While reporting outside the Amsterdam airport, where doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 departed from, “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo got into a heated exchange with Russia Today anchor Peter Lavelle.
“Peter, take a breath, OK, because this isn’t a debate…I’m not here to debate with you who did this,” Cuomo said.
The RT anchor was defending Russian President Vladimir Putin in the aftermath of the plane’s downing, citing “Ukraine isn’t in Russia.” “Vladimir Putin doesn’t control a crime scene in a foreign country. I think it’s quite ludicrous to ask that question,” he said, adding that Cuomo was “living in a parallel universe” to suggest U.S. intelligence has been cross-referencing its satellite data with Russia’s.
“Ask me an intelligent question,” Lavelle demanded. “I think I’ve asked you several,” Cuomo shot back. “Your answers, I don’t know about the intelligence of, but the questions are pretty spot on…I’m not a representative of the U.S.; you seem to be acting like a representative of Russia.”
At around the 7:40 mark, with the interview still going on, Cuomo told his producer, “this is a joke, we gotta get out of this.” The interview continued for over three minutes. WATCH: