Jake Tapper compared Trump to Hitler. Can he moderate a fair debate?

It is not often, before a clash between heavyweights, that the referee attracts almost as much scrutiny as the fighters.

Yet that is the situation for Jake Tapper, the CNN host who is due to moderate the television debate on Thursday between President Biden and Donald Trump. Perhaps with an eye on beginning the attempts at spin early, allies of Trump have accused Tapper, 55, of being biased against their candidate and insist he will not get a fair showing.

This week CNN abruptly terminated a live interview with a Trump spokeswoman after she accused Tapper and Dana Bash, his co-moderator, of being hostile.