Chris Cuomo Confronts Matt Gaetz in Heated Clash on Gun Violence: ‘You Guys Have Never Done a Damn Thing’

 

CNN’s Chris Cuomo got in a heated argument with Congressman Matt Gaetz (R- FL) tonight about gun violence after a recent hearing on the subject.

Cuomo brought up the hearing yesterday where Gaetz brought up the border wall during a gun control hearing and was confronted by Parkland father Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting.

Gaetz denied “trying to get Mr. Oliver thrown out or removed” and stood by his position that there are victims of gun violence who “would be in a better position today if we did not have illegal immigrants using guns to kill people.”

He also accused CNN of trying to “creatively slice and dice that audio to make it look look I was trying to throw a guy out.”

Cuomo said he’s not accusing him of that and went on to say his bringing up a wall during a hearing on gun violence “looked like grandstanding because it has nothing to do with the solution.”

They went back and forth over the stats and Gaetz said a wall would mean “more Americans will not be the victims of gun violence.”

At one point, Cuomo told Gaetz, “You guys have never done a damn thing until it became a tool of opportunity for you to talk about immigration. These mass shootings keep happening and you do nothing except go on TV and say, ‘We’re not a law away.’ And now you say in front of a room of victims’ parents and you talk about the wall. That’s an issue.”

When he said that he’s bringing up other shootings because they’re “an article of convenience,” Gaetz shot back, “You think it’s convenient for us that people are dead at the hands of illegal aliens?!”

“Absolutely,” Cuomo said.

“You think that we are that craven?” Gaetz asked.

“Yes,” Cuomo responded.

Gaetz said that’s “so irresponsible” and compared it to “saying Democrats want there to be more school shootings so they can have gun control.”

You can watch the full back-and-forth above, via CNN.

[image via screengrab]

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Josh Feldman is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Email him here: josh@mediaite.com Follow him on Twitter: @feldmaniac