CNN’s Chris Cuomo called his mother on-air during the intermission of public impeachment testimony in order to see if President Trump’s claim could be supported.
Earlier on Thursday, the president attempted to question the truthfulness of the claim that David Holmes, who was testifying in front of the House Intelligence Committee, could hear the president while he was speaking to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. “I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great. Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!” Trump tweeted Thursday.
Cuomo, in the break between the Democrats’ and Republicans’ questioning of Holmes and Fiona Hill, pulled out his own phone and tried speaking to his mother, whom he had already called.
“Very interesting theory from our president that he has really good hearing, some would say, the best hearing ever, and he’s never been able to hear a phone call when it wasn’t on speakerphone from anybody,” Cuomo stated. “So, let’s just play with that for a second. Mom, can you hear me? All right. So if I were holding the phone here, I’m with Dana Bash, you know how you’re always telling me to let her talk because she’s so smart and I shouldn’t say so much. Can you just say hello? Mom? She probably can’t hear me.”
Cuomo’s mom responds faintly and he repeats, “Mom, can you hear me?” Cuomo then put the phone on speaker.
“Yes, I hear you. When you talk to me, I hear you,” his mother stated in a much louder voice, before speaking with Bash.
Holmes never said that the Sondland-Trump phone call wasn’t on speaker at the time. However, he did testify on Thursday that Trump’s voice was so loud, despite not being on speaker phone, that Sondland had to move the phone further away from his ear.
UPDATE: Cuomo, later in the telecast, stated, “They didn’t like my telephone demonstration either. They think I made the president’s point for him and that’s okay. That’s legitimate.”
