A former Donald Trump official drew head-shaking laughter from another CNN panelist with his claims about the newly inaugurated president's cabinet nominees.
Matt Mowers, who served as senior White House adviser for Trump's State Department, defended the president's executive order shutting down federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs, saying they were unnecessary, but both CNN host Sara Sidner and Puck correspondent Tara Pamieri challenged his arguments.
"I'll disagree with the premise there, because, in fact, by eliminating DEI programs, you're actually creating an equal playing field," Mowers said. "You're saying everyone should be valued for their merits and their contributions, regardless of skin color and ethnicity or sexual orientation, and so they're restoring merit to the process of the federal government."
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Sidner cut him off, asking why he would assume that workers who might benefit from DEI initiatives would would lack qualifications, but he side-stepped her question.
"You've seen president Trump actually nominate a very diverse cabinet," Mowers said, to which Palmeri cocked her head in surprise. "You've seen him both times he's been president. You've seen him bring in a diverse sub-cabinet, White House staff, and they have all been chosen not because of how they look, but because of how they perform, and that's really what the American people voted for Donald Trump, in large reason for is because they were looking to ensure that the federal government is bringing the best and the brightest, and, yes, that's going to be diverse because the best and the brightest are going to look like America. But you shouldn't just be selecting individuals solely because of how they how they look, not because of how they performed."
Sidner repeated her question, asking why his assumption was that DEI candidates are lacking in merits, but Palmeri and interjected to challenge Mowers' claims about Trump's cabinet nominee.
"How is the Trump cabinet diverse?" Palmeri said. "Like, please explain that to me."
"Well, you've got you've got a number of women, you've got Hispanics, African-Americans, you name it, all within the cabinet," Mowers said, as Palmeri laughed and shook her head.
"One, two – maybe," Palmeri said, squinting her eyes with skepticism. "A handful – maybe five. It's a largely white group of people working for Donald Trump."
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