CNN's Chris Cuomo trashed White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for coming onto his show and repeating "dumb" lies for President Donald Trump.
"The View" hosted the CNN anchor Thursday, and he told the panelists he continued to host Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani despite their habitual dishonesty.
"I think if this person represents (the president) and this is the best he has to offer the American people, I want to expose that on my show," Cuomo said.
He told co-host Meghan McCain that he had told Sanders up front, before an infamous appearance last year where she refused to comment on the Trump Tower meeting, that he would not provide questions ahead of time.
"I said we don't discuss questions, but you know what my main interest is," Cuomo said. "You keep saying you can't answer questions about what you knew and when because counsel won't let you -- that counsel doesn't represent you. You can say whatever you want. Why don't you tell the American people if you knew then what you know now, you would have given them a different answer."
Cuomo said the appearance turned out to be a disaster.
"She came on and parroted a dumb answer that was given to her by the administration," he said.
McCain asked whether some journalists, particularly some of his CNN colleagues, had inappropriately used their outspoken opposition to Trump to build their reputations.
"I'm proud of the place where I work, but you can't judge everyone at CNN the same way," Cuomo said. "You have to see how they do their job, how he or she does their job."
"If you're in the business of communication with the American people," he added, "your currency is integrity and telling the truth, and owning it when you get it wrong. Pretty simple equation, hard to do for human beings."
He said the Trump administration failed miserably at that standard.
"This administration lies more than anything I have ever seen in public life," Cuomo said, "and I was raised in politics, so I have a very low bar for being truthful because I've been raised around politicians. So I'm used to how it can be spun. I've never seen anything like this. Sarah Sanders has to own her own choices."
