Billionaire Bill Ackman spent days after the ABC presidential debate promoting false claims that a network “whistleblower” had allegedly uncovered collusion between ABC and Kamala Harris’ campaign. Now, a month and multiple denials later, he sees the claims differently.
“It seems pretty clear that the alleged @abc whistleblower debate story claiming that @KamalaHarris was given questions in advance and other advantages was a fake,” Ackman posted on X alongside a blog post by Megyn Kelly discussing the dubious claims.
What Ackman, CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, did not acknowledge, however, is that he was one of falsehood’s early boosters. After an X account named “Black Insurrectionist” claimed it had been in touch with a whistleblower who alleged the Harris campaign had been given debate topics ahead of the showdown with Donald Trump and had demanded Trump—and Trump alone—be fact-checked.
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The claim was then posted on X by Leading Report, a website that has repeatedly shared misinformation on everything from politicians to networks. It was that post that landed on Ackman’s radar, prompting him to share it with his 1.4 million followers. “If this turns out to be true, this is a serious breach of journalistic ethics and a death blow to @ABCNetwork reputation,” he wrote at the time.
But the network had already rejected the question-sharing claims. Still, Bill Ackman posts, and he posts a lot on X. And for five days after the debate, he proceeded to make the claims his sole obsession.
Once the “Black Insurrectionist” account shared the typo-laden, heavily redacted “affidavit” the alleged whistleblower allegedly wrote, Ackman doubled down in a Sept. 15 open letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger on X.
“I find the allegations credible as written,” Ackman wrote, imploring Iger to investigate the issue.
“Our democracy depends on transparency, particularly with regard to events which can impact the outcome of the presidential election,” Ackman added.
But now, a month later, Ackman has acknowledged what was apparent from the start: The claims were false.
A Pershing Square spokesperson declined to comment.
