CNN’s Chris Cuomo confronted Miles Taylor, a former U.S. government official recently hired by the network, over revelations Wednesday about him anonymously writing an anti-Trump op-ed and book.
The “Cuomo Prime Time” host questioned his colleague’s credibility during an interview done shortly after Mr. Taylor revealed he wrote the 2018 op-ed and subsequent book slamming President Trump.
Mr. Taylor, a former Department of Homeland Security official who resigned from the agency in 2019, previously denied being the anonymous author, Mr. Cuomo reminded him during the discussion.
“You lied to us, Miles,” Mr. Cuomo began the interview. “You were asked in August if you were ’anonymous’ here on CNN with Anderson Cooper, and you said ’no’,” he told Mr. Taylor.
“Now, why should CNN keep you on the payroll after lying like that?” Mr. Cuomo asked Mr. Taylor, who briefly served as DHS chief of staff before joining the network as a contributor last month.
Mr. Taylor indicated he believed it was necessary to remain nameless until now to avoid providing Mr. Trump with the opportunity to use his identity to distract from the concerns he raised.
“We have seen over the course of four years, that Donald Trump’s preference is to find personal attacks and distractions to pull people away from criticisms of his record,” he said. “I wrote that work anonymously to deprive him of that opportunity and to force him to answer the questions on their merits.”
“I owe Anderson Cooper a beer, I owe him a mea culpa,” Mr. Taylor said later during the segment.
Mr. Cuomo suggested Mr. Taylor may have a difficult time earning the trust of CNN’s viewers, however.
“The problem with having lied is that now you are a liar, and people will be slow to believe you when you lied about something as important as whether or not you wanted to own this,” he said.
“Chris, that’s the truth,” Mr. Taylor acknowledged.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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