White House counselor Kellyanne Conway and CNN anchor Chris Cuomo had another heated exchange early Monday in which the pair traded accusations of grandstanding and Cuomo warned Conway not to “poison people’s minds.”
The conversation on “New Day” initially focused on former FBI Director James Comey’s interview on ABC on Sunday night.
{mosads}“I saw it last night and thought, ‘This guy swung an election? I don’t think so,’” Conway said in reference to many Democrats who criticized Comey for announcing, weeks before Election Day, that the FBI was renewing an investigation into Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server while secretary of State.
“Well, he would end up hurting her,” Cuomo replied.
“No, he didn’t!” Conway shot back.
“What?” Cuomo asked incredulously.
The two then proceeded to talk over each other.
“You’re trying to go viral,” Conway said to Cuomo at one point.
“You’re the one who goes viral,” Cuomo retorted.
“You want this to be about something other than what the whole day is about here,” Conway said later in the interview. “Which is whether or not the president has complied with an investigation that your network and others have alleged would lead to evidence of collusion with Russia.”
“We’ve never said anything like that, Kellyanne,” Cuomo said. “Why do you try and poison people’s minds like that, Kellyanne? That’s not helpful. We need common ground not division. Don’t poison people.”
“No kidding, so let’s be honest,” she replied. “How much air time did you give to Russian collusion last year?”
“I hope it’s a lot, I hope it’s a real lot,” Cuomo said. “Because it really matters, because they’re still trying to tear us asunder and they are being effective at it and they’re still doing it.”
“And the president has been slow to respond,” he continued. “You guys don’t even have a real plan for how to combat it because the president conflates his own personal prospects.”
“You won’t even tell me that he won’t make a move on the special counsel,” Cuomo added.
“No, I won’t say that,” Conway said.
“No, you won’t say it, that’s the point!” Cuomo exclaimed.
“Excuse me. He makes all of the personnel decisions around her and you know it,” she replied.
“Oh, I know,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo and Conway have sparred repeatedly in the past since Trump took office almost 15 months ago, with one interview lasting 35 minutes without commercial interruption. Their Monday morning interview went on for more than 28 minutes.