- Trump's advisor reportedly showed him an AOC tweet during the CNN town hall to fire him up.
- AOC's tweet blasted CNN for having lost "total control" of the event, Axios reported.
To keep Donald Trump fired up and on the offensive during his CNN town hall appearance last week, the former president's advisor showed him a tweet from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that criticized the event, Axios reported, citing a Trump confidant.
Axios reported that Trump advisor Jason Miller showed Trump Ocasio-Cortez's tweet during the first commercial break of the night.
In the tweet, Ocasio-Cortez said CNN had "lost total control" of the town hall and was being "manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim."
"The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host," Ocasio-Cortez wrote.
—Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 11, 2023
In another tweet, AOC said: "This was a choice to platform lies about the election & Jan 6th w/ no plan but to have their moderator interrupted without consequence."
Axios reported that Trump was also shown a tweet from The Lincoln Project calling the town hall "a CNN sponsored Trump 2024 fundraiser."
Despite Trump's checkered past with CNN reporters, the Wall Street Journal and Puck News reported that the media outlet partnered with the former president to foster a better relationship with Republican viewers and show a sense of neutrality in its coverage.
In exchange, Trump was given a prime-time opportunity to speak before a non-MAGA audience, as well as respond publicly after being found guilty of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll earlier in May — he joked about it at the town hall and was met with a chorus of laughter.
During and following the town hall, several media experts and professionals publicly denounced the event.
"What did CNN think would happen?" wrote MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan on Twitter.
According to the former president's advisor, Miller, in the eyes of Trump's team, the CNN town hall "was fantastic."