CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Kellyanne Conway, the counselor to President Donald Trump, got into another fiery debate on Wednesday.
As is often the case, Cuomo asked questions that Conway largely avoided answering and the two engaged in their now-customary raised voices and exasperated facial expressions.
But Cuomo also defended Conway, saying that while many Trump surrogates “lie their asses off” in their media appearances on behalf of the president, she’s not one of them.
“I’ve never lied to you and you know that, and you’ve said that to me privately,” she said.
“I’ll say it to you publicly,” Cuomo replied. “I don’t think you’re a liar. I think you spin away from questions and do it very well.”
“Thank you,” Conway said:
That sentiment is not shared by some of Cuomo’s colleagues.
Don Lemon in particular has told Cuomo he didn’t think Conway should be given airtime on CNN.
“She never answers a question. She berates you. She’s condescending,” Lemon said last year. “For me, it feels beneath the dignity of this network to have someone who just constantly lies and misconstrues things.”
Lemon said CNN guests have an obligation to be honest with viewers.
“It is a privilege to come on this network and speak to the American people,” he said. “And if you’re going to do it, do it directly and honestly.”
Despite Cuomo’s defense, Conway ― credited with coining the term “alternative facts” ― has a history of false statements, including one earlier this month in which she claimed Trump did not threaten to target cultural sites in Iran for military action.
“He didn’t say he’s targeting cultural sites,” she told reporters.
Except he did:
Trump repeated that threat to reporters on Air Force Once.
“They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people, and we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site?” he said, according to The New York Times. “It doesn’t work that way.”
Defense Secretary Mark Esper later said that in the event of armed conflict in Iran, the United States would not target cultural sites, as that would violate the rules of war.