Kellyanne Conway and Chris Cuomo Clash for 20 Minutes Over McCabe, Trump, and Russia

 

CNN’s Chris Cuomo and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway faced off yet again tonight, this time going at it for 20 minutes over Andrew McCabe, President Donald Trump, and the Russia probe.

McCabe dropped by AC360 tonight as part of his book tour, and at one point he said he still thinks it’s possible the president could be a Russian asset.

Conway said that’s “hardly worth dignifying with a response” before blasting McCabe as a “known liar and leaker.”

As she blasted McCabe, Cuomo asked, “Do you believe this president has more credibility than Andrew McCabe?”

“Yes. Of course. It’s not even close,” Conway responded, before accusing McCabe of trying to “overthrow a democratically elected president.”

They fought over the inspector general report on McCabe and the circumstances of his firing. Cuomo said McCabe isn’t the only one with credibility issues and Conway said she won’t engage in “a whataboutism” about the president.

Cuomo brought up the New York Times report today saying the president reportedly called then-Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker to ask about getting his ally, US Attorney Geoffrey Berman, put in charge of the SDNY investigation, despite a recusal.

Conway pointed to Trump’s denial and said he clearly knew Berman was recused.

“Of course he would know it,” Conway said.

Cuomo raised the “reckless contacts” with the Russians from people on Team Trump”. “Not me,” Conway responded. “People who lie to Congress, lie to investigators about all of that, they’ll have to suffer the consequences.”

They ended up getting into it about the media coverage of Trump and Conway said, “I want to thank the media for 2016.”

She added, “I’d love to thank the Democrats for 2019 and 2020 because they are off to an awful start.”

Cuomo asked why so many people in Trumpworld lied so much about Russia-related matters.

“Who’s they?” Conway asked. “You have to name the ‘they.'”

“Let’s just take the list of the half-dozen people who have been convicted and have lied under oath,” Cuomo responded.

“Any named Donald J. Trump?” Conway asked.

She knocked the media’s Russia coverage, CNN’s in particular, telling Cuomo they’ve given so much attention to it with “screaming graphics” and “spooky music.”

Conway brought up the Senate Intel Committee’s finding of no collusion and asked Cuomo, “Where’s the collusion?”

Cuomo pointed to “collusive behavior” from individuals like Paul Manafort, Donald Trump Jr., and Roger Stone.

“That’s not true, don’t call that collusion,” she said.

Conway went back to McCabe and said, “The only person we’ve discussed tonight on your show who we know lied multiple times under oath is named Andrew McCabe.”

“That’s not true,” Cuomo said. “We got a bunch of liars around you guys and it includes the president.”

You can watch the whole thing 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