U.S. President Donald Trump points at CNN’s Jim Acosta and accuses him of “fake news” during a news conference after the congressional midterm elections in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2018.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
It doesn’t seem unusual for a leading presidential candidate to be interviewed live by a major television news network.
But when the candidate is former President Donald Trump — whose public statements are often full of lies – The network is one he has repeatedly denounced as “fake news”, and bookings are bound to draw attention.
Trump is scheduled to appear on CNN’s New Hampshire town hall live on Wednesday night. The event, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, will be hosted by “CNN This Morning” anchor Kaitlan Collins and will feature live Republicans and undeclared voters taking questions from the Republican frontrunner.
The town hall marked Trump’s first online appearance since his 2016 presidential campaign, CNN reported. Since then, Trump has attacked the network, its ratings, its leadership and many of its on-air personalities.
But following a leadership change at CNN, it was reported that ratings plummetedthe network has apparently decided to give Trump another chance.
“He’s the front-runner for the Republican Party. He has to come to power,” Warner Bros. Discovery Channel CEO David Zaslav, whose company owns CNN, said of Trump on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week.
The decision has raised concerns in the Trump administration critic, they argue that giving the former president a live platform to spread misinformation ignores the lessons the media learned during his presidency.some of them also defendant CNN’s new CEO, Chris Licht, is trying to appeal to a more centrist audience as he overhauls the network.
The timing will only intensify the controversy. The town hall came a day after a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation in a civil case brought by author E. Jean Carroll.
The jury ordered Trump to pay Carroll $5 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Trump denounced the trial in a series of social media posts late Tuesday, and his lawyers vowed to appeal, and it was unclear whether the outcome of the trial would proceed. affect his bid 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump lost his 2020 re-election bid to President Joe Biden, but he still appears to be the de facto leader of the GOP — and even his would-be top rivals have mostly reacted coldly to the jury’s damn verdict .
Trump appeared to berate CNN in front of the town hall, suggesting in a social media post that the network booked him “because they rightfully crave these great (Trump!) ratings again.”
“This could be the start of a new, vibrant CNN with no more fake news, or it could turn into a disaster for everyone, including me. Let’s see what happens?” Trump wrote .
This is developing news. Please check for updates.