CNN host Michael Smerconish ripped the Biden campaign and a local Wisconsin radio station for editing out portions of a recent interview with President Biden.
The host, who also has his own radio show, appeared on "CNN This Morning" Friday and told Kasie Hunt that altering audio of a presidential interview and then airing it live is something a radio station should never do.
Smerconish told Hunt that if a presidential campaign asked a show to edit audio, "the answer is hell no! We should have run it live."
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The host’s remarks came after Wisconsin radio network Civic Media admitted on Thursday that its program, "The Earl Ingram Show," made multiple edits to its interview with President Biden before it aired on July 4th, edits that it alleged were requested by the Biden campaign.
In a statement, the network said, "it was reported to Civic Media management that immediately after the phone interview was recorded, the Biden campaign called and asked for two edits to the recording before it aired."
"Civic Media management immediately undertook an investigation and determined that the production team at the time viewed the edits as non-substantive and broadcast and published the interview with two short segments removed," the statement added.
The edits included two portions that were removed, one of which featured Biden bragging about how many Black people are in his administration. The network disclosed that the program removed the words, "…and in addition to that, I have more Blacks in my administration than any other president, all other presidents combined, and in major positions, cabinet positions."
The other edit cut out Biden’s remarks on Trump’s call in 1989 for the death penalty of the "Central Park Five," the nickname of the group of Black and Latino youths wrongfully convicted for the rape of a New York jogger.
Biden had originally said, "I don’t know if they even call for their hanging or not, but he, but they said convicted of murder." The victim of the decades old assault was never killed in the incident, prompting the request for Biden’s line to be scrubbed.
After pointing out the edits, and providing a full unedited version of the interview, the station admitted wrongdoing on its part and criticized the actions of "The Earl Ingram Show." The statement added, "Civic Media disagrees with the team’s judgments in the moment, both with respect to the handling of the interview questions and the decision to edit the interview audio."
Still, the network declared it stands by Ingram, who made news several days prior by admitting that the Biden campaign provided him with the questions they wanted him to ask the president during their conversation.
Smerconish ripped the radio station for both controversies.
"Never have I heard of questions that would actually be suggested to a radio host," the CNN weekend host said.
He added that there might be some "pre-show cajoling in terms of what will the subject matter be," but said "no host of any kind should ever accept questions suggested by any principle."
He then concluded by saying that editing the tape prior to airing such an interview is off limits. Hunt agreed, commenting, "100%."
