CNN’s chief executive reportedly told Donald Trump to ‘have fun’ before he stepped on stage for a town hall that turned unruly as the former president spewed lies.

While backstage on Wednesday night, Trump told CNN CEO Chris Licht that he would boost the network’s ratings, two sources close to the ex-president told The Guardian. Licht nodded and said Trump should have ‘a good conversation and have fun’, the sources said in the report published on Friday.

Trump was not very worried about the town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, receiving high ratings, according to the two sources. He was mostly intrigued about participating so he would have more material for his 2024 presidential campaign to share on social media.

In addition, CNN reportedly agreed to book more Trump allies. A network spokesman denied that line.

Overall, Trump got all that he wanted from the town hall, several sources told the news outlet.

CNN’s own staff criticized the town hall and said the network left moderator Kaitlan Collins on her own against Trump’s lies, including about the the 2020 presidential election being stolen from him. Collins attempted to fact check Trump, but ultimately the town hall provided a platform for him to continue pushing his agenda.

Trump on Thursday rejoiced over ‘sky high ratings’ from the town hall.

About 3.3million viewers tuned in, which was the highest viewership for CNN in two years.

‘People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH. I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with Sky High Ratings that they haven’t seen in a very long time,’ wrote Trump on his Truth Social platform.

‘It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!’

Trump in another post wrote that ‘many minds were changed on Wednesday night by listening to Common Sense, and sheer “Brilliance”‘.

During the roughly 75-minute town hall, Trump deflected blame for the January 6 Capitol riot and called Collins a ‘nasty person’ when she pressed him on why he held on to classified documents.

Trump also refused to say whether he wanted Russia or Ukraine to win the war, and mocked his accuser E Jean Carroll as a ‘whack job’. The town hall took place a day after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll and awarded her about $5million.

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