CNN prime-time anchors Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo reignited their dispute about whether or not they should be giving airtime to representatives of President Trump.
The two hosts began this debate on Wednesday night after Cuomo interviewed Trump spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany.
The interview featured a heated period in which McEnany refused to concede that the president has lied, a point Cuomo argued. Then, during the hand-off between the hosts’ two shows, Lemon argued that the network should not give White House representatives the platform, claiming that McEnany in particular “has no credibility.”
Their argument continued into Thursday night’s shows, and this time, it began with Lemon reading Cuomo the definition of the word “lie.”
“Listen, I don’t want to go back over last night, but, you know, which was a topic of discussion today among people about whether or not, you know, people are deceiving you, whether or not you should even give them the space to do it,” Lemon stated. “You feel one way. Yours is legitimate. I feel another way. I don’t think it serves the viewer. I would rather, you know, have someone on who is going to be … “
“How do you conduct the journalism of vetting this campaign if you do not have people on who represent him?” Cuomo countered, cutting Lemon off.
“You can have people on who represent him, but,” Lemon responded, but was cut off again.
Cuomo retorted, “No one is ever acceptable to people who want to use that argument, because it’s very rare to see someone on the Left say that someone who supports Trump is not a liar about everything that they say. It’s very rare that any of his defenders are found acceptable.”
“I would disagree with you about that,” Lemon said. “We have Trump supporters on all the time, and we hold them accountable and to the truth, and they don’t make excuses for everything this president does. But there are folks like the one who was on last night, excuses about everything.”
