Radio host Howard Stern on Monday slammed CNN, saying it used a misleading headline to make it look as though he challenged Donald Trump's assertion that he never supported the Iraq war.
"I got so upset because, you know, let’s face it, tapes from our show featuring Donald Trump have been used in the campaign," Stern said on his Sirius XM show on Monday.
Talking about this incident with news anchor Robin Quivers, Stern said, "And the other day I was talking to Robin on the air, and I said to her, yeah, you know it was really surreal sorta laying there in bed and watching them mention my name on the debate. And I said, basically for people who might not be aware, I said, yeah, Trump was on our show, and he was talking — I asked him about the Iraq war, and he said that he was for it."
CNN last Thursday held a panel discussion on Stern's comments on his Wednesday show. On that show, Stern talked about the first presidential debate between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, noting that Stern's name had come up in the debate.
Stern in 2002 had asked Trump on air whether he supported the Iraq War.
"Yeah, I guess so," Trump said. "I wish the first time it was done correctly."
Trump has since said those words were half-hearted and off-the-cuff. In reality he said, he opposed the war, and said so privately to Fox News host Sean Hannity, who supported it. Hannity, a Trump supporter, has backed up that account.
But it was CNN's bottom-of-the-screen graphic "Howard Stern Says Trump Backed Iraq War In 2002" and a similar one "Howard Stern Bombshell: Trump Backed Iraq War in 2002" that upset the radio host.
Stern said he emailed Trump to let him know the CNN portrayal was not accurate.
The Hill's Joe Concha notes that in other interviews as the war was getting underway, Trump said the United States should wait for the United Nations before invading.
Quivers noted that Stern "didn't confirm anything" and said, "Well, you see what the press does. They make up things!"
"I said nothing new," Stern said. "I felt a little weird about that. I'll be honest with you, I did."
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