Rep. Matt Gaetz is upset CNN did not invite him to discuss the deadly mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, after the cable news network name-shamed dozens of his colleagues for declining interviews.
In a Monday tweet, the Florida congressman said he was booked for two shows on CNN that day, but they both canceled him. He was reacting to a clip of a CNN interview with Republican Florida Rep. Ted Yoho, which started off with a graphic of the 49 conservative lawmakers who declined to do interviews to discuss the shootings that killed at least 31 people and the renewed debate on gun control.
CNN’s communication’s team shot back, tweeting, “Wrong Congressman! Your staff pitched you a week ago for an in-studio interview based on your travel to NY. Both shows declined last week, well before the tragic events over the weekend. Those are the facts.”
Wrong Congressman! Your staff pitched you a week ago for an in-studio interview based on your travel to NY. Both shows declined last week, well before the tragic events over the weekend. Those are the facts.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 6, 2019
Gaetz responded by sharing screen grabs of messages between his chief of staff Jillian Lane Wyant and CNN from last week about making an appearance Monday.
“So you’re saying you knew I was in NYC & you knew I was willing to be interviewed. You then reached out to 50 GOP members (not me though I’m on Judiciary) & made it seem in your reporting that Republicans were afraid of CNN. Thats your argument?” Gaetz said in one of them.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) August 6, 2019
.@cnn @CNNPR claimed they were having a hard time booking House Republicans on Monday. They implied we were scared to defend our views.
Here is proof of my @AC360 booking for Monday before it was cancelled by CNN.
I was in NYC and willing. They weren’t. #FactsMatter pic.twitter.com/kxuUPT4ydI
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) August 6, 2019
Another @cnn employee confirming in writing that I was “alerted” or “reserved” for @AC360 Monday.
Worth noting that all of these CNN folks who work w my office are VERY polite, professional and honest.
But the @CNNPR mothership….sheesh. pic.twitter.com/9IsTMtnLJe
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) August 6, 2019
Gaetz told the Washington Examiner that he was always ready to talk to CNN and complained about how the network overlooked him to discuss the violence over the weekend when some producers knew he was available. “It’s also disingenuous for CNN to act like only Ted Yoho would go on when they had a GOP member (me) offering to provide a GOP perspective,” he said.
