CNN's Chris Cuomo provokes Corey Lewandowski into accusing him of being a Russian agent

CNN's Chris Cuomo gave President Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, no time to ease into their bout Tuesday morning as he demanded to know right off the bat: "Do you accept the U.S. intelligence community's assessment that Russia tried to interfere, and did so, during the election?"

The argument quickly spiraled from there as Lewandowski admitted to believing Russia interfered in the election, but that the Kremlin did so through Hillary Clinton's campaign. "That is a notion that doesn't meet any standard or any piece of proof that we've gotten from the investigators to date," a disbelieving Cuomo shot back. He added: "You said before, 'We had no contacts, nobody from our campaign' … We now know that's not true, Corey."

"I have never, to the best of my knowledge, ever communicated with anybody who was a Russian, a Russian agent, a Russian supporter, or someone who was from the Russian government in any way, shape, or form," Lewandowski clarified.

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"How can you know that?" Cuomo fired back.

"Well that's what I said, to the best of my knowledge I've never communicated with a Russian agent," Lewandowski said. "Now maybe you're a Russian agent."

And that's just the start. Watch the battle below. Jeva Lange