CNN anchor Jim Acosta abruptly reduce quick an interview with Corey Lewandowski, a longtime political adviser to former President Donald Trump, after the latter mispronounced Vice President Kamala Harris‘ identify regardless of being corrected a number of instances.
The heated on-air trade came about on Wednesday throughout a phase on CNN Newsroom, the place tensions between the 2 escalated over a collection of contentious points, together with the 2020 presidential election and immigration.
Lewandowski, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump all through his political profession, mispronounced Harris’ identify a number of instances through the interview, regardless of Acosta’s persistent efforts to right him. At one level, Acosta, visibly pissed off, interjected, “What is that this Kamala? It’s Kam-a-la Harris. Corey, you’ve been on this enterprise a very long time, I feel you’re a mature grown-up. It’s Kam-a-la Harris. Are you able to simply say Kamala? What’s happening there?”
However Lewandowski’s refusal to conform led Acosta to abruptly finish the interview.
Earlier within the interview, Lewandowski and Acosta had engaged in a back-and-forth concerning the 2020 election, with Acosta urgent Lewandowski on why the Trump marketing campaign continues to keep away from acknowledging Trump’s defeat. “Why is it so troublesome for the Trump marketing campaign to reply a easy query—did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” Acosta requested, echoing a sentiment raised throughout a vice presidential debate between Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance the earlier evening.
Lewandowski, deflecting, responded, “Jim, I feel it’s quite simple. The American folks have moved previous the 2020 election. They’re centered on an election just below 5 weeks away. What we have now now is a chance to speak about two completely different visions for America, and what JD Vance laid out final evening is a really completely different imaginative and prescient than what Tim Walz and Kamala Harris need to say.”
Acosta, not letting the second go, jumped in. “It’s not about relitigating the previous. It’s a easy query: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” Lewandowski, avoiding a direct reply, turned the dialog to financial points, saying, “Jim, why are we speaking about 2020 anymore? Do the American folks care concerning the 2020 election, or do they care about with the ability to put meals on their desk?”
The interview additionally touched on different controversial subjects, together with immigration. Acosta additionally referenced a debunked declare by Trump and Vance that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, have been consuming folks’s pets. Lewandowski, in response, listed off statistics about immigrants, asserting, “13,099 murderers have been let into this nation,” in an obvious try and steer the dialog away.
