On one hand, this matches my assumptions based on Kamala Harris' performance. On the other hand, my skeptical side wonders how ABC News can be so certain this quickly that no one pulled a Donna Brazile on them. 

Either way, one could easily predict the opening move of a categorical denial:

“Absolutely not,” an ABC News spokesperson told the Daily Beast. “Harris was not given any questions before the debate.”

The network’s debate rules stated that “no topics or questions will be shared in advance with campaigns or candidates.”

The spokesperson also said no aides were in contact with moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis. 

Did ABC actually look into this? Or did it just generate a denial? Nothing in the Daily Beast report indicated a serious review, let alone an investigation on the scale Mark Penn advocated. Don't forget that the Brazile leak didn't come to light in 2016 until the Wikileaks exposure of the DNC's emails. Had those messages never come to light, one would expect the DNC and CNN to have denied any such shenanigans.

That leaves us with the alleged whistleblower revelations, which ... haven't yet emerged. At least thus far, the promised affidavit and testimony still remain to be seen. If the affidavit includes actual communications showing a leak to the Harris campaign, then ABC will clearly have to revisit this. Otherwise, it's just a rumor, and not a terribly credible rumor at that.

Why? Two reasons, and we can start with Harris' response to the questions. If she had advance notice of the specific questions, Harris could have prepared far more specific responses. Instead, as Jake Tapper pointed out the next day, Harris had no specifics, even on questions that were obvious for the debate. That started with the very first question, which was so obvious that it practically is a staple of debates involving incumbents:

TAPPER: Vice President Harris began the debate by punting the first question on the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID MUIR, ABC NEWS MODERATOR: Do you believe Americans are better off than they were four years ago?

HARRIS: So I was raised as a middle-class kid and I am actually the only person on the stage who has a plan that is about lifting up the middle class and working people of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: It went on from there. Despite the economy being the number one issue facing the country, the sitting vice president generally reverted to talking points about a few of her policy proposals, even Harris allies today are saying that she needs to talk more about what she will do for Americans if elected.

It did indeed go on from there. Harris dodged questions on policy and her record all night while attempting her "prosecution" of Trump. Had she gotten the specific questions ahead of time, Harris could have crafted more responsive answers. 

Second reason: No one needed to leak the questions, because ABC News chose them to play to Harris' perceived policy/cultural strengths. Neither David Muir or Linsey Davis asked a single question about inflation; Trump had to raise the issue. Inflation is the most acute issue within the economy for voters, and ABC tried to ignore it. Ditto on crime, another priority for voters in this cycle, which didn't get a single question either; again, Trump had to raise it as an issue. They did ask about immigration, but didn't spend much time on it.

What did ABC's "moderators" ask about? January 6, the 2020 election challenges, Kamala Harris' identity, tariffs, and abortion. They never asked about the legitimacy of Harris' nomination, but gave Harris plenty of openings for her "disqualification" strategy against Trump. 

Who needs to leak the questions when you've cooked them first -- and then decide to fact-check only one side of the debate?

Update: I mentioned this to Duane in tonight's Week in Review, but I'll add this to my point about cooking the questions. In the film Quiz Show, about the Charles Van Doren/'21' scandal in the late 1950s, Rob Morrow and Martin Scorcese have a scene in which Scorcese as an NBC exec explains to the investigator that the shows didn't need to give contestants the answers in advance to rig the contests. They could do it by cooking the questions:

"Even the quiz shows will be back," Scorcese says. "Why fix them? Think about it: you could do the exact same thing by just making the questions easier. See, the audience didn't tune in to see some amazing display of intellectual ability. They just wanted to watch the money."

That's likely the advice ABC followed, too.