CNN anchors are reportedly not invited to the luncheon with President Donald Trump that occurs before the State of the Union (SOTU) address Tuesday night.
Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” says three sources told him Monday night that the network is not welcome at the event where high-profile journalists sit in a relaxed, supposedly off-the-record setting with the president.
“Trump, like presidents before him, typically invites anchors from all the major networks to dine with him at the White House in advance of his State of the Union address. The lunch conversation is considered off the record, but it gives the anchors a sense of the president’s state of mind before they anchor SOTU coverage,” Stelter wrote, noting that both CNN hosts Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer were at the exclusive affair in 2019. Blitzer has been going for 20 consecutive years, according to Stelter.
The exclusion of CNN has not provoked any sort of boycott from other networks or journalists so far, according to Stelter, who claims “it is the first time in recent memory that a president has singled out one network and opted not to invite any anchors from there.”
At the previous luncheon, the off-the-record rule was apparently not applied by every media outlet, as many of Trump’s comments were reported the following day.
“I hope it’s Biden,” Trump was quoted as saying in regards to the 2020 presidential election. “Biden was never very smart. He was a terrible student. His gaffes are unbelievable. When I say something that you might think is a gaffe, it’s on purpose; it’s not a gaffe. When Biden says something dumb, it’s because he’s dumb.”
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