Trump To Participate In CNN Town Hall: Sparking Controversy

Photo edit of Donald Trump. Credit: Alexander J. Williams III/Pop Acta.
Photo edit of Donald Trump. Credit: Alexander J. Williams III/Pop Acta.
Former President Donald J. Trump is set to participate in a presidential town hall event on CNN, which has sparked controversy among left-leaning commentators. The event, which will be moderated by CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, is scheduled to take place in New Hampshire and will feature Trump answering questions from Republican and undeclared voters in the state’s GOP presidential primary.
An adviser to the former president revealed that Trump agreed to participate after being persuaded by “a compelling pitch” from CNN executives. Despite Trump’s history of criticizing CNN for biased reporting, he agreed to participate in the town hall. Some left-wing critics have called for a boycott of CNN, arguing that the network is committing “journalistic suicide” by hosting Trump without real-time fact-checking or giving him a platform to speak.
According to the Daily Wire:

At St. Anselm College, Trump will take questions from Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary, according to the network.

Trump, who is known to throw the “fake news” label at CNN, agreed to participate in the town hall after “CNN executives made a compelling pitch,” an adviser to the former president told Semafor. The adviser also said Trump is “running to be president for all Americans.”

Some, including POLITICO, surmised that Trump agreeing to sit down with CNN was an “implicit” swipe at Fox News after Trump lashed out at the Republican National Committee following its decision to pick Fox News to host the first 2024 presidential primary.

In recent years, Donald Trump has shown a preference for Newsmax over Fox News, publicly claiming that Fox has turned against him due to internal connections such as Paul Ryan. Some have suggested that evidence of a MAGA-base removal at Fox can be seen in the firing of their most successful prime-time host, Tucker Carlson. Additionally, Trump seemed uninterested in participating in Fox News-hosted GOP Primary debates, citing Megyn Kelly’s treatment of him in 2016 and Chris Wallace’s questioning style in 2020, along with Wallace’s ignoring of the Hunter Biden laptop story, as examples of unfair treatment. In both instances, Trump felt that the moderators were biased against him and gave his opponents easier questions.

CNN would release the following statement about their decision to host Trump for a town hall event:

“With the 2024 presidential election underway, CNN Anchor Kaitlan Collins will moderate a live CNN Town Hall with former President Donald Trump at 8pmET on Wednesday, May 10 from St. Anselm College in New Hampshire.

The former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate will take questions from Collins and a live audience of New Hampshire Republican and undeclared voters who say they intend to vote in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. 

CNN has a longstanding tradition of hosting leading presidential candidates for Town Halls and political events as a critical component of the network’s robust campaign coverage. This event with former President Trump will be the first of many for CNN in the coming months as CNN correspondents travel across the country to hear directly from voters in the runup to the 2024 presidential election.

CNN’s live Town Hall with former President Donald Trump moderated by CNN Anchor Kaitlan Collins will stream live for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com and CNN OTT and mobile apps under “TV Channels,” or CNNgo where available. The town hall will also be available On Demand beginning Thursday, May 11 to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN apps, and Cable Operator Platforms.”


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