In a surprising turn of events, former President Donald Trump is set to make a significant comeback to the airwaves by participating in a town hall event hosted by CNN next week in New Hampshire. This move comes as Trump prepares for the upcoming Republican primary.
CNN announced the news on Monday, revealing that their former chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, will host the event. Scheduled to take place at St. Anselm College, the town hall will air at 9 p.m. ET on May 10. During the event, the former president will field questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undeclared voters who plan to vote in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.
The network has faced challenges competing with Fox News and MSNBC over the past two years since Trump left office. Interestingly, Trump has not appeared on CNN since before the 2020 election. Throughout his presidency, CNN’s reporters and anchors often adopted an antagonistic approach to covering him, leading Trump to label the network as a purveyor of fake news.
One memorable incident involved Trump facing off against CNN reporter Jim Acosta during the early days of the pandemic, describing Acosta as “rude” for repeatedly interrupting him and calling him an “enemy of the people.”
Since President Joe Biden’s inauguration, CNN has experienced significant changes, including the firing of former primetime anchors Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon. Lemon was demoted to the morning show from his primetime position last year and announced last week that the network had fired him. Additionally, former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker resigned since Trump left office, with Chris Licht replacing him.
Kaitlan Collins, who previously worked alongside Lemon on “CNN This Morning” before his departure, also had numerous confrontations with Trump during his term in office. One press conference in 2020 came to an abrupt end when the reporter would not stop talking over the former president.
