CNN plans to host numerous town halls with the Democratic candidates before the New Hampshire Primary on Feb. 11th. While Deval Patrick, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang all received invitations from the network, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) was passed up.
And still, to this day, Gabbard has no idea why she was excluded from the line-up.
"We have reached out, I think more than once and we received no explanation and I don't even think we've gotten a response to date about why they're excluding the first female combat veteran ever to run for president, the only woman of color in the race," she said.
According to the Democratic candidate, her campaign is still waiting for an answer.
"it's really a disservice to voters in New Hampshire and across the country to not allow them to hear from, myself included, with the other candidates as we head into Election Day," Gabbard said.
Asked about not being invited to the @CNN town halls next week in NH, @TulsiGabbard tells @foxnewspolitics "we received no explanation. I don't even think we've gotten a response to date about why they're excluding the first female combat veteran ever to run for president" #FITN pic.twitter.com/njxusUoXWt
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) January 28, 2020
It's likely that CNN decided to part ways with the representative after she accused the network of smearing her for being an Assad apologist and a Russian asset. She made the comments during one of CNN's Democratic debates when talking about Syria.
"Not only that but, the New York Times and CNN have also smeared veterans like myself for calling for an end to this regime change war," Gabbard said during the debate. "Just two days ago the New York Times put out an article saying that I’m a Russian asset and an Assad apologist and all these different smears. This morning a CNN commentator said on national television that I’m an asset of Russia. Completely despicable."