Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is the latest Republican presidential candidate tapped to hold a live town hall on CNN, the network announced on Tuesday.
The event will be hosted by CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and air at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, June 12, from New York.
Christie, who served as governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018, will take questions from Cooper and a live audience comprised of Republicans from the first four states to vote in the GOP race as well as from voters in New Jersey and New York who say they plan to vote in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
CNN’s Donald Trump town hall in May was met with widespread criticism. Cooper’s vigorous defense of the network’s decision drew even more backlash.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav also backed CNN CEO Chris Licht over the Trump call. “Advertisers don’t want to be part of an advocacy network,“ Zaslav told investors, ”but they do want to be part of a news network.”
He also told investors, “Republicans are back on the air,” and that in January during the contest for House speaker “we had 75 Republicans on the air, 41 went on us before they went on Fox News.”
CNN’s town hall for Nikki Haley, who is also vying for the 2024 GOP nomination, created less outcry, but also drew fewer eyes, reaching 562,000 viewers, which was down 83% from Trump’s.
