CNN’s Chris Cuomo and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway had another battle on TV Thursday night over President Donald Trump, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, NFL protests, opioids, the economy, the nature of truth, the definition of a lie and more.
As in their past battles, the two argued, interrupted, spoke over each other and did a lot of this:
At one point, Conway accused CNN of interfering in the 2016 presidential election by replaying the infamous Access Hollywood “grab ’em by the pussy” tape and with “phony polling.”
“You were a world-class journalist. You used to go to plane crash sites and cover war and famine,” Conway chided.
“I go now,” Cuomo said.
“No, you don’t,” Conway said.
“I went to Helsinki and saw one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Cuomo said, referring to Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which the president refused to condemn Moscow for interfering in the U.S. election.
Much of the argument centered around Cuomo attempting to get Conway to admit that Trump lied when he said he didn’t know about his former attorney’s $130,000 payment to a porn star just before the 2016 election. Daniels claimed she had an affair with Trump 10 years earlier, and the money was for her silence.
But Conway wouldn’t bite and demanded Cuomo give “respect” to the president.
“The truth matters,” Cuomo said, noting the different statements Trump has made on the matter. “The truth is he lied about this. You guys should own it and move forward.”
At another point, Conway complained that Cuomo wouldn’t let her speak.
“You’re shutting me down,” she said, and accused him of being sexist.
“Nobody can shut you down,” he shot back. “We both know that.”
Cuomo said he had to interrupt her because she wouldn’t tell the truth.
“I can’t let you say things that aren’t true. That’s not what this show is about,” he said. “That’s Fox. You go to Fox for that.”
When it was over, “CNN Tonight” host Don Lemon summed up the exchange: “I cannot get that 20 minutes of my life back.”
