Liberal CNN anchor Chris Cuomo and Donald Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway battled it out again on New Day, Wednesday. The Counselor to the President blasted Cuomo and lobbied that he stop telling “flat-out lies.” At one point, she jabbed, “You work for the Cable News Network, CNN. It's not the CON, C-O-N, Cable Opinion Network.”
Typically, Cuomo accused the administration’s tax bill of only helping the wealthy:
CUOMO: No, I'm saying [the middle class are] not getting as good a treatment as the upper tier, and this was sold as advantaging them.
CONWAY: No. You know what's been horrible treatment? Their taxes have been steadily going up. They've been paying for out-of-control spending. They've been paying higher taxes.
Conway spat back at Cuomo’s claims: “The tax code is longer than the Bible and not quite as inspirational.”
A partial transcript is below:
New Day
12/6/17
7:49am ETCUOMO: The rich people are complaining because they're not getting enough of a tax cut.
CONWAY: You said earlier in this interview that you don't know quote, "a single person in American who wants their taxes to go up." That's something —
CUOMO: I don't. That's why leadership is hard. That's why leadership is hard —
CONWAY: Yes -- no, that's why this president — that's why this —
CUOMO: -- because sometimes you have to make hard choices instead of rewarding the haves all the times.
CONWAY: Excuse me. That's why this president -- the haves -- give me a break. That's why this President is cutting taxes. Lots of people and promises. That's --
CUOMO: Not for the middle-class the way he is for the upper-class.
CONWAY: That is not true and you know it.
CUOMO: It's true on every objective scoring.
CONWAY: That's a flat-out lie. That's a flat-out lie that middle- class taxes aren't going down.
CUOMO: Well, it's not even close to a lie. It doesn't meet any of the criteria of a lie.
CONWAY: That's just not true.
CUOMO: It's not meant to deceive. It's based on fact --
CONWAY: OK. Chris --
CUOMO: — and it's a straight tell on what an objective analysis reveals.
CONWAY: Are you going to look — are you going to tell the middle- class right now that none of them are getting a tax cut over this package?
CUOMO: No, I'm saying they're not getting as good a treatment as the upper tier, and this was sold as advantaging them.
CONWAY: No. You know what's been horrible treatment? Their taxes have been steadily going up. They've been paying for out-of-control spending. They've been paying higher taxes.
And you know what? We know people all across this country — we hear from them every —
CUOMO: And you want to get rid of the AMT and the estate tax but you want a tax tuition and loans.
CONWAY: No. Here's what we want to get rid of.
CUOMO: Who's that helping?
CONWAY: Here's what we got rid of in this -- here's what we got rid of in this tax plan, if I may speak a full sentence here, please.
Here's what we got rid of in this tax plan. All the special interest stops. All the credits, and deductions, and exemptions that benefit the wealthy and the well-connected, which the tax code does already. The tax code --
CUOMO: Getting rid of the AMT and you're getting rid of the estate tax.
CONWAY: The tax code is longer than the Bible and not quite as inspirational. It needs to be simplified --
CUOMO: Is this thing working?
CONWAY: You spent six million --
CUOMO: You got rid of the AMT and you got --
CONWAY: You spent six million hours --
CUOMO: -- rid of the estate tax.
CONWAY: You know, this is the Cable --
CUOMO: What does that help?
CONWAY: Excuse me. You work for the Cable News Network, CNN. It's not the CON, C-O-N, Cable Opinion Network.
