Cuomo Spars With Lewandowski Over Trump’s Pick of WH Physician to Serve as VA Secretary: ‘That’s Silly’

Chris Cuomo had Corey Lewandowski on CNN today for a discussion on David Shulkin‘s ouster, and the CNN host grilled the former Trump aide on the president’s pick for the next Veterans Affairs Secretary.

Lewandowski approved of President Trump‘s choice to nominate Ronny Jackson, saying the White House physician’s career is an ideal blend of the health care and the military — contending that Jackson served in the military and has used the VA’s services. Cuomo responded by asking whether Jackson’s lack of management experience will be a problem if he’s going to be asked to handle such a large bureaucracy.

Lewandowski argued that previous VA secretaries had management experience and have been unable to shape up the body, adding that Jackson has an understanding of the issues that goes beyond leadership experience. Cuomo pressed on by saying that such experience does matter.

“Knowing what the problem is matters. Knowing how to fix it and how to manage it has to matter, Corey, it just does. You can’t argue ‘we have seen it in the past that management led to bad outcomes so we don’t want someone with management experience.’ That’s silly.”

The two continued to lock horns, with Cuomo eventually asking: “You think that a doctor, who is in the military but has no management experience is the best choice the president could make for this?”

Lewandowski stuck to his argument, saying “I want a doctor who understands the needs that I have and a person who can say we’re going to have a better V.A. system than we have had under bureaucrats who have no experience being in the…”

“It’s not like they’ve had a bunch of rubes in there,” Cuomo shot back.

Watch above, via CNN.

[Image via screengrab]

— —

>> Follow Ken Meyer (@KenMeyer91) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet Newsletter
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!