CNN has refuted President Trump’s claim that the network has fired political commentator Steve Cortes.
The president made the claim during a radio interview with Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade Thursday morning.
Trump, in his ongoing battle against CNN and MSNBC, stated, “CNN is 100%, they would never, in fact they just fired Steve Cortes, a phenomenal guy. They fired Jeff [Lord]. They have virtually nobody. They have panels, where they have panels, that all Trump haters on.”
Despite the claim, CNN confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Cortes is still a commentator for the network. Cortes, a former member of President Trump’s Hispanic advisory council, has made headlines on the network for clashing with both anchors and fellow contributors alike.
While he is still a commentator, Cortes has not appeared on the network recently. Less than two weeks ago, The Hollywood Reporter reported that he, despite him still being on the payroll, had not been on the network “in more than a month.”
“They just won’t book him,” a former CNN contributor said of Cortes to THR. “They’ll just pay him. They won’t fire him, because that’s just blatant. But they won’t book him, and they’ll tell all the producers not to book him.”
The Daily Beast added to their report saying that Trump has asked “several administration officials” about where Cortes has been because he hasn’t been on the network.
A search of Cortes’ name on Grabien, a television clipping service, revealed that the most recent time he appeared on the network was on June 18.
