Subject: Politico - CNN president: We're 'holding Trump's feet to the fire'
From: "Paustenbach, Mark" <[email-masked]>
To: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2016 08:12:51 -0700

CNN president: We're 'holding Trump's feet to the fire'

By NICK GASS<http://www.politico.com/staff/nick-gass>

04/25/16 08:12 AM EDT

CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker has no regrets about his network's coverage of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, rejecting the notion that it has boosted his campaign through its volume of coverage.

"We are covering the story, and he's been the Republican frontrunner for almost a year now. I only wish that CNN had that much power to be able to create a frontrunner on either side," Zucker told the Guardian<http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/apr/24/cnn-jeff-zucker-donald-trump-vice?CMP=share_btn_tw> in an interview published Sunday. "The critics of Donald Trump are looking for people to blame for his rise. There are many people who are either surprised by his strength, or don't like him, and want to blame someone to explain why he has been this popular."

Pointing to CNN's late March town hall event in which Anderson Cooper grilled Trump on a variety of issues, Zucker claimed that his network has been "holding Trump's feet to the fire."

The comments from Zucker are not the first time he has sounded off on media critics suggesting that CNN has played an outsized role in shaping Trump's run toward the Republican nomination since last June.

At a luncheon with reporters last month<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/03/cnn-not-responsible-donald-trump-rise-220895>, the CNN executive said he felt no responsibility for the rise of Trump.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/04/trump-cnn-jeff-zucker-222388#ixzz46qqxhIPI

Mark Paustenbach
National Press Secretary &
Deputy Communications Director
Democratic National Committee
W: 202.863.8148
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>