Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is threatening to retaliate against CNN and NBC if they move forward with plans to air programs about Hilary Clinton.
Priebus says the RNC will not partner with either network if they air a planned documentary and miniseries about the likely 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
The Chicago Sun Times Lynn Sweet says the RNC calls the planned programs “free political ads.”
NBC announced a Hillary Clinton miniseries is in the works; CNN is working on a documentary. The networks are rolling out the projects as speculation about whether the former Secretary of State will run in 2016 is soaring.
The projects spurred Priebus to write to the chiefs of the two networks–both nets hosted debates in 2012 and 2008–to “stop promoting” Clinton.
“Their actions to promote Secretary Clinton are disturbing and disappointing. I hope Americans will question the credibility of these networks and that NBC and CNN will reconsider their partisan actions and cancel these political ads masked as unbiased entertainment. If they have not agreed to pull this programming prior to the start of the RNC’s Summer Meeting on August 14, I will seek a binding vote stating that the RNC will neither partner with these networks in 2016 primary debates nor sanction primary debates they sponsor,” Priebus said in a statement.
CNN says the RNC should withhold judgement on their documentary until it actually airs in 2014.
Instead of making premature decisions about a project that is in the very early stages of development and months from completion, we would encourage the members of the Republican National Committee to reserve judgment until they know more. Should they decide not to participate in debates on CNN, we would find it curious, as limiting their debate participation seems to be the ultimate disservice to voters.
