Fox News host Howard Kurtz criticized CNN anchor Anderson Cooper for asking softball questions of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden during a town hall on the rival network last week.
“Anderson Cooper moderated a CNN town hall with Joe Biden, and let’s just say he didn’t exactly grill the former vice president,” Kurtz said on Sunday’s “MediaBuzz.”
Kurtz then played clips of several easy questions Cooper asked Biden during the event:
“How are you preparing for debate?” “I’m wondering what you expect the days and weeks after the election to look like?” “There are a lot of people who worry about a breakdown of law and order in this country, are you one of them?” “Do you think it’s still possible to reach across the aisle?”
“Anderson Cooper asked only a couple of skeptical questions by my count,” he said to his guest, Democratic California Rep. Jane Harman. “Given the way that President Trump is aggressively questioned in interviews, at press conferences, at the ABC town hall with George Stephanopoulos, doesn’t this reinforce the impression that the media kind of go easy on Joe Biden?”
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“Well, what I thought was interesting about that town hall, which I watched, was the interaction between Biden and the audience sitting in front of their cars in a sort of outdoor format where it was social distanced and complying with health guidance, which I think is a good thing,” Harman responded, adding that Biden was “treated fairly” and put on the “best performance that I’ve seen.”
“It’s in part because of the questioners selected by CNN,” Kurtz said. “Three were Republicans, 13 were Democrats, so I wonder if these softer interviews really help Biden prepare for what are going to be the tough fall debates beginning with Chris Wallace in a couple of weeks.” (RELATED: Chris Wallace Says At Least Trump Is ‘Answering Questions,’ While Biden ‘Hasn’t Come Out Of The Basement’)
“Well, I’m a member of the Presidential Debates Commission and I’m likely to be in Cleveland,” Harman replied. “The moderator, in case you missed it, is Fox’s own Chris Wallace, and I think that will be a very interesting faceoff, and I don’t know how it’s going to go. Their styles couldn’t be more different. Trump is all swagger and Biden is all compassion character and substance. It’s very different, and we’ll see what voters want.”
The first debate between President Donald Trump and Biden will take place September 29.