CNN Defends Trump-Biden Debate Moderators From Trump Attacks

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

CNN issued a statement defending Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, the two network personalities chosen to moderate Thursday’s debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump amid mounting criticism from Trump’s camp on Monday.

“Jake Tapper and Dana Bash are well respected veteran journalists who have covered politics for more than five decades combined,” began the statement. “They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate this cycle. There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion and we look forward to the debate on June 27 in Atlanta.”

The statement followed a tense exchange between CNN’s Kasie Hunt and Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said that Trump was “knowingly going into a hostile environment on this very network, on CNN, with debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years and their biased coverage of him,” on Monday morning.

“So I’ll just say, my colleagues, that Jake Tapper and Dana Bash have acquitted themselves as professionals as they have covered campaigns and interviewed candidates from all sides of the aisle,” replied Hunt.

Leavitt attempted to continue making the case that Tapper and Bash were biased against Trump, but Hunt dumped out of the segment instead of allowing her to finish.

Tapper and Bash have also been criticized by various conservative media figures and watchdogs ahead of the high-stakes forum with a focus on their past criticisms of Trump and his rhetoric.