Mehdi Hasan Blasts CNN Over Trump Town Hall, Says Ex-President ‘Encouraged Violence Against CNN’

MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan criticized CNN and singled out its CEO Chris Licht over the network’s decision to host a town hall with former President Donald Trump next week.

“I do hope CNN chief Chris Licht doesn’t have to end up apologizing for giving Trump this platform in the same way that his predecessor Jeff Zucker had to apologize for running all those Trump rallies uninterrupted on CNN back in 2016,” said Hasan during MSNBC’s The Mehdi Hasan Show on Peacock, Thursday.

“Personally I wouldn’t interview a man who has used live interviews to incite violence and tell lies,” he said, before claiming that Trump had even “encouraged violence against CNN itself” in the past.

Hasan said that while he “wouldn’t normalize” Trump “in that way,” CNN would “need to have some very tough and very specific questions” to ask the 45th president during its town hall.

The MSNBC host went on to present 10 questions CNN should ask Trump, including questions about the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, and E. Jean Carroll — who has accused Trump of rape.

“Obviously each of them requires follow-ups. You can’t just ask one and then move on,” said Hasan, who called Trump “a master of both dissembling and deflecting, especially on live TV when it’s much harder to fact-check him in real-time, and in front of an audience too, which will include his supporters.”

Hasan then concluded, “So good luck, CNN, but I wish you weren’t doing this.”

Trump made a cryptic social media post on Thursday addressing his decision to go “into the heart of Enemy territory” for the CNN town hall. “Maybe the Enemy is changing?” he wrote.

CNN’s Trump town hall is scheduled to take place in New Hampshire on May 10 and will be hosted by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins. It will be the first town hall of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.

Watch above via MSNBC.