NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy got into a heated argument Monday over comments on “mainstream media,” pushing Cuomo to call Ramaswamy’s allegations a “tapestry of conspiracies.”
Ramaswamy appeared on NewsNation’s show “Cuomo” and was asked why the presidential candidate continues to “keep going at Nikki Haley,” questioning if he believes it would “bear fruit” for his campaign. (RELATED: Vivek Ramaswamy Bets Big On Key Early States With New Campaign Shakeup)
“I don’t know what you’ve been smoking man, you and the rest of the mainstream media. It’s laughable. Nikki Haley’s been going after me the whole campaign – first debate, second debate, you know, she’s been trailing me for much of the time,” Vivek responded. “But I realized the establishment media has realized that there’s a puppet they want to put up. I’m not playing that game. The grassroots of this country know they want a leader who isn’t going to send our sons and daughters to go die in foreign wars that racked up 7 trillion in debt.”
The GOP 2024 presidential candidates took the debate stage for the third time on Nov. 8 with Ramaswamy and fellow candidate Nikki Haley having intense moments throughout the night. Notably, Haley had called Ramaswamy “scum” after mentioning that her daughter was on Tiktok even though Haley had previously made fun of him for joining the social media platform.(RELATED: Chris Cuomo Says ABC Wouldn’t Let Anchors Wear American Flag Pin On 9/11)
“How are you going to bring people together when you just put together a tapestry of conspiracies?” Cuomo questioned right before the two political figures got into a volley of exchanges talking over each other.
“Hold on a second,” Cuomo could be heard saying. “I let you put it out there and now, you know, I get to finish smoking. And now I get to answer. Which is, ‘oh, this is what the media is doing, is putting up Nikki Haley against me because they know I’m the real deal.’ Please! She hasn’t even been on my show. I’m just watching you get slapped around by her and I’m just wondering what your strategy is.”
Ramaswamy responded by noting how he had called out moderator and NBC News journalist Kristen Welker regarding the Trump-Russia hoax during the debate, accusing Cuomo of being in the same “mainstream media” collusion as Welker.
The two continued bickering back and forth over each, with Cuomo stating that Ramaswamy was too broad in his accusations and the presidential candidate claiming that “90 percent” of the media is concluding with a “one answer” narrative.
Ramaswamy currently sits at less than six percent in the national polls for the Republican presidential primary election, according to data from FiveThirtyEight.