‘As a Human Being, How Can You Be OK With This?!’: CNN’s Pamela Brown Cuts Off Sen. Kennedy Shilling for Trump in Fiery Debate

CNN’s Pamela Brown was not having it when Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) attempted to dismiss the revelations in Bob Woodward‘s bombshell new book about President Donald Trump, asking the senator “as a human being” how he could be fine with Trump’s comments downplaying the coronavirus.

Brown asked Kennedy for his reaction to the book, and he said, “These gotcha books don’t really interest me that much” — a comment he said repeatedly as Brown pressed him for an answer.

“He’s on the record,” Brown replied.

“These gotcha books don’t really interest me that much,” said Kennedy. “There will be a new one out tomorrow.”

“But this is different,” said Brown. “He did eighteen interviews with Bob Woodward.”

“Right,” said Kennedy.

“He’s recorded,” insisted Brown. “You hear his voice. And you’re seeing that and you’re contrasting that with what he says to the public. Wouldn’t that be something of interest to you as a United States Senator?”

“Let me answer you again. These gotcha books don’t really interest me. There will be a new one out tomorrow,” Kennedy said again, adding that in his experience, the Trump administration had not ignored the virus.

“But the bottom line is he told Bob Woodward privately that this was a deadly virus and that it was airborne,” said Brown. “Didn’t the public, didn’t the citizens in your home state of Louisiana deserve to know that as well so that they could change their behavior appropriately to protect themselves?”

Kennedy dismissed the criticism as “this infatuation in Washington with who said what to whom,” and Brown cut him off.

“No, Senator, I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not going to let you do this. I understand there is so much politics right now, we’re two months away from an election. But this is life and death. You had 5,000 people that have died in Louisiana from coronavirus. Republicans are reluctant, as you are now, to ever criticize this president. But as a human being, how can you be okay with this?”

Kennedy said that he judged Trump more by his actions than his words, and Brown played several clips from Woodward’s recordings as they went back and forth a few more times, with Kennedy repeating the president’s talking point that he was trying to “prevent a panic.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.