Trump Adviser Implies CNN Has Trump’s Tweets to Thank for Big Debate Ratings

Donald Trump adviser Michael Cohen made the rather strange assertion on CNN tonight that CNN has Trump’s live-tweeting to thank for getting such YUGE debate ratings.

Pretty much everyone expected the Democratic debate to get lower ratings than the Republican debate because of the lack of you-know-who, but CNN still got a substantial 15.3 million viewers, setting a record for the highest-watched Democratic debate on cable television. And while one could say there’s been a lot of interest in this election thus far, Cohen offered another alternative.

Trump live-tweeted the debate last night and Cohen asserted, “If Donald Trump wasn’t tweeting, I don’t think they would have had the 15 million people viewing.”

Oh, and Cohen also claimed that more people followed the debate on Trump’s Twitter feed than did on CNN.

So basically, he’s asserting that over 15.3 million people kept up with the debate by reading Trump’s tweets (one of which was an easily verifiable falsehood).

Cooper and Ana Navarro laughed a bit as Cooper said, “That’s just not true.”

He asked, “Were there 15 million people watching him on Twitter?” Cohen responded, “I believe so.”

Navarro snarked that it’s amazing how much time there is for substance when candidates don’t waste time sniping at Rosie O’Donnell or making nasty personal remarks about their rivals.

Watch above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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