VERDICT: True. Though CNN held a separate town hall on the subject, the moderators never brought up the issue during the debate, enraging left-wing critics on social media.

Washington State governor Jay Inslee — who bowed out of the presidential race after focusing his campaign almost exclusively on the issue of climate change — took moderators to task on Tuesday evening for failing to ask a single question about climate change.

Nearly 90 minutes without a single question about the climate crisis.

That’s completely unacceptable. #DemDebate

— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) October 16, 2019

Not one single question about the climate crisis.
Not one single question about the climate crisis.
Not one single question about the climate crisis.

This is the existential crisis of our time. Not one single question, and that’s completely inexcusable. #DemDebate

— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) October 16, 2019

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), who once praised Inslee’s climate change plan as the “gold standard,” retweeted the latter tweet.

Among the candidates, a few mentioned the issue of climate change — notably, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer, appearing onstage for the first time.

But the moderators never raised the issue. CNN might argue that it devoted a seven-hour town hall to the subject, but for Democrats who believe climate change is an urgent world-ending crisis, that is not enough.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

VERDICT: True. Though CNN held a separate town hall on the subject, the moderators never brought up the issue during the debate, enraging left-wing critics on social media.

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