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CNN’s Hiring Of Corey Lewandowski Didn’t Start Staff Revolts, Contrary To Hysterical Reports

By Oliver VanDervoort
Published on: 09:12 PST, Jun 27, 2016

Corey Lewandowski might just be the most hated man in the media these days. For those who don’t yet know his name, Corey Lewandowski is the man who was until recently running Donald Trump’s campaign. The recently fired Lewandowski had quite the up-and-down run with the presidential hopeful with the lowest of the low points being when Lewandowski was accused by one reporter covering Trump of physically assaulting her. Once the accusation went public, Lewandowski had to turn himself in to police in order to avoid becoming a bigger story than Trump

While the firing had nothing to do with that accusation and more to do with his reported inability to get along with fellow campaign staffers, the media certainly remembers the assault charge, even if it appears to have largely gone away. That is why when Lewandowski was hired by CNN, there were a number of articles that claimed the CNN staff was in open revolt. However, it appears the reports that Lewandowski’s hiring by CNN was causing consternation were nearly as overblown as those of his assault.

In both cases, there was a bit of smoke and even a bit of fire. Lewandowski has admitted he did put his hands on a reporter in order to get her to move. Just how forcefully Lewandowski did this is what appears to be at the center of that disagreement. There are also plenty of CNN staffers who are unhappy with the network hiring Corey Lewandowski. Mediaite reports Alisyn Camerota even told Lewandowski to his face that “not everyone is a fan” of him being part of the network.

Camerota started off by telling the political mover and shaker that there had been a “lot of reaction” to CNN hiring him as a contributor.

She then continued, “I don’t know if you’re heard about some of the reaction, turns out not everybody is a fan of the decision. And I think that the crux of that criticism is that I think you never seemed to be a big fan of the press or have much respect for the press. Why did you have such strange relations during your time there — with the Trump campaign — with the press do you think?”

Corey Lewandowski attempted to act as though everything was perfectly fine when it came to his relationship with the media, saying, “I had great relationships with the press! I love everybody! I love you, right?”

Camerota then reminded Corey Lewandowski he was credited as being behind a number of threats to blacklist members of the media. Lewandowski continued to claim he had a great relationship with the press, and the segment ended.

While that may not have gone as well as Lewandowski would have liked, no one walked off set, and there wasn’t even talk of the revolt the media claimed was going on at CNN earlier in the week. The Washington Post reports most staffers at CNN are more optimistic than infuriated that Lewandowski in on the payroll.

“I get the argument that he was a bully” to reporters before Trump fired him early last week, said a prominent staffer, who reportedly spoke about Lewandowski to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity. “But I also get why we hired him. There aren’t many people who know more than him about how [Trump’s] campaign thinks and works. That could be very valuable to us over the next few months.”

It appears that while Corey Lewandowski is still not someone who is going to be loved among the media and CNN staffers, he’s also not someone who is going to spark a mass exodus or even a demand that the network rethink its position on hiring Corey Lewandowski in the first place.

[Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]

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