TAPPER: Finally from us in our "POP CULTURE LEAD," more than 15 million people tuned into last night's debate hosted by NBC though President Trump's focus was to criticize the network and its cable arm for some technical issues that forced a premature commercial break. The President called it unprofessional. And look, we aren't here to poke fun. It's live T.V. and stuff happens but the bout of T.V. gremlins did remind us of a far worse snafu back in 1976 when this glitch happened during the first debate between Governor Jimmy Carter and then President Gerald Ford.</s>JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a breakdown in the trust among our people and --</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The pool of broadcasters of Philadelphia had temporarily lost the audio. It's not a conspiracy against Governor Carter or President Ford.</s>TAPPER: Temporarily lost the audio. That lasted for 27 long and awkward minutes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both candidates are waiting. They have been tooled that they're on the air with a picture, but they are off the air --</s>TAPPER: It should be noted that at no point did Governor Carter or President Ford they take to Twitter to attack the media to attack the technical problems. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.
TV Gremlins Haunt Debate But '76 Snafu Was Worse.