Chris Cuomo Calls Out Miles Taylor for Denying He Was ‘Anonymous’ to Anderson Cooper: ‘Why Should CNN Keep You on the Payroll After Lying?’

CNN’s Chris Cuomo wasted no time on his show pressing newly-revealed “Anonymous” author Miles Taylor on why he lied to his network colleague, Anderson Cooper, about his true identity.

On Wednesday, Taylor, a former chief of staff to the Secretary of Homeland Security revealed himself as the much-discussed author of a New York Times op-ed and subsequent book to noticeably little fanfare or praise. His true identity had become something of a Washington parlor game during Trump’s first term, after his “I am part of the Resistance” Times op-ed ignited literal months of media speculation and angry responses from the Trump White House.

When Taylor announced he was “Anonymous,” it was also revealed that he had taken a role as an official, paid CNN contributor and would make his first appearance in that capacity hours later on Coopers primetime successor. Back in late August, however, Taylor had appeared on AC360 and, during the interview, repeatedly — and we now know, falsely — denied being the unknown, anti-Trump author to Cooper.

“First what matters most certainly to me,” Cuomo said, going at Taylor right out of the gate. “You lied to us, Miles. You were asked in August if you were anonymous here with Anderson Cooper, and you said no. Now, why should CNN keep you on the payroll after lying like that?”

“Chris, it is a great question, and I will just give you the blunt truth,” Taylor replied. “When I published the warning, I said in the book that if asked I would strenuously deny I was the author. And here’s the reason. Because the things I said in that book were ideas that I wanted Donald Trump to challenge on their merits. We have seen over the course of four years that Donald Trump’s preference is to find personal attacks and distractions to pull people away from criticisms of his record. I work that work anonymously to deprive him of that opportunity and to force him to answer the questions on their merits.”

Cuomo noted that he would address the Trump White House’s responses to Taylors charges later in the interview, but he then reprised some of the criticism he leveled at “Anonymous” not long after the Times op-ed oringially came out. Back then, Cuomo had dismissed the secretive attack as a cowardly move. “Are they a hero? I don’t see why they would be called that,” Cuomo said in September of 2018. “If they wanted to be truthful and useful, where were they during the acrimony of acidic policies like the travel ban and the kids in cages?”

“You know what the problem is with having lied,” Cuomo said, pushing back on Taylor on Wednesday, “is that now you are a liar and people will be slow to believe you when you lied about something as important as whether or not you wanted to own this.”

“Chris, that’s the truth. And this was a very torturous decision. It was not immediate for me to want to publish this work anonymously,” Taylor insisted. “The next best opportunity was to convey it in a way the president would avoid those attacks. But you’re right, Chris. And I owe an apology for having to maintain that necessary misdirection for that period of time in order for that argument to work. But look, I’m here now to talk about it and I’ve been out there talking about it for four months.”

“Why not come out when you wrote the book and avoid the idea of a mysterious money grab?” Cuomo pressed.

“It was never about money. That’s why I pledged almost the entirety of the proceeds of the book to charity,” Taylor said. “I wrote this, Chris, because I wanted people to debate the ideas and Donald Trump’s character and record. But again I want to point out to you I had no fear about putting my own name on the line here, and that’s why I did it months ago, so people could come out and challenge me. They could pick apart my record. They could pick out my stories.”

“But not as anonymous,” Cuomo pointed out. “That’s all I’m saying. As Miles Taylor you did.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.