A host from a conservative radio station in Denver said he was abruptly fired after criticizing President Trump during his weekly talk show Saturday morning.
Craig Silverman, a former local prosecutor, was replaying parts of a 2015 interview with Trump confidant Roger Stone when managers from 710 KNUS cut him off and switched to network news, according to the Denver Post. Stone was convicted Friday of witness tampering and lying to Congress in connection with the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
In the clip, Silverman told Stone that he was bothered by Trumps relationship with the late Roy Cohn, Trumps former attorney and mentor who was widely regarded as a ruthless and unscrupulous power broker. Silverman said the stations program director came through the door without warning and told him, Youre done, according to the Denver Post. The host added that he intended to spend the last hour of his show discussing how toxic Trump is in Colorado and arguing that congressional Democrats were making a strong case in the impeachment inquiry.
Silverman and representatives from KNUS and its broadcaster, Salem Media Group, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday morning. The station appeared to have deactivated the website for The Craig Silverman Show, and some of the shows archives appeared to have been removed.
On Twitter, Silverman signaled that he was targeted because he refused to support the president.
I cannot and will not toe strict Trump party line. I call things as I see them, Silverman wrote in response to a supportive tweet from a state lawmaker. I see corruption and blatant dishonesty by President and his cronies. I also see bullying/smearing of American heroes w/courage to take oath and tell truth. Their bravery inspires me.
I was frustrated that we couldnt talk about the facts of the impeachment case and it all came to a head as I was excoriating Donald Trump on my show, Silverman said on CNN Sunday.
Silvermans alleged termination came at the end of a whirlwind week of public hearings in the Democrat-led impeachment inquiry, during which the presidents supporters in the media have rallied to defend him against allegations that he abused his office to pressure Ukrainian officials into investigating his political rivals.
Like many talk radio stations on the AM band, KNUS broadcasts mostly conservative content, including a syndicated show by one of Trumps attorneys, Jay Sekulow, that airs Sunday nights.
Silverman, a former chief deputy district attorney in Denver, calls himself an independent with conservative and liberal views. On his show and in news interviews, he has said he has cast more ballots for Republicans than for Democrats, voting for Mitt Romney in 2012 and Trump in 2016.
He launched his show on KNUS in 2014 after spending a decade at the radio giant Clear Channel, where he co-hosted a politics talk show. In an interview that year with the website Complete Colorado, a reporter asked Silverman whether he was surprised that the station had hired him given his liberal and libertarian viewpoints. Silverman said he wasnt.
KNUS seems dedicated to presenting compelling talk radio and there is diversity in their hosts, he said. You dont have to say ditto or you are a great American to get on our shows. I welcome all callers. I cherish good conversations.
Speaking to Complete Colorado again this summer, Silverman said he was proudly independent and wanted his show to be an island of independence within the station. I treat people fairly and Im not part of a team out to destroy members of another team, he said. He said that, in the Denver area, Trump and the Republican Party are largely considered toxic, while also lamenting that, in his view, socialism was taking hold among Democrats.
