CNN and Trump set aside beef for 'town hall,' and both draw fire for it

Donald Trump has spent the better part of the past seven years badmouthing CNN, attacking its reporters as "enemies of the people" and calling its reporting "fake news." He once tried banning one of its journalists from the White House. He routinely mocks its eroding ratings.

Yet on Monday, CNN offered to put Trump on the air live for an hour in prime time - and Trump accepted.

Proving that bygones can be bygones, CNN lined up Trump for its first "town hall" telecast of the 2024 presidential campaign. The twice-impeached, once-indicted former president will take questions from Republican and independent voters in a CNN-produced event next Wednesday in New Hampshire, the state that will hold the first Republican primary next year.

The announcement drew expressions of surprise and shock, aimed at both CNN and Trump. Some critics of CNN took to social media to suggest a boycott of the network. One prominent Trump supporter called Trump's acceptance of the invitation "a Romney move" - implying that it revealed him suspiciously moderate sensibility reminiscent of the 2012 Republican nominee.

Norman Ornstein, the eminent political scholar, put it this way: CNN's invitation to Trump "legitimizes a man under indictment, currently on trial, with more indictments to come, who incited a violent insurrection against the country and its constitution and democracy," he told The Post.

For Trump, he said, the invitation is "a godsend - a network he hates bowing down to him and giving him attention and airtime."

The rebukes came from inside the house, too. A CNN staffer - speaking anonymously to be candid about his employer - called the decision baffling. "He's going to be taking questions from voters?" this staffer asked. "This was the guy who tried to overturn" what voters decided in 2020.

Officially, CNN says it's just doing what it has always done during presidential election cycles.

"CNN goes all in on covering the presidential campaign and a key piece of that is town halls with the candidates," said David Chalian, the network's political director, in an interview. The format "helps inform voters about their choices."

Of course, noted Chalian, Trump is "a unique candidate." Since leaving office, he has been indicted on 34 felony counts by a New York grand jury, and his alleged efforts to promote the violent overthrow of the 2020 election are the subject of multiple state and federal investigations.

But he's also the Republican front-runner for the nomination, Chalian said: "For us, our job, despite his unique status, is the same. We have to hold him to account for his words and his actions. ... I don't think our mission as journalists is anything less than to cover the news. And he's the news."

It's unclear, however, how the town hall format, which features questions from non-journalists - some of whom may be Trump supporters - would enable CNN to hold Trump to account. Chalian said CNN has routinely produced such events with candidates and "you'd be hard-pressed to say [the format] is less revealing than a one-on-one interview."

The event will be hosted by morning anchor Kaitlan Collins, who will also ask questions.

CNN has had a complicated relationship with Trump since he declared his candidacy for president in mid-2015.

The network arguably was instrumental in boosting Trump's profile and prestige during his first run for the Republican nomination in 2015 and2016. It turned its cameras on his rallies for extended periods, typically without offering fact-checking, commentary or context. It also gave substantial airtime to Trump's allegations about Hillary Clinton's deleted emails.

The network's former chief executive, Jeff Zucker, later said he regretted those two decisions.

But CNN also enraged Trump by covering the many scandals of his presidency and post-presidency, including his false claims of a stolen election that led up to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. In 2018, a Florida man, Cesar Sayoc, anonymously sent improvised explosive devices to several prominent Trump critics as well as CNN's office in New York. Sayoc's lawyers later told a court that Sayoc had been inspired by Trump. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

At one point during his presidency, Trump banned CNN correspondent Jim Acosta from the White House grounds. And in another attempt to humiliate the network, he directed his aides to reassign CNN's seat at the front of the briefing room to the back (the reassignment plot failed when CNN's correspondent at the time - Collins, next week's town hall moderator - refused to move).

Politico speculated on Monday that Trump's decision to appear on CNN was snub of Fox News because Fox, and other media properties controlled by Rupert Murdoch, have given favorable attention to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely rival for the Republican nomination.

But Trump has given two interviews to Fox hosts in the past three weeks, including one with Tucker Carlson, who was fired by Fox last week. Trump also spoke to FoxNews.com in late February.

A spokesman for Trump didn't respond to a request for comment.

CNN said in a news release that the town hall next week will be "the first of many" such events, though it hasn't announced any involving other candidates.

While Trump no longer is the attraction he was as president, his live appearance could provide a badly needed boost to CNN's ratings. Notably, the town hall will air beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern, the time slot once dominated by Carlson but now up for grabs as the ousted host's viewers seek alternatives.

Come what may, Ornstein thinks Trump will be the big winner. For one thing, he gets access to CNN's small but moderate prime-time audience, expanding his message beyond his rabid MAGA base. In addition, "he knows he is unlikely to face really tough questions [from audience members] and can use bluster and filibusters to avoid being nailed," he said.

And if anything goes wrong for him? Easy: "He can blame the biased CNN."