CNN president Jeff Zucker said Friday that it was probably a mistake to air so many Trump rallies early in the Republican nominee’s candidacy.
“If we made any mistake last year, it’s that we probably did put on too many of his campaign rallies in those early months and let them run,” Zucker told a crowd of students at Harvard Kennedy School. “Listen, because you never knew what he would say, there was an attraction to put those on air.”
Zucker cited his “unique relationship” with Trump.
“I’ve known who he is and what he is for a long time,” he stated.
The former president of NBC Entertainment ushered in the first season of “The Apprentice” that aired in 2004. However, he argued his relationship with Trump had nothing to do with the billionaire businessman’s CNN coverage and clinching the Republican nomination.
Zucker declined to say whether he thought Trump was fit to be president.
Zucker for the most part defended CNN’s handling of Trump coverage. “I feel very good about the job CNN did on pushing back on some of the things he said — and the birther [comments] being the most prominent of those,” he said.
Trump agreed to interview with CNN, Zucker said. “We never got that from other Republican candidates,” he continued. “Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush went two months without agreeing to do an interview. That’s not Trump’s fault. That’s not CNN’s fault.”
Commenting on Trump’s character and personality, Zucker said he was “unaware of any of the allegations” regarding recent sexual assault claims against the nominee.
This week at least seven women have come forward accusing the businessman of inappropriately touching them. The accusations came on the heels of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape in which Trump talked to media personality Billy Bush about how his celebrity status made it easy to get sexual favors from women.
“I never heard any of that. I knew him as somebody who loved to brag about his ratings, loved the spotlight and knew how to draw attention to his programming,” Zucker said.
