CNN has denied scripting questions for Wednesday night’s town hall meeting on gun control and safety with survivors of the Parkland massacre.
Colton Haab, 17, a member of the Junior ROTC who shielded students with Kevlar vests while the school was under attack from the shooter, said he decided not to attend the televised meeting after the network rejected a question he wanted to ask and presented him with one of their own.
‘CNN had originally asked me to write a speech and questions and it ended up being all scripted,’ Haab told Miami’s WPLG-TV.
The network released a statement on Thursday morning refuting Haab’s allegation.
It read: ‘There is absolutely no truth to this. CNN did not provide or script questions for anyone in last night’s town hall, nor have we ever.
School shooting survivor Colton Haab, 17 (pictured), a member of the Junior ROTC who shielded students while the school was under attack from the shooter, said he decided not to attend a town hall hosted by CNN after he was presented with the prepared question
CNN aired a town hall on the Florida school shooting that included Florida Senators Marco Rubio (right) and Bill Nelson. Moderated by CNN anchor Jake Tapper (left), students and parents asked questions about gun control and school safety
The network released a statement on Thursday morning that read: ‘There is absolutely no truth to this. CNN did not provide or script questions for anyone in last night’s town hall, nor have we ever’
‘After seeing an interview with Colton Haab, we invited him to participate in our town hall along with other students and administrators from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,’ the statement continued.
‘Colton’s father withdrew his name from participation before the forum began, which we regretted but respected. We welcome Colton to join us on CNN today to discuss his views on school safety.’
Haab said was planning to ask about school safety, and the possibility of using veterans as armed security guards in schools, but the questions were rejected by CNN.
After allegedly being told he had to ask a scripted question, Haab decided not to attend the town hall.
“I don’t think that it’s going get anything accomplished. It’s not gonna ask the true questions that all the parents and teachers and students have,” Haab said.
CNN aired a town hall on the Florida school shooting that included Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) and the NRA’s Dana Loesch and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
Haab (pictured) said was planning to ask about school safety, and the possibility of using veterans as armed security guards in schools, but the questions were rejected by CNN
CNN claimed that Haab’s father withdrew his name from participation before the forum began (Pictured, Haab’s questions)
Rubio (left) was called ‘pathetically weak’ by a victim’s father, Fred Guttenberg (right), for refusing to support an assault weapon ban during Town Hall meeting with Florida massacre victims and families
Also attendants of the town hall meeting were he NRA’s Dana Loesch (right) and Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel (left)
Moderated by CNN anchor Jake Tapper, students and parents asked questions about gun control and school safety.
During the town hall, Rubio received a chorus of boos when he said that a ban on assault weapons would not have prevented the fatal shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
One of the first parents to take the stage was Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed after being shot in the back as she ran away from the shooter, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, on Valentine’s Day.
‘Your comments this week and those of our president are pathetically weak. Look at me and tell me you will do something about guns,’ the bereaved father implored.
‘Were guns a factor?’
Rubio did say that yes – guns were a factor, but insisted that an all-out ban on assault and semi-automatic weapons was not the answer.
He said his reason for not supporting the ban is because it would outlaw roughly 200 types of guns – assault rifles – while the purchase of over 2,000 types of ‘nearly identical’ guns would still be legal.