'Abhorrent': CNN's Bash blisters Trump for using Harvey tragedy TV ratings to announce Arpaio pardon

During a panel discussion on President Donald Trump's Monday press conference, CNN senior correspondent Dana Bash took the president to task for admitting that he timed the announcement of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's pardon to coincide with cable TV's coverage of the unfolding flooding tragedy in Texas.

“I assumed the ratings would be far higher than they would be normally because the hurricane was just starting,” Trump said in response to a question on the curious timing.

“Was that tongue-in-cheek or was he being serious?" CNN host Jim Sciutto asked. "Because either way, it does seem quite disconnected from the suffering that we’re seeing on the ground in Texas.”

“I don’t think it was tongue-in-cheek. I really don’t," Bash replied before laying into the president.

“Even if he is tongue-in-cheek, which I don’t think he was, the notion of the president of the United States saying that he announced something because ratings were high, where people were fleeing their homes that are underwater, and some people losing their lives -- that is abhorrent,” she bluntly stated.

Watch the video below via CNN: