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(NewsNation) —The long-awaited rematch debate between Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican. is just days away.
As CNN will host the debate, some Trump allies called for the former president to drop out after his campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt was cut off and booted from a live interview on the network with anchor Kasie Hunt on Monday.
In response to one of Hunt’s questions on what Trump is doing differently compared to the 2020 debates, Leavitt said he is “going into a hostile environment” on CNN with “debate moderators who have made their opinions about him very well known over the past eight years and their biased coverage of him.”
When asked what Trump’s team expects from Biden, Leavitt again brought up debate moderator Jake Tapper, before Hunt cut her off, warning her that she was going to stop the interview “if you’re going to keep attacking my colleagues.”
“You come on my show, you respect my colleagues,” Hunt said on X following the interview. “Period. I don’t care what side of the aisle you stand on, as my track record clearly shows.”
Republicans are pointing to the incident as proof of the outlet’s bias against Trump, bringing up debate moderator Jake Tapper’s previous criticisms of him, including when the journalist compared language used by the Republican candidate to the “dehumanizing rhetoric of Adolf Hitler.”
“This proved our point that President Trump will not be treated fairly on Thursday,” Leavitt wrote on X. “Yet he is still willing to go into this 3-1 fight to bring his winning message to the American people, and he will win.”
CNN defended itself in a statement to NewsNation partner The Hill, calling Tapper and fellow moderator Dana Bash well-respected veteran journalists.
“They have extensive experience moderating major political debates, including CNN’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate this cycle,” the statement said. “There are no two people better equipped to co-moderate a substantial and fact-based discussion and we look forward to the debate on June 27 in Atlanta. ”
Both Biden and Trump’s campaigns agreed to have Tapper and Bash conduct the debate. Trump himself even downplayed the idea that CNN hosting the debate would affect him negatively while speaking to YouTuber Logan Paul on his podcast.
“I think they’ll be fair I think they’re going to try and be fair — as fair as they can be,” Trump said. “I think it’s important for there to be a debate… let’s see what happens. I used to get along with Jake Tapper. We’ll see what happens, but it doesn’t matter whatever it is it is.”