Hugh Hewitt Defends CNN’s Tapper and Bash – But Says He’s ‘Worried About the Third Moderator’ at Biden-Trump Debate

Conservative pundit Hugh Hewitt bucked many of his right-wing colleagues by defending CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash from criticism ahead of Thursday’s presidential debate.

Tapper and Bash will moderate this cycle’s first debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. Conservatives have upped their attacks on the CNN hosts as the event draws nearer.

“I will say, I don’t share concerns about CNN or Jake and Dana,” Hewitt said on Tuesday’s edition of The Story on Fox News. “I worked with them on debates in 2015 and ’16 – four with Dana, two with Jake. And they’re professional.”

Hewitt then said he is concerned about who he called “the third moderator” – Judge Juan Merchan, who presided over Trump’s New York criminal trial. The former president was convicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records last month. On Tuesday, Merchan partially lifted the gag order he had imposed on Trump to allow the ex-president to talk about the witnesses and the jury in the case. Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for July 11.

Oddly, Hewitt expressed outrage that Merchan “changed the terms of the order” even though that change was in Trump’s favor.

“I’m worried about the third moderator,” Hewitt continued. “The third moderator is Juan Merchan, the trial judge in Manhattan. An hour ago he changed the terms of the gag order. What do you do with that when you change the terms of the gag order, you know, 48 hours before a debate? It’s crazy.”

Trump is also under criminal indictment in three other jurisdictions.

Watch above via Fox News.