Following a week of sparring between the candidates about their wives, Pierson complained to CNN host Don Lemon over the network's "narrative" that Trump had attacked Cruz's wife.
"The fact of the matter is, there's only been one wife attacked this cycle and that is Melania Trump," Pierson opined. "Mr. Trump is defending his wife. There is no such thing as an attack on Heidi Cruz. I have yet to hear the attack on Heidi Cruz."
Lemon reminded Pierson that Trump had promoted a tweet comparing an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz to a glamorous photo of Melania Trump.
"You don't think that is an attack on a woman by using an unflattering picture?" Lemon asked. "Don't say that's supporting his wife because you don't need Heidi Cruz in that picture to support his wife."
"Mr. Trump didn't make the picture, he retweeted the tweet!" Pierson shot back. "And since when did it become okay to attack a woman? What is the policy here? Is it okay to attack a woman, malign her character, impugn her dignity just because she's beautiful?"
"I can ask you the same question about Heidi Cruz," Lemon pressed. "Is it okay to malign Heidi Cruz, who is a beautiful woman, to attack her and put up a horrible picture?"
"No one has maligned Heidi Cruz, no one has attacked Heidi Cruz," Pierson replied. "Melania Trump has been attacked. Where has that headline been on CNN? I bet CNN viewers didn't even know Melania Trump had been attacked for months."
Lemon suggested that Pierson was "being very disingenuous about this."
"Is it an excuse beyond second or third grade to say that, 'Well he did it first, well they did it first'?" Lemon wondered. "Is that really an excuse?"
"Trump did not start this, but he will respond," Pierson said. "And to expect a man not to defend his wife in this case, I think is pretty insane. And the fact that he continues to support his wife and defend her in light of the fact that the media is making someone else the victim -- no, he shouldn't apologize until Ted Cruz does."
"I think it's a very good spin that you've put on it," Lemon concluded. "But not necessarily the truth."
Watch the video below from CNN's New Day, broadcast March 29, 2016.
