Supporters of Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have slammed CNN on social media on Monday after the former president’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt was cut off during an interview appearance.
CNN anchor Kasie Hunt ended the live interview with Leavitt on Monday when the latter began criticizing CNN anchor Jake Tapper, who is one of two moderators chosen for the first live televised presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. The highly anticipated event is scheduled for June 27.
When asked what to expect of President Joe Biden ahead of the debate, Leavitt responded: “Well, first of all, it takes someone five minutes to Google ‘Jake Tapper Donald Trump’ to see that Jake Tapper has consistently…”
Hunt stopped Leavitt and warned: “I am going to stop this interview if you continue to attack my colleagues.”
Doug Mills/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Leavitt continued, “I am stating facts that your colleagues have stated in the past…” At this point, Hunt cut her off and ended the interview.
Leavitt has repeatedly claimed that Trump will not receive fair treatment in Thursday’s debate on CNN, describing it as a “biased” and “hostile environment.”
Leavitt’s interview on the network was ended early after she repeatedly questioned a moderator in the network’s upcoming presidential debate.
In response to the incident, MAGA War Room, a popular pro-Trump account on X, formerly Twitter, wrote in a post on Monday: “Fake News CNN cuts off @kleavittnh after she calls out Jake Tapper’s anti-Trump history. CNN is afraid of people knowing the truth.”
Numerous MAGA-aligned X accounts responded to the post by criticizing CNN, calling the network “trash” and “disgusting and disgraceful.”
Fake news CNN is trash!
— Mike Engleman🇺🇲 (@RealHickory) June 24, 2024
Disgusting and disgraceful of CNN.
— Joshua Michael Mlinek🇺🇸 (@Joshua_M_Mlinek) June 24, 2024
Rich Zeoli, a Philadelphia radio presenter who has interviewed Trump in the past, wrote in a post on X: “Now that’s just rude, CNN. Throwing @kleavittnh off like that? Coward News Network?”
In a statement on Monday morning, Leavitt told Newsweek: “CNN cutting off my microphone for bringing up a debate moderator’s history of anti-Trump lies just proves our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly in Thursday’s debate. Yet President Trump is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win.”
Meanwhile, Hunt defended her decision to cut the interview with Leavitt off in a post on X: “You come on my show, you respect my colleagues. Period. I don’t care what side of the aisle you stand on, as my track record clearly shows.”
You come on my show, you respect my colleagues. Period. I don’t care what side of the aisle you stand on, as my track record clearly shows.
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 24, 2024
Trump supporters and right-wing media have repeatedly sought to paint the upcoming CNN debate as biased, particularly accusing Tapper of having been critical of the former president in the past.
Tapper, the CNN lead anchor for Washington, D.C., events, hosts the weekday television news show The Lead with Jake Tapper and has reported on Trump’s political rise and presidency.
In an emailed statement to Newsweek, a spokesperson for CNN said on Monday: “Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are well respected veteran journalists who have covered politics for more than five decades combined. They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate this cycle. There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion and we look forward to the debate on June 27 in Atlanta.”
Update 6/24/24, 10:01 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
