Uh oh. Fake Jake Tapper got caught. So he wouldn’t be moderating a Clinton Global Initiative panel in June. Instead, CNN hack Poppy Harlow will moderate the debate. Fake Jake Tapper is hoping that withdrawing from the CGI panel will try to save his credibility with some of the conservatives who for whatever reason love this guy and think he isn’t biased. Tapper will still be interviewing Bill Clinton.
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| Jake Tapper won’t moderate Clinton Global Initiative panel |
The switcheroo on the workforce panel caps a frenzy of negotiations between CNN and the Clinton Foundation. About a week ago, USA Today reported that the CGI site had listed Tapper as a “speaker” at the event, a characterization that CNN contested. Testiness over just how Tapper was being presented likely wouldn’t have arisen if not for context: The Clinton Foundation these days is the target of feisty journalistic investigations stemming from Hillary Clinton’s presidential run, and ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos sustained a media beating over revelations that he gave $75,000 to the foundation from 2012 through 2014.
As discussed last week in a widely unread Erik Wemple Blog post, CGI has a “template” for the participation of media outlets in its events. Participating media stars, indeed, get to interview Bill Clinton, but they also “get” to moderate a panel discussion — and air that discussion on their network. “There’s an understanding that the package has two elements because that’s how we’ve always done it,” Craig Minassian, the Clinton Foundation’s chief communications officer, told the Erik Wemple Blog last week. This interview-plus-panel arrangement dates to 2006.