Presidential debate wasn’t edited to cut references to $6,400 relief checks, despite online claims

The Sept. 10 presidential debate in Philadelphia aired live and featured no mentions of stimulus relief checks, but a recent Facebook post paints a nefarious plot to keep Americans from their rightful money.

"Did you guys hear about what Kamala said in the debate?" a narrator says in a video in the Oct. 7 post. "During the debate between Trump and Kamala there was a part that was edited out by mainstream media … their discussion about what exactly was the $6,400 relief checks that Biden has been secretly handing out to a certain number of Americans. And, lo and behold, Kamala spilled the beans and said that actually 90% of Americans can qualify for this relief that you can get every month.."

The 37-second video features a split screen of Trump and Harris from the debate with a CNN chyron that says "Breaking News" and "$6,400 - 2024 relief check" and a debate stage shot with another "Breaking News" CNN chyron that says "$6,400 - stimulus check update."

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

First: CNN hosted the June 27 presidential debate in Atlanta between former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee, and President Joe Biden, who was the Democratic nominee before withdrawing from the race in July. 

ABC News hosted the Sept. 10 debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who succeeded Biden as the Democratic nominee. CNN simulcast the ABC debate.

Featured Fact-check

Instagram posts

stated on September 17, 2024 in an Instagram post

CDC warns a third of adults may die from dangerous bacteria in ramen noodles.

The debate moderators and both candidates talked about Biden, but no one mentioned stimulus, relief, checks or $6,400.

That number has come up multiple times in the past year in posts spreading misinformation. We’ve previously fact-checked and found false claims that Biden announced a $6,400 government subsidy for all Americans, that Congress passed a $6,400 subsidy for low-income Americans and that the federal government was sending everyone "a free $6,400."

We looked for, but found no, credible evidence such as new stories, White House press releases or other statements to corroborate the claim that Biden is secretly sending Americans $6,400 in relief money, much less that a reference to this aid was edited out of the presidential debate. 

If Biden was issuing such checks, he’d probably want to do so publicly and score some political points with voters. 

The U.S. government warns that offers of free money are often scams and the Federal Trade Commission has tips for avoiding and reporting these scams. Government-funded financial assistance programs are offered only through official government websites.

We rate this post False.