CNN’s Ana Navarro filed her nails as a supporter of President Trump spoke about crimes committed by those crossing into the U.S. illegally during an oftentimes heated debate late Wednesday.
Steve Cortes, who served on Trump’s Hispanic Advisory Council, attempted during an appearance on CNN’s “Chris Cuomo Prime Time” to cite reports that call into question the argument that undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than American citizens before host Chris Cuomo accused him of injecting “fake news” into the conversation.
{mosads}”It’s fake news for you to inject B.S. and say that it’s equal to the real data,” Cuomo said.
“It’s not B.S.,” Cortes retorted. “Even if I were to grant you that, OK, the point is the illegal alien crime rate should be zero.”
As Cortes was making his argument in one of three boxes on the screen, Navarro could be seen filing her nails.
“You can do your nails,” Cortes said in addressing her. “You know who can’t do their nails are people who have been killed, Ana, by dangerous known illegal aliens who have been allowed to stay in this country because of the leftist policies that people like you promote in so-called sanctuary cities.”
The segment eventually went off the rails when Cortes referred to Navarro as a “de facto leftie.” Navarro, who supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the 2016 GOP presidential primary, is one of Trump’s most outspoken critics on cable news.
“This is the most conservative president since Ronald Reagan,” Cortes countered as Navarro continued talking over him. “He might be the most conservative president since Calvin Coolidge. So if you oppose the conservative policies of this president, you are de facto leftie.”
“He is not a conservative!” Navarro shot back after noting she was a Republican “when Trump was a Democrat.”
“Do you think that having sex with a stripper is conservative values? Do you think cheating on the stripper with a Playboy bunny is conservative values?” she said.
The topic of immigration and the partial government shutdown has dominated cable news for the past three weeks. The shutdown, now in its 20th day, was sparked by an impasse over funding for a wall Trump has promised along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The current shutdown is the second longest in U.S. history. The longest shutdown occurred in 1995 and 1996 during an impasse between President Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). That shutdown lasted from Nov. 14, 1995, through Jan. 6, 1996.
Conservatives criticized Navarro over the episode, which quickly went viral after being picked up by the Drudge Report.
The attention made it the top-trending topic on Twitter for much of Thursday.