Andrea Lawful-Sanders, host of “The Source” on WURD in Philadelphia, shared on CNN that she used pre-approved questions provided by the Biden campaign during an interview with Joe Biden. The station and Lawful-Sanders have since “mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately,” as announced in a statement by WURD.
BREAKING: The Philadelphia radio show host who admitted she was given the questions to ask President Biden for an interview, has been cut by WURD Radio.
Holy sh*t.
During an interview with CNN yesterday, host Andrea Lawful-Sanders admitted that she was given questions to ask… pic.twitter.com/mcIU4jza5A [1]
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 7, 2024 [2]
The station clarified that the interview was arranged independently by Lawful-Sanders, without the knowledge or collaboration of WURD management. WURD emphasized its commitment to independent journalism and accountability to its audience, stating that the use of pre-determined questions violated its standards.
The Biden Campaign cost a black woman her job because they’re writing pre-written questions for interviews in attempt to prove that Joe Biden isn’t in cognitive decline https://t.co/GDShJDtfd3 [3]
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 7, 2024 [4]
Only Joe Biden could go into an interview with scripted, pre-written questions and end up declaring that he is now a black woman in one of his answers.
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 7, 2024 [5]
Scripted interview – Joe Biden STILL called himself “the first Black woman to serve with a Black President” 🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/I68ygucvNh [6]
— Brendan (@BrendanMcInnis) July 6, 2024 [7]
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, initially defended the use of pre-approved questions, stating that it is “not uncommon” for campaigns to share preferred topics for interviews. However, following the controversy, a source familiar with Biden’s booking operation told the New York Post [8] that the campaign will no longer be providing suggested questions to interviewers.