Corey Lewandowski Dodges Tough Trump Questions On CNN

The former campaign manager couldn't explain why he got fired.
LOADINGERROR LOADING

CNN's Dana Bash grilled Corey Lewandowski on Monday, asking him about his role as Donald Trump's campaign manger just hours after he was axed from the job.

Lewandowski argued early on in the interview that the presumptive Republican nominee's small staff was an advantage, especially compared to the much larger organization behind presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Bash brushed aside Lewandowski's rosy assessment of the campaign and questioned him about his performance.

"You’re painting a very nice picture of the Trump campaign and the state of play," she said, before twice pushing Lewandowski to explain why he'd been fired. The former Trump staffer struggled to come up with a response.

"I don’t know the answer to that," Lewandowski said, adding, "I know I’ve had a great privilege and honor of being part of this for the last 18 or 19 months and I have no regrets."

Bash zeroed in on some of Trump's recent miscues, such as his self-aggrandizing remarks after last weekend's mass shooting in Orlando, Florida.

"You were also in charge of communications," Bash said. "He ended up delivering a speech that, by Republicans, was almost universally thought, 'What was that?' and panned. How involved were you and were you encouraging him to do that?"

Instead of explaining what role he played in formulating Trump's renewed calls for banning Muslims from entering the United States, Lewandowski defended his former boss' comments.

"I think that what he has said and been given a lot of credit for is stepping up and making a speech immediately after the terrorist attack and calling it what it was, which is radical Islamic terrorism," Lewandowski said.

"You're not going to answer my question," Bash said after Lewandowski dodged a follow-up question asking if he helped frame Trump's comments.

That was the general theme of the interview: Lewandowski avoided criticizing himself and Trump, regardless of what Bash said -- even when she asked him specifically to name any of his regrets.

He said he had "none professionally."

Lewandowski's tumultuous tenure running Trump's campaign included the alleged battery of reporter Michelle Fields at a campaign event. Fields is now a reporter for The Huffington Post.

Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S.

Before You Go

Trump's Most Presidential Looks

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot