Tuesday on “CNN Tonight,” CNN political analyst Ana Navarro and former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, also a CNN contributor, squared off over Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Lewandowski insisted Trump was responsible for employing more people at a single property than anyone else on the panel, including Navarro, a former supporter of Jeb Bush’s presidential bid.
Navarro disagreed, insisting that her family did indeed employ more people than Trump at that particular property and continued her attack on Trump, declaring him to be “a racist bigot who is destructive for the Republican Party.”
Exchange as follows:
LEWANDOWSKI: Let me correct something that is very important. Donald Trump did not burst on to the scene by talking about Barack Obama’s — where he was born. If you recall back in 1984 Donald Trump was part of the Reagan team where he was raising money for incumbent U.S. President Ronald Reagan — it’s been long before this. I know Ana doesn’t remember that –
STELTER: But his political stature in 2011 was built upon the premise of birtherism.
LEWANDOWSKI: I understand, but do you – but also, what you don’t want to talk about are the thousand Hispanics that he employs in Florida. No one wants to mention that fact, which is more so than Ana Navarro employs, or for that matter anyone else on this panel employs. He employs at one of his properties alone. That’s a fact. It’s unequivocal. No one has denied it. No one wants to point to that fact.
LEMON: Kayleigh asked a very important question –
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Actually Corey, let me just go ahead and answer you, Corey.
LEWANDOWSKI: You have a lot of employees?
NAVARRO: You don’t know much about me.
LEWANDOWSKI: You have a lot of employees, Ana?
NAVARRO: Actually, we do, actually we do. Actually, why don’t you ask Don Lemon and Maria Cardona and Kayleigh [McEnany ] who stay at our hotel – at my family’s hotels in Florida. How many hotels we have and how many Hispanics, how many Haitians, how many Americans we employ and are proud to. So before you attack me personally, at the least, you at least –
(CROSSTALK)
LEWANDOWSKI: You have been attacking Donald Trump all day. You don’t even know the guy. You’ve never met the guy.
NAVARRO: And I will attack him until the last day of this election because he has been attacking my community.
LEWANDOWSKI: You have been a Bush supporter, to some other supporter and now you’re an unhappy loser.
NAVARRO: Corey, do me a favor.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Let me tell you something. Let me play my little violin for you, OK?
LEWANDOWSKI: Look, I support the winner. I’m the one that’s happy.
NAVARRO: You know what, I wasn’t happy that Jeb Bush lost and you know what, I wasn’t happy that Jeb Bush lost and it lasted me about a week. After that I started supporting everybody other than Donald Trump.
LEWANDOWSKI: How did that work out for you?
NAVARRO: Because I think he’s a racist bigot who is destructive for the Republican Party.
LEWANDOWSKI: How did that work out for you?
CARDONA: Corey, you are really don’t have to go after people personally. You’re out of your league when you do that.
LEWANDOWSKI: No, what I said Donald Trump employs a thousand in Florida at one of his properties –
LEMON: That was an ad homonym attack on Ana Navarro –
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: Ana’s not running for president.
NAVARRO: And listen, you’re so ignorant and defensive that you don’t know we own two hotels in Florida and we employ more than a thousand people.
CARDONA: I have been there and seen those employees.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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