CNN’s Chris Licht Defends Donald Trump Town Hall: “I Absolutely, Unequivocally Believe America Was Served Very Well By What We Did Last Night”
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CNN Worldwide CEO Chris Licht defended the network’s town hall with Donald Trump amid criticism that the network was giving the former president a platform to spew lies and misinformation.
On the network’s morning editorial call, Licht said, “I absolutely unequivocally believe America was served very well by what we did last night, because it laid bare and created, in the words of Joe Scarborough, a political earthquake, and that people woke up and they know what the stakes are in this election in a way that they didn’t the day before.” Deadline obtained audio of the call.
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Scarborough, host of Morning Joe, weighed in on Wednesday, saying that the event “showed the corrosive effects of Trumpism over eight years. The most shocking part was an audience that cheered on a president who tried to overturn a democracy.” Scarborough and Licht were co-creators of the MSNBC show in 2007.
Others chided CNN for hosting the event itself. On The View, Joy Behar said that she changed her mind about the network’s plans, telling viewers, “What I saw last night was a bad comedian with a bunch of people in his cult who love him.”
In his staff call, Licht noted Axios’ coverage of the town hall. The site keyed in on what Trump said about his positions on Ukraine, abortion and pardoning January 6th rioters, among other topics.
“There is so much we learned last night about what a second Trump presidency would look like, that is incredibly important for the country to hear,” Licht said. “That is our job, is to get those answers and to hold him accountable in a way that no news organization has done in years, and while we all may have been uncomfortable, hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story, because the people in that audience represent a large swath of America.”
The network has set up its town hall events to include GOP primary voters among its audience members.
Licht added that “the mistake that the media made in the past is ignoring that those people exist. Just like you cannot ignore that Donald Trump exists.”
Licht also praised moderator Kaitlan Collins, telling staffers that she gave a “masterful performance.” “It’s tough to imagine anyone navigating such a tricky assignment with more ease than Kaitlan. She asked tough questions, followed up, followed up, fact checked again in real time, and as you can see that is not an easy feat.”
But critics have blasted in particular the town hall format, in which Republican audience members not only got to ask questions of Trump, but gave him two standing ovations and cheered and laughed. Of particular concern were moments when Collins asked Trump about a jury’s $5 million verdict finding him liable for sexual assault and defamation of E. Jean Carroll. The former president mocked Carroll and blasted the verdict as “rigged,” while the crowd applauded.
Hours after the event, CNN’s media reporter Oliver Darcy opened his newsletter with the line, “It’s hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening.” He also included a number of comments from Twitter, including from never-Trump political commentator Charlie Sykes. “The format was impossible and CNN’s bosses should have known that,” he wrote.
In his call, Licht said, “I am aware that there have been people with opinions/backlash, and I will say that was absolutely expected. And I will say this as clearly as I possibly can. You do not have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say that we didn’t get them.”
He also said that ignoring Trump, at a time when he may be the Republican nominee or even the next president, would be an “overcorrection of the days when we gave him unfettered rally coverage and showed podiums.” That was a reference to the campaign of 2016, when CNN under CEO Jeff Zucker often went live for Trump’s rallies, first tantalizing viewers with the shot of an empty lectern.
“So we all know covering Donald Trump is messy and tricky, and will continue to be messy and tricky, but it’s our job,” Licht said. “We are going to do fairly, toughly and aggressively as Kaitlin did last night.”
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