CNN Denies Report Saying Corey Lewandowski Suspended After Donald Trump Paid Him $20,000

Cable news giant CNN is denying a report that former Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was suspended from his role as a CNN political contributor after the network found out that he remained on the Trump payroll.

"The campaign will continue to honor its contract with Mr. Lewandowski, which stipulates he will be paid through the end of the year," Trump press secretary Hope Hicks told The Washington Post Wednesday. "These payments are in no way compensation for services rendered."

Lewandowski had been receiving a severance package from the Trump campaign since he was fired in June, but the $20,000 payment to his firm revealed in Trump's FEC July and August filing for "strategy consulting" appeared to be in addition to the severance payments.

The Trump campaign on Wednesday sought to tamp down any semblance of wrongdoing, saying the payment was his monthly severance and not for consulting services.

However, the campaign offered no explanation for why the payment in question was sent to Lewandowski's consulting firm, nor why it was labeled "strategy consulting" in the FEC filing.

Mediaite reported that Lewandowski was being suspended by CNN following the new statement, but a spokesperson for the cable network said the report was incorrect. The network added that Lewandowski would appear on-air on Wednesday.

The former Trump campaign manager — who was hired by CNN as a political commentator immediately after his departure for the Trump campaign in June, ostensibly for his knowledge of the Republican candidate — is still being paid by the campaign while simultaneously drawing a salary from the media outlet to discuss the candidate on air.

In July, Lewandowski was introduced by CNN anchors, who noted that he was "still receiving severance from the Trump campaign."

Critics, including some at CNN, have panned the move for CNN to hire Lewandowski, saying he cannot perform his duties in accordance with journalistic practices after signing a nondisclosure agreement that prevents him from talking about Trump and his campaign in any light that is not positive.

For his part, Lewandowski promised during his first appearance on CNN, "I will tell it like it is."

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