Despite a report in Mediaite, CNN tells us Corey Lewandowski has not been sidelined from his contributor role on the network. A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser, “Corey has not been suspended. He will be on air later today.”
Mediaite reports that Lewandowski “was pulled from appearing on CNN’s New Day this morning.”
Lewandowski, the former campaign manager for Donald Trump, has been a controversial hire for CNN since he joined back in June. According to HuffPost, at a Jeff Zucker internal CNN town hall held just Tuesday, the CNN boss defended the hire, saying Lewandowski balanced its commentary ranks.
But an FEC filing released last night shows the Trump campaign continues to pay Lewandowski’s consulting company even though he was dismissed three months ago. Lewandowski was paid $20,000 on Aug. 11. The campaign calls it severance. CNN, according to HuffPost, was aware of earlier severance payments.
In March, 16 women political pundits and reporters, including several employed by CNN, signed a letter calling on Trump to fire Lewandowski following a simple battery charge filed against him in a case involving former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields. The charge was later dropped. Lewandowski remained with Trump for three more months, and joined CNN three days after leaving the campaign.
Update: Mediaite has edited its story, but here is the original report:
