CNN's Chris Cuomo corners White House aide Sebastian Gorka over Trump's self-proclaimed travel ban

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

published 5 June 2017

CNN's Chris Cuomo got into a heated debate with White House aide Sebastian Gorka about President Trump's travel ban on Monday's episode of New Day. Following Trump's tweets earlier Monday declaring that the courts can call his immigration executive order "whatever they want," but it's definitely a "TRAVEL BAN!," Cuomo accused the Trump administration of playing "games" by previously insisting the order is "not a ban." "And then the president decides to be honest about it this morning. That is spin. You are the purveyor of spin, because that was your message, that it wasn't a ban, and it was untrue. That's why I'm asking you," Cuomo said.

Gorka argued that if he was a "purveyor of spin," then so was the Obama administration, because the Trump ban targets the nations identified in an Obama White House analysis as "the seven nations of greatest concern for immigration to America." But Cuomo pointed out that wasn't exactly a fair comparison to make. "The facts are not your friends here," Cuomo told Gorka, before going on to explain that the Obama-era order "was about travel to those countries" whereas the Trump order "is about Muslims, about targeting Muslims and keeping them out, and allowing those who are not Muslims a carve-out to come in."