A former communications official in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign was warned multiple times by CNN's Jim Acosta to stick to the truth during a contentious exchange on Wednesday morning.
Appearing on CNN for a postmortem on the Tuesday night debate between the former president and Vice President Kamala Harris, Bryan Lanza attempted to clean up claims Trump made about abortion which in turn led the CNN host to admonish him that he was not going to be allowed to lie on-air.
After Acosta noted Trump refused Tuesday night to say he would veto a national abortion ban bill if he was re-elected, Lanza replied, "I think he said in the past that he would not sign a national abortion ban. I think J.D. Vance has also stated that. I think what he said last night —."
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"He did not say he would veto it if it got passed and got to his desk, he didn't say he would veto it," Acosta reminded him.
"I was answering the question, Jim, thank you for giving me the opportunity," Lanza shot back before continuing and saying, "I think what he was saying —."
"Well, if you are not going to answer, I'm going to jump in Bryan, so..." Acosta interjected again.
"I'm about to answer the question," Lanza repeated. "That is the time you let me answer the question. As I was saying and trying to answer your deeply thoughted (sic) question, I think what he was trying to say last night and I think what he has said is, the country does not support late-term abortion. I think 91 percent of the country feels late-term abortion is a horrific thing."
"No, he said that in some states they are executing the babies after they are born, which is false," Acosta stated.
"Let me finish my answer, Jim. understand you don't want to hear it because it is inconvenient, but I'm still going to answer," the conservative parried.
"But Bryan, if you are not going to tell the truth I've got to jump in. I'm sorry," the CNN host cut in.
"Do you want the truth? Do you want me to answer your question?" Lanza shot back to which Acosta replied, "We want the truth. Yeah, go ahead."
"I'm trying to give you the truth with an explanation but you constantly keep interrupting which leads me to believe you don't want to hear the answer because it is inconvenient for you," Lanza attempted. "So for the fourth time, I'm going to try to answer this question. What he said about abortion, what his position has always been is he has always been proud of repealing abortion. He said it early on he gave a list from the Federalist Society who are going to return it to the states. That is what has happened."
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