CNN boss Chris Licht loved how Trump’s town hall turned out, even though it was ‘uncomfortable’ hearing the audience cheering
Licht #Licht
CNN CEO Chris Licht is aware of the backlash to Wednesday night’s town hall featuring former President Donald Trump — but he still loved the network’s coverage.
In a call with CNN’s newsroom on Thursday morning, Licht said he “couldn’t be more proud” of the team behind the event, according to a series of tweets from Brian Stelter and Semafor media reporter Max Tani.
Licht acknowledged that he understood any confusion or anger over the coverage, saying: “You do not have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say that we didn’t get them.”
Regarding the Trump-friendly audience’s enthusiastic response to the former president’s repeated lies about the 2020 election and swipes at E. Jean Carroll over her sexual abuse lawsuit, Licht said: “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.”
Licht finished his comments by saying “America was served very well” by CNN’s coverage. He also noted that covering Trump — the 2024 GOP frontrunner — is “tricky and messy” and will “continue to be messy and tricky, but it’s our job.”
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that CNN hoped the town hall event filled with Republican voters would endear the network to the GOP, boost ratings, and deflect criticism and complaints the network wasn’t fair to Trump.
But instead, Trump steamrolled CNN host Kaitlan Collins for 70 minutes. Conservative commentators online were delighted to see the network’s prime-time event go off-the-rails, while the network faced harsh blowback from media critics who accused CNN of giving Trump a platform on live TV to spread falsehoods.
Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign told the New York Times that the CNN town hall was a total success — for Trump.