The newest batch of over 8,000 Wikileaks emails reveals that Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffers wrote questions for CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer to interview Republican candidate Donald Trump. There are also emails where DNC staffers are asked to provide questions to ask Ted Cruz. The DNC was also offered the opportunity to construct questions that would be posed to its own candidates.
An email sent to the DNC dated April 28th, and entitled "Cruz on CNN," noted that CNN was looking for questions, and asked the DNC to provide some topical and interesting ones for Cruz to tackle. Another email asked DNC staffers to offer questions for Jake Tapper during another network interview with a Democrat. Tapper, however, suggests that the email was misconstrued although it gave the perfect opportunity for the DNC to construct questions that would be asked of their own party.
A separate DNC email chain was found showing Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank asking the DNC for help with research for a column that was about Donald Trump. The column featured a list of things that Donald Trump had said and that the writer deemed outrageous. There were more emails between CNN and the DNC asking staffers what questions they should put to Donald Trump. They also asked the DNC for advice for an upcoming appearance by former Republican candidate Ted Cruz.
Numerous questions were constructed by the DNC staffers for Wolf Blitzer to ask Trump. In a followup email to the Trump interview actually being canceled, a CNN staff member wrote, "CNN said the interview was cancelled as of now but will keep the questions for the next one. Good to have for others as well." The DNC deputy communications director, Christina Freundlich, responded to that email showing her disappointment with a "boo." Blitzer ended up finally conducting that Trump interview on May 4th, after Cruz and Kasich dropped out of the race for Republican presidential candidates.
Jason Seher, a writer for Jake Tapper's show on CNN, emailed a former DNC media booker on April 28th, thanking him for facilitating a democratic guest being on the show. Seher asked if there were any points the interviewee would like to make, and insisted the interview would stay Democrat focused.
A CNN spokeswoman referred to the emails as "completely unremarkable." She told the Daily Mail, "When preparing for interviews we are regularly sent suggestions from rival campaigns and political parties, both solicited and unsolicited. Casting a wide net to ensure a tough and fair interview isn't just common media practice, it's smart."
CNN has been criticized before for similar instances. DNC interim chairwoman Donna Brazile, who was working with CNN as an on-air contributor, leaked questions to Clinton's campaign preceding a debate and town hall event. Brazile has since resigned due to the allegations. Collusion between the news networks and the Democratic committee has been a blatant highlight of the media's bias and support for the Clinton campaign.
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