CNN seems to be doubling down on hosting town halls with 2024 presidential candidates, and has announced that its next one will be with former South Carolina Governor and Republican Party candidate Nikki Haley.
Jake Tapper will be the moderator this go around, and the town hall will take place on Sunday, June 4 at 8 p.m. ET, with a live audience from Iowa.
Haley served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration will take questions from Tapper and a live audience comprised of Iowa Republicans and Iowa voters, who say they will pre-register to participate in the Republican caucuses by the deadline set by the Republican Party of Iowa; and pledge to appear in person at the caucuses.
CNN announcing another town hall with a GOP candidate stands out as it is still dealing with the blowback from the Donald Trump town hall it hosted earlier this month.
That town hall, despite scoring a ratings win for CNN, was not well received internally and externally by many. It quickly went off the rails as moderator Kaitlan Collins, despite her best efforts, was railroaded by the former president, who seemed to become more energized as the partisan audience cheered him on.
CNN CEO Chris Licht has acknowledged that the Trump town could have been executed much better during a meeting with CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour and believes that history will look kindly on the network’s decision to host Trump.
Licht’s willingness to do another town hall despite that criticism comes after he received a public vote of confidence from Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav.
It will be interesting to see what lessons Licht and his CNN politics team have learned and will apply when Haley appears on their network for its next televised town hall.