Former President Donald Trump offered praise to CNN moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash for their handling of Thursday’s debate, where they posed questions to both Trump and President Joe Biden over a 90-minute session. During the debate, Trump made around 30 false statements, while Biden faced scrutiny for verbal stumbles, including a remark where he mistakenly stated, “We finally beat Medicare.”

Biden’s verbal miscues dominated post-debate discussions, with even MSNBC hosts openly discussing the possibility of replacing him on the Democratic ticket. Some liberals criticized Tapper and Bash for not fact-checking the candidates during the debate, while conservatives, including Trump himself, commended their performance. Speaking at a rally in Virginia, Trump acknowledged CNN’s historically critical stance towards him but praised the moderators’ fairness on the night.

“Remember the guy from CNN?” Trump remarked, referring to Tapper. “Although, I shouldn’t knock CNN because I actually thought they treated me very fairly last night.” He went on to commend Tapper and Bash for their professionalism, noting the audience’s applause at his remarks. Despite Trump’s positive appraisal, the debate’s viewership of 51 million fell short of past records, such as the 73 million viewers for the first Biden-Trump debate in 2020 and the 84 million for Trump’s debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016, despite still being the most-watched program in CNN’s history.