BRIAN STELTER (HOST): What about the issue of fact-checking that's been talked about so much in the past few weeks? Does the commission want Lester Holt to fact-check?



JANET BROWN: The commission asks independent, smart journalists to be the moderators, and we let them decide how they're going to do this. But I have to say, in our history, the moderators have found it appropriate to let the candidates be the ones that talk about the accuracy or the fairness of what the other candidate or candidates might have said. I think, personally, if you start getting into fact-checking, I'm not sure, what is a big fact, what's a little fact, and if you and I have different sources of information, does your source about the unemployment rate agree with my source? I don't think it's a good idea to get the moderator into essentially serving as the Encyclopedia Britannica, and I think it's better for that person to facilitate and to depend on the candidates to basically correct each other as they see fit.

Previously:

Journalists Call On Debate Moderators To Fact-Check Candidates

Donald Trump Doesn't Want CNN's Anderson Cooper As Debate Moderator Because He's “Unfair”

Donald Trump Says He Supports Chris Wallace's Promise Not To Fact Check Candidates As Debate Moderator