'Pop would have rearranged his face': CNN's Chris Cuomo calls out Virginia GOP candidate for 'cheap shot' against his father

At the close of his Wednesday show, CNN's Chris Cuomo introduced Don Lemon. While the two began speaking about the commentary Cuomo had just done about President Donald Trump's assault on the media, the conversation devolved into a recounting of the interview Cuomo had done with Virginia Republican senate candidate Corey Stewart.

"If you go back and look I thought what [Jim Acosta] did was completely benign," Lemon said of the White House correspondent who shouted questions at a photo-op of Trump and Kim Jong-un. "Of course you should ask a murderous dictator questions."

"That's the job. They're making decisions. Look at the guy we had on at the top of the show, that's Trump's choice for senator of Virginia," Cuomo said.

Lemon explained that he was grateful Cuomo brought up the interview and asked if his fellow host believed Stewart and people like him "know that they're bigots" or if they "think that they're not?"

"I think they know 100 percent," Cuomo said. "I'll tell you why: I don't think its natural. You and I grew up in places that were different but had a lot of similar ethic dynamics. My feeling has always been, sometimes hate comes out of ignorance, it's true. But most of the time people know what they own in their heart. This guy knows what he got into. He knows what he's trying to distance himself from and that's why he wouldn't answer a single, damn question about it, and that spoke volumes. That's why the president likes him."

Lemon said that he was not happy when Stewart went after Cuomo's father.

"It was a cheap shot," Cuomo said. "He's lucky Pop's not here he would have rearranged his face."

Cuomo's late father Mario Cuomo passed away Jan. 2015 after just shy of a decade as New York's governor, a former lieutenant governor, secretary of state and two presidential elections in which people begged him to run. Total, the late Mr. Cuomo dedicated more than 20 years to public service.

Watch the exchange below: