Just days after he was fired from his gig as Donald Trump’s controversial campaign manager on Monday, CNN snapped up Corey Lewandowski for compensation rumored to be as much as $500,000. The cable network hired Lewandowski to be a political commentator despite the fact he’s contractually prohibited from criticizing Trump.
Lewandowski’s first paid appearance on Erin Burnett’s OutFront show Thursday evening was probably indicative of what viewers can expect from him this campaign season. He acknowledged he signed a confidentiality agreement that prevents him from talking about certain aspects of his controversial tenure with the Trump campaign, but didn’t go in detail about exactly what is off limits. Asked whether he’s indeed contractually prohibited from saying anything negative about Trump, Lewandowski dodged the question, but vowed to “tell it like it is.”
“I am a guy who calls balls and strikes, I am going to tell it like it is,” Lewandowski told Burnett. “I’ll tell you exactly like it is, whether you like it or not. I’m a straightforward person. That’s not going to change. If something is wrong, I’ll tell people it’s wrong. If something is right, I’m going to tell people it’s right.”
During the rest of his roughly 10-minute appearance, Lewandowski said nothing even remotely critical about Trump. In fact, he offered a glowing tribute to his former boss, saying he’s “fully committed, in my private time with my family and my friends, [to] telling everybody I know that Donald Trump is the only person who is going to save this country, for my children and hopefully their children someday.”
The spectacle of a paid CNN contributor essentially functioning as a spokesperson for a presidential campaign during an on-air appearance left media analyst and New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen struggling to describe what he’d seen.
"Paid source within the Trump camp speaks on air" is as close as I can come to a description of what this is. https://t.co/Exkbhd2qtv 2/2
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 24, 2016
It’s not unusual for CNN to feature paid contributors who have open political allegiances. For instance, longtime CNN contributor Paul Begala was a chief strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign and made nearly $600,000 consulting for the pro-Obama Priorities USA and Priorities USA Actions PACs during the 2012 election cycle. Nonetheless, Begala has been called upon this year to provide analysis of the Hillary Clinton versus Bernie Sanders primary contest.
On the other side of the political spectrum, CNN has been featuring the commentary of staunch Trump loyalist Jeffrey Lord and has been criticized for being insufficiently critical of Trump, though there are recent indications the cable network is getting tougher.
Lewandowski’s non-disparagement agreement might make his situation unique, however. It’s one thing to avoid criticizing a candidate because you don’t think it’s warranted. It’s another to avoid it because you’re contractually prohibited from doing so.