Just one week after Donald Trump threatened to skip the Republican primary debates over the RNC agreeing to work with “Fake News” outlets, notoriously “Fake News” network CNN announced on Monday that it would be hosting a town hall with Donald Trump on May 10.
Trump, who launched a long-running battle with CNN during his presidency, has not appeared on the network since he ran for president in 2016, according to the New York Times.
The CNN event will take place at St Anselm’s College in New Hampshire and will be hosted by “CNN This Morning” host Kaitlan Collins. Collins was one of CNN’s White House correspondents during the Trump presidency and frequently sparred with the former president.
Trump is expected to take questions from Republicans and Independents, but given CNN’s history of planting questioners at such events, Trump will likely face some challenging questions.
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported that sources within the Trump camp are suggesting that the former president will likely skip at least one of the first two Republican primary debates.
According to the sources who spoke with the New York Times, Trump has made it clear to aides and confidants in private conversations that he thinks sharing the stage with the other Republican candidates would “breathe life” into their campaigns.
One Trump associate said the former president didn’t want to debate because he is up “by too many points.”
At the same time, one advisor said given that it is still too early in the 2024 election cycle, the situation remains fluid. The former president could find it difficult to steer clear of a debate where the candidates on stage might be criticizing him.
According to the sources, Trump’s reasoning behind sitting out the debates is based on the national primary polling this far out from the primaries that frequently show him far ahead of his opponents.
One source told The New York Times that there is “no upside” for Trump to “debate this early” against candidates polling “in single digits.”
