CNN host fires back at Ramaswamy over terms of Biden-Trump debate

Sarah Fortinsky

26 June 2024 at 2:22 pm·1-min read

CNN anchor John Berman pushed back Wednesday at former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s suggestion that terms of the first presidential debate Thursday will give President Biden an unfair advantage over former President Trump.

In an interview on “CNN News Central,” Ramaswamy, now a staunch Trump backer, said Biden had a series of advantages.

“I give [Trump] a lot of credit for doing this debate on the terms that were effectively set by Biden,” Ramaswamy said of Trump, noting the debate is “hosted by CNN, in Atlanta, without a live audience.”

Those terms, he said, “would be the equivalent of Joe Biden agreeing to do a Fox News-hosted debate, in Alabama, with 3,000 live audience members.”

Berman defended the terms, as well as his colleagues — CNN journalists Jake Tapper and Dana Bash — who will be moderating the debate and who have faced attacks in recent days from Trump allies, in an apparent effort to lower expectations ahead of the debate.

“Look, every aspect of this debate was agreed to by the Trump campaign. And, you know, Jake and Dana are award-winning journalists who are relentlessly fair. They will do a fantastic job,” Berman said.

“The only presidential candidate, Republican, to lose Georgia in decades is Donald Trump. So Georgia is pretty friendly territory, or should be, at least, for a Republican candidate,” Berman added.

Biden narrowly won Georgia in the 2020 election, but he beat Trump by 46 points in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and its suburbs.

Berman’s exchange with Ramaswamy came two days after CNN anchor Kasie Hunt cut off an interview with Trump’s 2024 national press secretary after she attacked Bash and Tapper — in a moment that escalated conservative criticism of the network.

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