Black-Owned Radio Station Parts Ways with Host Who Interviewed Biden with Pre-Determined Questions

WURD Radio has parted ways with host Andrea Lawful-Sanders after she revealed that the Biden campaign sent her pre-determined questions prior to her interview with President Biden. The decision came after Lawful-Sanders admitted on CNN that the White House provided her with eight questions to ask before the interview.

WURD Radio, a Philadelphia-based Black-owned radio station, has parted ways with host Andrea Lawful-Sanders following revelations that the Biden campaign sent her a list of pre-determined questions ahead of her interview with President Biden.

Lawful-Sanders admitted during a CNN interview on Saturday that Biden's team sent her eight questions to ask during his interview on "The Source" last Wednesday. She said she "approved" four of the questions and used them during her sit-down with the president, which marked his first interview after his disastrous debate performance last month.

Black-Owned Radio Station Parts Ways with Host Who Interviewed Biden with Pre-Determined Questions

The questions centered around Biden's accomplishments, debate performance, progress in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, what's at stake in the election, and what he would say to voters who are considering not voting in the presidential election.

On Sunday, WURD's president and CEO, Sara M. Lomax, announced that Lawful-Sanders and WURD have "mutually agreed to part ways," emphasizing that "WURD Radio is not a mouthpiece for the Biden or any other admin."

Black-Owned Radio Station Parts Ways with Host Who Interviewed Biden with Pre-Determined Questions

"On July 3, the first post-debate interview with President Joe Biden was arranged and negotiated independently by WURD Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders without knowledge, consultation or collaboration with WURD management," Lomax said in a statement on Sunday.

"The interview featured pre-determined questions provided by the White House, which violates our practice of remaining an independent media outlet accountable to our listeners. As a result, Ms. Lawful-Sanders and WURD Radio have mutually agreed to part ways, effective immediately," she added.

Black-Owned Radio Station Parts Ways with Host Who Interviewed Biden with Pre-Determined Questions

Lawful-Sanders' departure comes shortly after a second local radio host who interviewed Biden in the days following the presidential debate admitted that he received the questions beforehand. In statements given to ABC News, Wisconsin radio station host Earl Ingram confirmed that he was given five questions to ask Biden during their recent chat and wasn’t able to get through all of them before the interview ended.

CNN's Blackwell told Lawful-Sanders that he listened to both interviews and said the questions were "essentially the same" in both. Both radio show appearances were branded as an opportunity for Biden to prove to voters that he is capable of answering pointed questions and defending his record after his debate performance raised serious concerns about his mental competency and has resulted in mounting calls for him to drop out of the race. 

Black-Owned Radio Station Parts Ways with Host Who Interviewed Biden with Pre-Determined Questions

Biden campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt defended the practice of sending questions prior to interviews in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"It’s not at all an uncommon practice for interviewees to share topics they would prefer. These questions were relevant to news of the day - the president was asked about this debate performance as well as what he'd delivered for black Americans," she said. "We do not condition interviews on acceptance of these questions, and hosts are always free to ask the questions they think will best inform their listeners. In addition to these interviews, the President also participated in a press gaggle yesterday as well as an interview with ABC. Americans have had several opportunities to see him unscripted since the debate."

Lawful-Sanders did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

Fox News' Hannah Panreck contributed to this report