Emails Show Jake Tapper Tried Booking Josh Hawley 18 Times on Show Despite Claims He Was Banned Over January 6

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., attends a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on voting rights on
Screenshot, Evelyn Hockstein/Pool via AP
Jacob Bliss

Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-MO) press secretary released emails on Friday showing CNN’s Jake Tapper repeatedly tried to book Hawley on his show after the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot—and as recently as late May. The emails are relevant because they show Tapper’s booker tried to get Hawley on his show after the timeframe in reports. This week, Tapper said he’s refused to allow Republicans who voted to challenge the electoral college certification on Jan. 6 airtime on his show.

The press secretary said on Twitter to ignore “Jake Tapper’s public virtue signaling,” claiming that CNN had tried to book the senator on the network’s Sunday show, State of the Union, 18 times since January 6.

The first image shows Tapper in a screenshot of the Politico Playbook, engaging in the practice of not inviting Republicans on his show since January 6 who “push election fraud” because he does not “want to deal with it.” The screenshot of the playbook also shows Tapper made the point to his audience: If they’re willing to lie about the election, what else are they willing to lie about?

One of the emails in the tweet has the subject “at SOTU,” which is a common acronym for the State of the Union, dated May 4, to talk about the upcoming SOTU on May 9. The email reads, “Hope you’re safe and well. Writing to see if the Senator would be available to join SOTU co-anchor Jake Tapper this weekend.”

Another one of the screenshotted emails is dated April 27th with the subject line “SOTU 5/2.” The email says the same exact thing, “Hope you’re safe and well. Writing to see if the Senator would be available to join SOTU co-anchor Jake Tapper this weekend.”

The last email screenshot in the tweet is from May 23 to discuss another upcoming SOTU on May 30. The person who wrote the email said something slightly different, “Hope you’re doing well. Would the Senators have any availability to join Jake Tapper hosting State of the Union next Sunday morning?”

In a tweet from Tapper Friday night, in response to Hawley’s press secretary, he blames the bookers for trying to schedule Hawley on his show. Tapper says if the bookers had gone to him, he would have said no with Hawley as an option.

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