On July 30, one day after Pakistani authorities announced the capture of alleged Al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, The New Republic's Spencer Ackerman, co-author of the article "July Surprise," appeared on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. The article quoted Pakistani government sources saying that White House aides were pressuring Pakistani intelligence to make a high-profile arrest during the Democratic National Convention.
While Olbermann made the connection between the arrest and the TNR article, CNN continued to report Ghailani's capture throughout the weekend on NewsNight with Aaron Brown, CNN Daybreak, American Morning, and CNN Live Today, as well as on various live news updates, without mentioning the “July Surprise” angle -- even though TNR editor Peter Beinart had appeared on NewsNight on July 7 to discuss it, and CNN anchors had repeatedly referenced the article on July 8.