CNN anchor Jake Tapper reportedly encouraged a Republican congressional candidate to run in a different district.
The CNN personality reached out to Sean Parnell, a U.S. Army combat veteran who’s running for Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District against the Democratic incumbent Conor Lamb, last November and suggested he run “in a safer R district!,” according to a Twitter direct message obtained by Fox News.
“And best of luck in your race. For the record, I wasn’t trying to talk you out of running — I was trying to talk you into running in a safer R district! Lol,” a screenshot showed Tapper writing to Parnell on Nov. 8.
Tapper has not publicly acknowledged the apparent message yet, but he did deny sending it when confronted online by U.S. diplomat and former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
Grenell posted a screenshot of a direct message conversation between himself and Tapper. In the photo, Grenell asked the CNN anchor if it’s true that he “asked Sean Parnell to not run against Conor Lamb?” and he said no. Grenell then said that “they,” it’s unclear who, “have texts from you,” and Tapper didn’t respond to that message.
CNN did not respond to a request for comment.
Tapper is not the only anchor on the network who has been outed for allegedly unethical behavior.
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson released audio this week that he said showed CNN anchor Chris Cuomo providing Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal lawyer, with advice in 2016 for how then-candidate Trump could prepare for a debate with the other GOP candidates. Carlson has released other portions of recordings over the last couple of weeks of conversations Cohen had with Cuomo and CNN President Jeff Zucker.
