Joe Scarborough Reveals He Advised Chris Licht Against CNN Hosting Trump Town Hall But Suggested Only One Question

MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough revealed on Friday that former CNN CEO Chris Licht called him the week before CNN’s controversial town hall with former President Donald Trump — and he told him not to go through with it.

During a lively conversation about how the media should cover Trump during the 2024 election season, Scarborough brought up the CNN town hall that aired in May that was seen as giving the ex-president a forum to spread lies. At the time, Scarborough called the event “disgraceful on every level.” But before it took place, Scarborough gave Licht some advice on how Trump should be questioned:

[Y]ou go back to that CNN town hall meeting and I’ll just say, Chris Licht called me a week beforehand, said, “What should I do?” I said, “Don’t do it.” And he said, “But if I have to do it, what do I do?” I said, “Ask him one question.” And I will tell you, this worked for me politically, and when I was in debates with people, you ask one question: “Did Joe Biden win the election?”

He goes off, you know he’s going to go off. This is Elvis ’77. We know his act, right? And then you follow up and say, “But 63 federal courts said you lost this election. Are they lying?” He goes on and goes on. “But the United States Supreme Court said — your Supreme Court — said you lost the election. Are they lying?” And you just keep going.

After Licht’s ouster in June, following a scathing profile in The Atlantic, was partly blamed on the Trump town hall, amongst several other factors related to Licht’s handling of political coverage and on-air talent.

Watch the video above via MSNBC.

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