CNN to host town hall with Pence amid 2024 speculation

CNN will host a town hall with former Vice President Mike Pence in Iowa next month, as he continues to fuel speculation of a 2024 White House run, the network announced Thursday.

The forum, which CNN described as a Republican presidential town hall, will air June 7 at 9 p.m. 

CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash will moderate the discussion, as the former vice president takes questions from audience members who have said they plan to participate in the Republican caucuses in Iowa.

Pence suggested in mid-April that his decision on 2024 would come in a matter of “weeks and not months.” He also said last month that any “serious” candidate for the Republican nomination would need to enter the race by June.

“If we have an announcement to make, it’ll be well before late June,” he told CBS’s “Face the Nation” at the time.

The town hall will be the third such event for CNN, after the network hosted former President Trump earlier this month and recently announced plans to host Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on June 4.

CNN faced a wave of criticism after its town hall with Trump, which saw the former president double down on his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and attack the woman who had recently won a civil case against the former president for sexual abuse and defamation.