CNN anchor Jim Acosta abruptly cut short an interview with Corey Lewandowski, a longtime political adviser to former President Donald Trump, after the latter mispronounced Vice President Kamala Harris‘ name despite being corrected multiple times.
The heated on-air exchange took place on Wednesday during a segment on CNN Newsroom, where tensions between the two escalated over a series of contentious issues, including the 2020 presidential election and immigration.
Lewandowski, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump throughout his political career, mispronounced Harris’ name multiple times during the interview, despite Acosta’s persistent efforts to correct him. At one point, Acosta, visibly frustrated, interjected, “What is this Kamala? It’s Kam-a-la Harris. Corey, you’ve been in this business a long time, I think you’re a mature grown-up. It’s Kam-a-la Harris. Can you just say Kamala? What’s going on there?”
But Lewandowski’s refusal to comply led Acosta to abruptly end the interview.
Earlier in the interview, Lewandowski and Acosta had engaged in a back-and-forth about the 2020 election, with Acosta pressing Lewandowski on why the Trump campaign continues to avoid acknowledging Trump’s defeat. “Why is it so difficult for the Trump campaign to answer a simple question—did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” Acosta asked, echoing a sentiment raised during a vice presidential debate between Minnesota governor Tim Walz and Ohio Senator JD Vance the previous night.
Lewandowski, deflecting, responded, “Jim, I think it’s very simple. The American people have moved past the 2020 election. They’re focused on an election just under five weeks away. What we have now is an opportunity to talk about two different visions for America, and what JD Vance laid out last night is a very different vision than what Tim Walz and Kamala Harris want to say.”
Acosta, not letting the moment pass, jumped in. “It’s not about relitigating the past. It’s a simple question: Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?” Lewandowski, avoiding a direct answer, turned the conversation to economic issues, saying, “Jim, why are we talking about 2020 anymore? Do the American people care about the 2020 election, or do they care about being able to put food on their table?”
The interview also touched on other controversial topics, including immigration. Acosta also referenced a debunked claim by Trump and Vance that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating people’s pets. Lewandowski, in response, listed off statistics about immigrants, asserting, “13,099 murderers were let into this country,” in an apparent attempt to steer the conversation away.