On Monday night’s (June 8) episode of CNN’s NewsNight, the panel moderated by host Abby Phillip were front-row attendees to CNN commentator Charles Blow blasting Hal Lambert, a Republican megadonor and frequent NewsNight guest as a “liar”.
The fiesty exchange took place as the panel was discussing the California primary elections, particularly the race to be Los Angeles’ mayor. Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is currently leading, while former reality show star Spencer Pratt (who was endorsed heavily by President Donald Trump) has now slipped out of a chance at a runoff after progressive Democrat NIthiya Raman has occupied the second spot.
Lambert made a baseless claim the 2020 presidential elections were stolen, saying there were “problems” in Georgia and Arizona. It prompted Blow to state, “I have a responsibility on a news show on a news channel. I have an ethical responsibility to say that you are lying.”
Lambert immediately fired back, “You don’t call me a liar on national TV!!”, to which Blow retorted, “I did not attack you and you will not attack me!!” He continued, “You can huff and puff and be mad all you want, but I don’t care.”
Phillip allowed Lambert to respond, but he wasn’t giving specifics, causing Blow to exclaim “Oh my god!!” as fellow panelists LZ Granderson and The View’s Ana Navarro also chastized Lambert’s false claims, as well as provide rebuttals to Caroline Sunshine, a Trump 2024 campaign staffer who was also on the panel.
Phillip jumped in to ask Lambert what information he had for his claim regarding the 2020 election results in Georgia and Arizona. “What were they, Hal? It’s been six years,” she said. The Trump ally deflected, talking about Medicare and H-1B visas.
“The more that you lie, the more we’re going to push back on the fact that you are lying,” Blow fired back. “You don’t have a single source in your whole body.” He then proceeded to quote data compiled from the Heritage Foundation’s own database on election fraud.
“In 30 years, they’ve tracked 32 elections, 100 million votes. They have found 39 total cases of voter fraud,” Blow said. “So you think the The Heritage Foundation is absurd?”
