TV anchors often want to get opinions from both sides, as they should. But in today’s world, there are a lot of prominent Donald Trump supporters (or employees) who simply can’t be trusted to do a fair interview. Take Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany. Chris Cuomo often has her on his primetime CNN show and has faced criticism for it before. The problem is she insists on perpetuating Trump’s lies, but during last night’s appearance (watch above), she took things even further.
During a discussion about Trump’s dishonest tweets regarding Puerto Rico, McEnany said, “he doesn’t lie. The press lies.” When Cuomo challenged her, she continued saying, “I don’t believe the president had lied.” Clearly irritated Cuomo said, “This interview is over. You will not have credibility with the audience. You got a long way to go, Kayleigh. when a president is telling the American people every day not to believe in a free press, that they’re the enemy of the state.” BUT he later said she was still “welcome on the show.” This is something fellow CNN anchor Don Lemon challenged him on minutes later, remarking:
“I’m not putting someone on TV who says smoking doesn’t cause cancer. Why not get a straight answer who says the president doesn’t lie…I don’t think she serves the American people well by lying on tv and not being honest.”
Here’s Don Lemon begging Cuomo to stop bringing people like McEnany on his show:
“Someone like that has no credibility…put whoever you want on your show, I’m not chastising you, but the audience gets nothing from her because she does not tell the truth!” pic.twitter.com/p66Ea8H76l
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 29, 2019
Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien also took issue with the interview.
What is the value of this mess? Why invite kayleigh on—is the only point to argue with her? This doesn’t inform anyone, is a complete waste of time and takes up space so more important stories won’t get coverage. This is a mess. https://t.co/6CXmqKmVgv
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) August 29, 2019
Cuomo later took to his Twitter feed to share this.
The president who has never lied to you https://t.co/YoHT3BwJnU
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) August 29, 2019