On Sunday’s Media Buzz, Howard Kurtz of Fox News criticized the “circus-like atmosphere” that surrounded Donald Trump’s CNN town hall with Kaitlan Collins. Kurtz opened the show by airing several heated exchanges between Trump and Collins regarding his false claims about the 2020 election and the events of January 6th.
“The first 24 minutes of the CNN event were spent on two of Donald Trump’s recurring subjects: the 2020 election and the Capitol riot,” Kurtz said. “That ensured a clash from the start. CNN’s own postgame show grappled with what had just happened.”
He then invited Robby Soave and Ameshia Cross to join him in discussing what he described as an “unwatchable” town hall. Kurtz asked his guests whether CNN had underestimated the difficulty of fact-checking Trump in real-time as he dominated the discussion, despite Collins’ sharp and poised questioning style, especially considering her relatively young age in journalism.
Soave recognized the criticisms aimed at the town hall format, which encouraged the audience to cheer up Trump’s rebuttals to Collins’ fact-checking and tough inquiries. In response, Kurtz queried, “What was CNN anticipating?”
Kurtz noted that CNN has been experiencing significant backlash, especially after Anderson Cooper’s widely criticized defense of the town hall. Returning to Collins, he commented on the “circus-like atmosphere” that arose when the audience cheered as Trump attacked E. Jean Carroll, who a Manhattan jury had just found to be a victim of his sexual abuse.
Despite the criticisms, CNN has defended the town hall, with a spokesperson for the network stating that Kaitlan Collins demonstrated what it means to be a world-class journalist. The spokesperson praised Collins for asking tough, fair, and revealing questions and for fact-checking President Trump in real-time to provide voters with crucial information about his positions as he enters the 2024 election as the Republican frontrunner.
“She (Collins) covered the Trump White House, and apparently the former president was comfortable with her, I don’t know if he would’ve done it (town hall), with some of CNN’s people.”
