GOP Cable News Hire Gives Up Job After Backlash

Sarah Isgur apparently asked for the change
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2019 9:44 AM CST
Ex-GOP Operative Won't Be CNN Editor After All
Harvard Law School student, Sarah Isgur, poses at her desk at the Romney for President headquarters in Boston Friday, March 23, 2007.   (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

A recent CNN hire that caused all kinds of waves has reached safe, dry land: a less powerful job. The network said Friday that Sarah Isgur, a former GOP operative, will be a political analyst instead of a political editor as originally planned, Bloomberg reports. "And news: I will go to CNN as a Political Analyst instead," she tweeted Friday. "Will start next month on air and on line. See y'all soon!" When the network hired her in February, several CNN journalists and reps for presidential candidates expressed concern about hiring a former Trump administration official who had no prior journalism experience, per the New York Times.

Clarifications about her job and changes in her duties didn't seem to help. The network made clear that Isgur would work under political director David Chalian, per CNN, while Politico says the network altered her position to ensure she had no involvement in 2020 debates and wouldn't supervise campaign coverage. But in the end, Isgur—who was lead spokeswoman for former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy campaign manager for presidential candidate Carly Fiorina—apparently suggested the change. "When Sarah came to us and proposed her role be adjusted to a political analyst instead, we agreed and we look forward to her starting in that role," CNN said. (More CNN stories.)

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