'Taking it in the shorts': CNN anchor spars with lawmaker over 'minimizing' tariff effects

CNN anchor Brianna Keilar took issue Wednesday with Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) for touting tax cuts and "minimizing" the financial effects tariffs will have on average Americans.

"Would voters appreciate a tax cut more if they weren't taking it in the shorts on tariffs?" Keilar asked.

Malliotakis began, "Look, I think people want to save money and keep more money in their pocket regardless of how it happens. I think that's the Republican principle, is to let people keep more of their hard-earned tax dollars. And we want to try to bring down prices. If we don't want to see the tariffs that are going to impact the price of goods, but as I said, when they did it in China, it didn't necessarily affect those prices —"

Keilar interrupted, "With all due respect, you're hearing the projections — no one's expecting that this is not going to affect the bottom line. You already heard Trump last night asking farmers to bear with him. I mean, it's just very clear what we're hearing from economists. It's broadly expected this is going to increase prices."

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Malliotakis reiterated that tariffs on China did not raise prices, and that she looked forward to working with Trump on reducing taxes for working families and senior citizens.

"But I do just have to be clear, congresswoman, because what you're talking about, the tariffs this go around, I mean, it's so much bigger than what happened before. So, you can't compare, apples to a watermelon, right?

Keilar added, "You are trying to minimize the effect of the tariffs."

"I'm not minimizing the effect of the tariffs," Malliotakis countered.

"You're raising the idea that it won't actually impact people," Keilar maintained.

'I'm raising the idea that they may actually not go into effect," Malliotakis said. "That perhaps President Trump is focused on a policy objective that he will achieve that will prevent — if these tariffs go into effect, they're going to be for a very short period of time to get a desired outcome. That's what I'm trying to say.

Keilar concluded, "He had to hand out $27 billion in taxpayer funds to farmers with his last tariffs. So, it's not without cost — I just want to be clear."

Watch the clip below via CNN.