'Felt like 2015': CNBC hammered for 'surrendering' to Trump during interview

Former President Donald Trump did a call-in interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" this week in which he made a number of statements of highly dubious veracity, including a story about steel company executives openly weeping in his presence out of gratitude for his tariffs on China.

CNBC's interview left CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy less than impressed, as he wrote on Tuesday morning that the network completely let Trump off the hook for making demonstrably false statements on its airwaves.

Darcy in particular singled out Joe Kernen for simply letting Trump spout one falsehood after another without any form of pushback or attempt to correct his claims.

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"Kernan let it all fly," Darcy commented. "Rather than fact-checking Trump, or at least providing context about the serious allegations he leveled to viewers, the CNBC host brushed the insidious comments aside and attempted to move the interview along... Instead, throughout the interview, the 'Squawk' host effectively surrendered the channel's air to Trump, allowing the dishonest GOP candidate to abuse the platform and mislead its audience of influential viewers — all by phone."

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Darcy went on to say that the interview was particularly disturbing because it suggests that many media figures have still learned nothing about how to interview Trump even after all these years.

"Watching the CNBC interview felt like being transported in time to 2015, back when news outlets allowed Trump to phone in to news shows and deliver a drive-by of lies to their audiences," he commented. "Even after the interview aired, CNBC waited hours to do the bare minimum and publish digital stories fact-checking some of Trump's claims. Instead, the outlet quickly spliced Trump's comments into a handful of clips and posted them online, amplifying his comments further."

Read the full analysis here.

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