CNN president: Airing so many full Trump rallies was a 'mistake'

CNN’s president says he regrets giving so much airtime to Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTop Dem: Trump violating 'one of the Constitution's most critical anti-corruption commands' Trump Taj Mahal decor set to go to auction Now isn’t the time to cut Peace Corps funding MORE and his rallies on the network early in the campaign season.

“If we made any mistake last year, it’s that we probably did put too many of his campaign rallies in those early months and let them run,” Jeff Zucker said at Harvard Kennedy School, according to BuzzFeed. “Listen, because you never knew what he would say, there was an attraction to put those on the air.”

Zucker, who was the president of NBC Entertainment when “The Apprentice” was first on TV said that even then Trump was a “publicity magnet.”

“Trump delivered on PR, he delivered on big ratings,” Zucker said.

Zucker denied that he helped secure coverage of Trump on CNN or that the network's constant coverage helped him clinch the Republican nomination.

He insisted that Trump would agree to do interviews with some of the other Republican candidates would not.

"Marco RubioMarco RubioScarborough congratulates ‘Morning Joe’ team for record ratings Capone-era lessons can show us how to confront Putin GOP considers keeping ObamaCare tax in revised health bill MORE and Jeb Bush went two months without agreeing to do an interview. That’s not Trump’s fault. That’s not CNN’s fault," he said.