The former president was interested in doing a town hall mainly because it would give the campaign material to clip for social media. He was interested in doing it on CNN because the campaign reached an understanding – which a spokesperson denied – that it would book more Trump surrogates. For starters, Trump’s team for months played hard to get with CNN – which first reached out to do a town hall almost as soon as Trump announced his 2024 candidacy. after newsletter promotionThe campaign also made sure the pre- and post-town hall coverage featured Trump surrogates on air. A spokesperson for CNN denied that the network made any formal agreement to book surrogates as guests in order to host of the town hall.

Source: CNN May 12, 2023 22:52 UTC