Trump aide accuses CNN’s Chris Cuomo of breaking quarantine while COVID-19 positive in heated interview

A spokesman for President Trump’s reelection campaign and Chris Cuomo traded verbal blows on Monday night, with Tim Murtaugh accusing the CNN host of breaking his quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.

Things became tense after Murtaugh said that Cuomo’s brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), said that New York got “everything they needed” in fighting the pandemic at its height.

“No. He said, ‘I went to the federal government. They helped me with things.’ They did not help with everything. They’re still not helping,'” the anchor responded.

In April, the governor was asked on “The Howard Stern Show” if Trump had provided New York with what was needed at the time.

“He has delivered for New York. He has,” Andrew Cuomo said of the president. “By and large, it has worked.”

Murtaugh on Monday night then displayed a photocopy of the Cuomo brothers laughing on the CNN show earlier this year while the anchor held up a giant mock cotton swab in making a joke about the size of the governor’s nose after Andrew Cuomo had just been tested for COVID-19.

“Does this look like a couple of guys who were taking it seriously?” Murtaugh asked. “You had your brother on for the Cuomo Brothers Comedy Hour, joking about the size of the Q-tip that you would need for his nose to take the test.”

“Yeah, I did. It was funny as hell,” Chris Cuomo shot back. “Now, you took your swing. It missed. So now let’s discuss: Is that all you got? That my brother didn’t take COVID seriously? Are you kidding yourself? That I made fun with him at a time of such acute distress?”

Trump 2020 Campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh pulls out a photo of the infamous Q-Tip interview CNN’s Chris Cuomo had with his brother, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to argue they didn’t take coronavirus seriously.

Chris Cuomo said it was “funny as hell.” pic.twitter.com/agluVTumGA

— Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) October 27, 2020

Murtaugh later broached a recent report by Fox News host Tucker Carlson that Chris Cuomo’s apartment complex complained that the host did not wear a mask while on the premises, including in elevators.

“Why did you get reprimanded from your apartment building for not wearing a mask? We know you broke quarantine,” Murtaugh said.

“Because I did the wrong thing,” Cuomo responded. “I never broke quarantine.”

“Everyone knows you broke it,” Murtaugh said.

“I did not,” Cuomo shot back.

On April 15, a Long Island, N.Y., bicyclist filed a police report after getting into a testy exchange with Cuomo in front of a Hamptons home on Easter Sunday.

The filing with the East Hampton Police Department came after Cuomo shared a story on his SiriusXM radio show about a “jackass, loser biker” who got in his “space” because he was in the front yard with two women and three children at the home, which was still under construction.

The anchor’s family was living in nearby Southampton, where he has been broadcasting from his basement while under quarantine after testing positive in late March.

“And then you came home and you pretended to rise up from your basement like Lazarus,” Murtaugh continued late Monday in reference to Cuomo emerging from his basement on his program days after the incident with the cyclist.

“You want to mock my getting sick, you can,” Cuomo said.

“I’m not mocking your getting sick,” Murtaugh responded.

“Of course you are. Of course you are. I never broke quarantine and you know it,” Cuomo replied.

Trump administration or campaign officials periodically appear on CNN and often get into verbal skirmishes with anchors.

Trump has often attacked the network of being “fake news,” and hasn’t appeared on it for any interviews since taking office.