New York (CNN Business)Vice President Mike Pence’s office has declined to allow the nation’s top health officials to appear on CNN in recent days and discuss the coronavirus pandemic killing thousands of Americans, in an attempt to pressure the network into carrying the White House’s lengthy daily briefings in full.Pence’s office, which is responsible for booking the officials on networks during the pandemic, said it will only allow experts such as Dr. Deborah Birx or Dr. Anthony Fauci to appear on CNN if the network televises the portion of the White House briefings that includes the vice president and other coronavirus task force members.CNN often only broadcasts President Donald Trump’s question and answer session, which sometimes includes the health care officials, live on-air.After Trump leaves the podium, CNN frequently cuts out of the White House briefing to discuss and fact-check what the President had said. A CNN executive said that the network usually returns to such programming because of the extensive length of the full briefing that includes Pence, which can run in excess of two hours.CNN did, however, air the vice president’s portion of the briefing Wednesday night.Regardless, Pence’s office has declined to make the nation’s top health care officials available to CNN for the last seven days.”When you guys cover the briefings with the health officials then you can expect them back on your air,” a Pence spokesperson told CNN.Fauci, Birx, FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all appeared on NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox during the last week, despite the fact that the broadcast networks have generally not covered the briefings that have included the vice president and health officials.But the Vice President’s office has blocked all CNN appearances since last Thursday night. Fauci appeared on the last five weekly CNN Town Halls, with Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. The Vice President’s office has refused to make him, or anyone, available for Thursday’s town hall. The White House has made two non health care officials available to CNN in the last week. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper appeared on “State of the Union” on Sunday and Peter Navarro appeared on Anderson Cooper’s show on Friday and “New Day” on Monday.Trump has also declined CNN’s repeated requests for an interview, instead appearing only on Fox News for softball interviews multiple times during the national emergency.A CNN spokesperson declined to comment for this story.Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of CNN town halls in which Dr. Fauci has appeared.
Pence’s office blocks public health officials from appearing on CNN
