Dad Accused CNN of 'Scripting' Town Hall; CNN Releases Emails

Parkland survivor's dad admits he left critical words out of exchange he sent to media outlets
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 28, 2018 6:03 AM CST
Fla. Survivor's Dad: 'Nothing Malicious' Behind Altered Email
CNN's Jake Tapper listens to Republican Sen. Marco Rubio during a CNN town hall meeting on Feb. 21, 2018, in Sunrise, Fla.   (Michael Laughlin/South Florida Sun Sentinel via AP)

An emotional CNN town hall last week after the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School focused on gun control and school safety, but the network soon found itself in a tiff with the family of one of the survivors. Conservative outlets went after CNN for "scripting" the event after 17-year-old Colton Haab, who was supposed to take part in the town hall, didn't show because his family says the network was telling him what question to ask, per HuffPost. Even President Trump weighed in, once more calling CNN "fake news." But the AP reports that on Tuesday, Colton's dad, Glenn Haab, fessed up to modifying an email he sent to other media outlets as supposed proof that CNN was trying to tell Colton what to say during the event.

CNN had adamantly denied it scripted Colton's, or anyone's, questions for the town hall, but Glenn Haab then sent to Fox News and HuffPost an email between himself, his son, and a CNN producer that was meant to show Colton was being told what question to ask by CNN. But CNN offered up its own version to the Washington Post, which shows the email exchange in its entirety and reveals that Haab's version of one of the emails deleted certain words that made clear the question Colton was cleared to ask was one he'd originally submitted himself. Glenn Haab now tells the AP he did leave out some words from his version of the email, but that "there was nothing malicious behind it." "It is unfortunate that an effort to discredit CNN and the town hall with doctored emails has taken any attention away from the purpose of the event," the network said in a statement. (More Parkland school shooting stories.)

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