Former Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon says Donald Trump should cancel his appearance at the upcoming debate on CNN later this week after the network’s host abruptly ended an interview with the former president’s spokesperson.
On Monday, CNN host Kasie Hunt ended an interview with Trump National Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt after she repeatedly attacked Jake Tapper and Dana Bash—the moderators of Thursday’s debate—instead of answering questions about Trump’s debate prep.
Leavitt later complained to Bannon on his ‘War Room‘ podcast that her experience on the network proves that Thursday’s debate will not be fair since it will be a “three-on-one fight” with President Joe Biden, Tapper and Bash against Trump. This prompted Bannon to urge the campaign to cancel the debate.
“To the Trump campaign and to MAGA today, President Trump should cancel this,” Bannon said. “It’s not three on one. They have the entire news apparatus because she had a producer. You know, Karoline, you’ve done so much TV. She had a producer in her ear saying, you know, ‘cut her off, cut her off, cut her off’ because you had the facts.”
He also demanded that Hunt and CNN apologize for “disrespecting” Leavitt.
“I certainly would never correct the national press secretary of President Trump, but they didn’t cut off your mic? They dumped you and went to another break,” Bannon said. “I’ve never seen such disrespect. They have never in the history of television ever taken a national press secretary and treated her with such lack of respect. Kasie Hunt owes you an apology. CNN owes you an apology today.”
