CNN CEO Chris Licht encouraged former President Donald Trump to “have fun” in a backstage exchange just before the start of town hall.
Before taking the stage at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, Trump reportedly crowed to the cable news boss that he was about to boost CNN’s ratings.
Licht nodded in response and told Trump to “have a good chat and have fun,” two people familiar with the interaction told the Guardian.
The controversial town hall featuring the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 GOP nomination turned out to be a ratings bonanza for struggling CNN. The broadcast drew 3.3 million viewers, the cable network’s highest in two years.
Trump took a victory lap on Thursday to rejoice at the “skyrocketing ratings” he delivered.
“It was by far the biggest show of the night, week and month!” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump claimed his performance on Wednesday night was “sheer genius”.
However, Licht has faced a “fury of criticism — both internal and external to the event,” CNN reporter Oliver Darcy wrote in his “Reliable Sources” newsletter.
Longtime host Anderson Cooper told viewers that they “have every right to be angry and never look at this network again” during Thursday’s “AC360°” opening monologue.
Licht had defended his decision to host City Hall earlier that day at a 9 a.m. editorial meeting with his exhausted staff, sources told The Post.
“You don’t have to like the former president’s answers, but you can’t say we didn’t get them,” Licht said, according to the audio provided to The Post.
He also dismissed suggestions that moderator Kaitlan Collins was not pushing back hard enough on Trump’s claims about the “rigged” 2020 election.
“Kaitlan pressed him again and again and made news,” the CNN CEO reportedly told staff, adding that making news “is our job.”
Collins, the co-anchor of “CNN This Morning,” defended Licht’s decision to host Trump’s City Hall as he stepped in to host Thursday’s 9 p.m. slot.
She called the 70-minute City Hall “a major turning point in the Republican Party’s search for its nominee.”
Collins, who is rumored to be taking over a primetime anchor seat, reminded viewers “to remember that [Trump] is currently the frontrunner of the GOP” despite the fact that he “has been charged with criminal charges, held civil liability and [is] is under investigation for everything from his handling of classified documents to his business empire.
