CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman, who is also EP for the network’s debates, found himself in front of the camera this morning, as a guest on Reliable Sources. Host Howard Kurtz asked Bohrman about the controversy surrounding the question submitted by retired Brig. Gen. Keith Kerr at last week’s GOP CNN/YouTube debate:
KURTZ: David Bohrman, you said you didn’t know — that no one at CNN knew that General Kerr was on these Hillary Clinton advisory boards. Shouldn’t you have tried harder to find out by using an online Google search?
BOHRMAN: Well, we did a Google search. I mean, we went through 5,000 questions and narrowed it down and narrowed it down. And there were an awful lot of gay in the military questions.
The one from the general was striking, but the first thing we said once we saw this question was, is this guy for real? Let’s check him out.
We did a Google search. And, you know, if you Google him today you’ll find all the Hillary Clinton references.
Back then what we discovered is he’s for real. He was a real brigadier general. He had — he had a real career, and he was now active in gay and lesbian issues.
We also then took the next step of going to the FEC records, the Federal Elections Commission, to see if he had contributed money to a campaign. That’s where people trip up and that’s where they usually show their partisanship. He had contributed no money to a political campaign, and so — and that’s where we stopped.