A radio host from Philadelphia has parted ways with her station after she admitted to using prewritten questions from the Biden campaign in an interview with President Biden.
Andrea Lawful-Sanders and WURD “mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately,” the company said in a statement Sunday.
“The interview featured pre-determined questions provided by the White House, which violates our practice of remaining an independent media outlet accountable to our listeners,” Sara M. Lomax, president and CEO of WURD Radio, said in the statement.
The statement said the interview Wednesday — the first interview with the president after his shaky debate performance on June 27— was “arranged and negotiated independently by WURD Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders without knowledge, consultation or collaboration with WURD management.”
Ms. Lomax said the use of prewritten questions “jeopardizes” the trust between the state’s only independent Black-owned talk radio show and its audience.
“WURD Radio is not a mouthpiece for the Biden or any other administration,” she said.
In a Saturday interview on CNN’s “The Source,” Ms. Lawful-Sanders admitted the questions were sent to her from the Biden team prior to the interview after host Victor Blackwell pointed out that the questions she asked Mr. Biden were similar to questions that Earl Ingram, host of “The Earl Ingram Show” out of Milwaukee, asked the president.
“The questions were sent to me for approval. I approved them,” she said, adding that she received eight of them, and used four.
A spokesperson from the Biden campaign did not deny sending the questions but said the interview was not conditional on whether the questions were accepted.
“It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to the news of the day — the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he’d delivered for Black Americans,” spokesperson Lauren Hitt said in a statement to CNN.
The episode comes at a time when the president, 81, needs to prove he’s capable of rolling with the punches since his debate performance sent Democrats into a frenzy over whether he’s fit to be president.
The provided questions were another example of Mr. Biden’s team shielding him from moments that could show his age and exacerbate worries that he is not capable of being president.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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