Carly Fiorina Battles It Out With CNN’s Chris Cuomo On Planned Parenthood, Fetuses, And Journalistic Integrity
Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett Packard CEO and current Republican presidential candidate, and CNN reporter Chris Cuomo had at it on Friday in a verbal brawl that featured furrowed brows, tense smiles, accusations, and questions of journalistic integrity.
Fiorina and CNN’s Cuomo faced off during the Friday interview, which became “heated” according to Yahoo News. Chris Cuomo questioned whether or not Carly Fiorina regretted comments she has made about the alleged Planned Parenthood harvesting of fetuses, and video footage of Fiorina featuring an aborted fetus, with heart still beating and legs still kicking, that was allegedly being kept alive to “harvest its brain.”
“I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama to watch these tapes,” Fiorina said during a September Republican debate. “Watch a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, ‘We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.'”
Since then, a lone gunman shot up a Planned Parenthood facility, killing three people, an act Cuomo insinuates may have been partly motivated by statements such as those made by Carly Fiorina.
“Do you feel any sense of regret about how you characterized what was going on at Planned Parenthood after the attack in Colorado?” Cuomo adding to the question that Fiorina and others had painted an “ugly” and “unfair” picture of Planned Parenthood and that the shooter “seems as though he was influenced by some of the rhetoric.”
Seemingly unphased by the loaded question, Fiorina took a beat before reiterating her position on Planned Parenthood, citing a “quiet little announcement” recently made by Planned Parenthood that they would no longer be accepting “compensation for what they call ‘fetal tissue.'”
“Oh please. Really Chris? Look, nine video tapes have come out about Planned Parenthood. It is very clear what they have been doing. And in fact, Planned Parenthood several weeks ago made a quiet little announcement that they would no longer accept compensation for what they call ‘fetal tissue.’ That’s about as close to an admission as you can get.”
“That’s not what they say,” shot in Cuomo, before allowing Fiorina to continue. Carly Fiorina went on to acknowledge that the Planned Parenthood shooting was carried out by a “deranged murderer.” Perhaps it was a case of “domestic terrorism,” but it had nothing to do with “the truth” of what was going at Planned Parenthood. Instead, Fiorina told Cuomo, tying the two together was a “typical left-wing tactic – trying to shut down the truth by silencing people.”
Regarding the alleged untoward video evidence involving Planned Parenthood and fetuses, CNN’s Cuomo insisted to Fiorina that “the videos were edited, you know that.”
“I actually don’t know that,” replied Fiorina.
CNN Host Grills.@CarlyFiorina On.@PPact Hoax Videos And She’s STILL Not Sorry (VID)
>>https://t.co/yInA5gFLjZ<< pic.twitter.com/0gs2RrPCls
— Reverb Press (@ReverbPress) December 13, 2015
“Of course they were edited. Of course the videos were edited,” implored Chris Cuomo. “No, no, no, let’s be careful about what we’re saying.”
“Let’s be very careful about what we’re saying, Chris,” replied Fiorina. “Let’s be very careful about what we’re saying,” Fiorina turning the warning back on the CNN host, calling into question Cuomo’s objectivity.
For Chris Cuomo, the true question of objectivity lay in the authenticity of the Planned Parenthood videos themselves with their credibility being questionable in shorter and longer versions.
“You’re saying that the raw portions of the videos substantiate the claims that you and others made,” Cuomo said to Fiorina. “That has not been proven to any satisfaction in any objective way. There were scenes and pictures depicting horrible things that nobody should want to see that weren’t authentic.”
Cuomo then doubled down, saying that now there was “somebody who went out and killed in the name of that.”
Again, Fiorina questioned Cuomo’s stance, calling into question his journalistic credibility.
“Really? Really? Chris, careful, you’re a journalist. I don’t recall anybody in the pro-life community celebrating this tragedy… I think it’s clear what your opinion is… I think you’ve bought the Planned Parenthood line hook, line, and sinker. So, good to know that.”
In the end, Carly Fiorina answered Chris Cuomo’s original question regarding her statements about Planned Parenthood, the Colorado shootings, and if she felt any regret, by saying, “No, I do not.”
[Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
