CNN Blasted For Putting Corey Lewandowski On The Air Less Than A Day After He Bragged About Lying To Media
In his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski admitted that he is not truthful when appearing on television, bragging that he had no obligation to be honest when he doesn’t believe the media is honest.
Now, less than 24 hours later, Lewandowski was invited back on CNN — and the network is coming under fire for the booking.
As Talking Points Memo noted, Lewandowski’s contentious hearing before the House panel was highlighted by an exchange with attorney Barry Berke. He forced Lewandowski to admit that he was lying when he told MSNBC in February that he never had a conversation with Donald Trump about Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself from the Russia investigation.
“I have no obligation to be honest with the media,” Lewandowski said after trying to push off several questions about his truthfulness.
The admission drew widespread condemnation, with many calling for cable news networks to ban Lewandowski from appearing after his brag. But CNN apparently did not share the view, and booked Lewandowski to appear on Wednesday morning.
Again, Lewandowski steamrolled host Alisyn Camerota, repeatedly refusing to answer her questions about his admission of lying and instead lobbing attacks against CNN.
“Host Alisyn Camerota tried to force Lewandowski to explain why he didn’t deliver Trump’s message about limiting the scope of the Russia investigation to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but he avoided it by crowing about his devotion to his children and taking them on vacation,” the TPM report noted.
There seem to be mixed messages coming from CNN on Corey Lewandowski. As the network was booking the former Trump campaign manager, its website published an opinion piece from Chris Cillizza that called out Lewandowski for taking Donald Trump’s strategy of spewing untruthful statements while blasting the media for claims that it is not truthful.
Lewandowski’s appearance on CNN also drew widespread condemnation, with accusations that the network was rewarding his admission of lying.
CNN's interview with Corey Lewandowski was, predictably, a mess. Here he is steamrolling Alisyn Camerota as she tries to ask him questions. pic.twitter.com/ctBFyUxECk
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2019
But some did praise Camerota for forcefully pushing back against the New Hampshire Senate candidate at times as well.
Lewandowski tries to falsely claim that the Mueller report found "no collusion, no obstruction."
@NewDay's Alisyn Camerota shuts him down completely: pic.twitter.com/BbxxencPdg
— CAP Action (@CAPAction) September 18, 2019
Amid the controversy, there could be more trouble ahead for Lewandowski. Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said he is considering holding Lewandowski in contempt of Congress for his refusal to answer many questions, as well as for citing executive privilege that experts say does not exist because Lewandowski never served in the White House.
