"On 26 September 2016, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump squared off at Hofstra University for the first head-to-head presidential debate of the campaign. One of the talking points that emerged from the debate was the preparedness of each candidate, exemplified by this line from Clinton in response to a remark by Trump about her recent absence from the campaign trail:
“I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate. And yes I did. And you know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that’s a good thing.”
While legitimate news outlets such as Washington Post penned articles explaining how Clinton meticulously prepared for the debate, the non-legitimate Baltimore Gazette published a fake news article offering a different explanation — Clinton had received her debate questions a week in advance:
Hillary Clinton received her questions for the first presidential debate of 2016 a week in advance. - False [Snopes]The first presidential debate was held and Hillary Clinton was proclaimed the winner by the media. Indeed Clinton was able to turn in a strong debate performance, but did she do so fairly? Multiple reports and leaked information from inside the Clinton camp claim that the Clinton campaign was given the entire set of debate questions an entire week before the actual debate. "
