Watch Chris Cuomo try to get Kellyanne Conway to admit Trump lied about paying off women for 8 minutes

(Image credit: Screenshot/Twitter/CNN)

President Trump pretty clearly and demonstrably lied about paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal in the months before the 2016 presidential election. But you didn't hear that from White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, despite Chris Cuomo's best efforts on CNN Thursday night.

Cuomo began by noting that President Trump's former divorce lawyer, Jay Goldberg, told him Wednesday night that he doesn't think Trump faces any criminal exposure from the Paul Manafort conviction or Michael Cohen guilty pleas, but Trump obviously lied about Daniels and McDougal and the public will hold him to account. Does Conway agree? "The president has said that he has not lied, and the president has said no charges were filed against him in either the Manafort or the Cohen matters," she said, and also, where's proof of Russian collusion? "You've got to ask [Robert] Mueller, he's not done with his investigation," Cuomo said.

"The truth is, [Trump] lied about this, you guys should own it, and move forward," Cuomo tried again. Conway slammed CNN, played the "don't embarrass your mother" card, countered the damning Cohen-Trump tape by asking about the Cohen-Cuomo tape, and when Cuomo circled back to the lie, she returned to Russia. "Where in the Manafort trial is Russia-collusion-Trump?" she asked. "I don't care," Cuomo said. "The president lied about what he knew about these women, he should not lie to the American people in their face time and again." Conway repeated that Trump says he isn't lying.

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"You should admit he's lying, and you don't, and that's why people don't trust you," Cuomo said. "Maybe your audience doesn't," Conway said. On that they could both be right.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.