Trump Communications Director Calls Out CNN's Cuomo for COVID Hypocrisy
Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh called out CNN’s Chris Cuomo for hypocrisy during a combative interview Monday night on Cuomo’s show.
The interview was feisty from the start as Murtaugh noted that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the CNN host’s brother, was actually pleased with President Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus.
“Your own brother, the governor of New York, said that every time he turned to the administration, the federal government was there with everything he needed,” Murtaugh said.
“He did not say that,” Cuomo interjected, eschewing the role of journalist to become the apologist for his brother. “And that is not what happened.”
Murtaugh later noted that Andrew Cuomo at one point complained of a ventilator shortage.
“He said he needed 40,000 ventilators of people would die,” Murtaugh said. “That shortage never materialized because the president engaged the private sector and the government to create the equipment, the PPE, the gowns, the gloves and the ventilators that we need.”
“We know you broke quarantine and went to the Hamptons,” @TimMurtaugh confronted Chris Cuomo. “And then you came home and you pretended to rise up from your basement like Lazarus even though you had already broken quarantine while you were covid positive.”
??? pic.twitter.com/tKzA3OkZN2— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) October 27, 2020
“And so listen, Chris, I find it curious, speaking of your brother, you’re going to ask me these self-righteous questions and talk about people taking it seriously,” Murtaugh said, holding up an image that showed a split screen of Chris and Andrew Cuomo on the CNN host’s show.
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“You had your brother on for the Cuomo brothers comedy hour,” Murtaugh said, noting the Chris Cuomo was “joking about the size of the Q-tip that you would need for his nose to get a test. Does this sound like somebody who is taking it very seriously.”
As Murtaugh tried to note that “every step of the way” Trump has done what states ask, Cuomo interrupted him to say, “That’s not true.”
Murtaugh reminded Cuomo that New York received a hospital ship that eventually left the city because it was not needed.
Cuomo then became combative and jabbed Murtaugh.
“That’s the best you got? Is that my brother didn’t take COVID seriously?” Cuomo said. “Are you kidding yourself? That I made fun with him in a time of such acute distress?”
Murtaugh interjected that the New York governor wrote a book on leadership.
“You should read it, brother, and this is why,” Chris Cuomo said, adding that Murtaugh was “coming from a place of weakness.”
“I want to talk about people turning COVID and the coronavirus crisis into a political weapon, which is what CNN does all day long,” Murtaugh said.
As Cuomo sought to dominate the conversation, Murtaugh tried to get in a word, later accusing the host of lecturing him.
“You’re the one who lectured me with the picture of my brother and I, which was very funny, and at a time that the country was hurting,” Cuomo responded.
“I didn’t think it was that funny,” Murtaugh said.
Cuomo teed off on Trump for not obeying COVID protocols, leading Murtaugh to note that Cuomo was the rule breaker.
A short time later, Murtaugh cranked up the awesomeness by calling out Fredo for failing to wear a mask in his apartment building and for breaking quarantine when he was COVID-positive! Despite the fact there’s an accompanying police report, Fredo denied he broke quarantine. pic.twitter.com/1bm4mX2JQ7
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) October 27, 2020
“Chris, why did you get reprimanded by your own apartment building for failing to wear a mask?” he said, later noting that Cuomo was seen doing the same in the Hamptons.
“We know you broke quarantine and went to the Hamptons,” he said, as Cuomo denied ever breaking quarantine.
Murtaugh would not give in.
“You came home and you pretended to rise up from your basement like Lazarus even though you had already broken quarantine while you were COVID-positive,” Murtaugh said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
