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Donald Trump campaign aide Corey Lewandowski was scolded by CNN anchor Jim Acosta on Wednesday for seemingly deliberately mispronouncing Kamala Harris’s name.
In an appearance on CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta one day after the vice presidential debate between JD Vance and Tim Walz, Lewandowski incorrectly pronounced the Democratic presidential nominee’s first name – placing a heavy emphasis on its middle syllable.
It’s a habit that Trump and his fellow MAGA Republicans have been repeatedly employing during the 2024 race.
This time round, Acosta called out his guest for it.
“Corey, you’ve been in this business a long time. I think you’re a mature grown-up,” he said, before schooling him in how to say her name properly.
“It’s Kamala Harris. Can you say Kamala? Or you cannot say Kamala? What’s going on there?”
Lewandowski skated over the remark and continued to press on with his prepared anti-immigration talking points, which Acosta interrupted and shut down the interview.
“All right, well, Corey, I appreciate you coming on. Maybe we’ll have you back. Thanks for your time,” he said.
Harris has been forced to explain how her name should be pronounced in the past , particularly in the face of Trump’s repeated and deliberate mispronunciation.
In 2016, she issued a light-hearted campaign video on the subject when she first ran for the Senate.
Then this August, her young grandnieces Amara and Leela Ajagu appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention to teach the crowd.
Acosta’s interview with Lewandowski had already been tense prior to its abrupt conclusion.
The anchor had asked the Republican about Vance’s evasive response on the debate stage when asked if he would admit Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
Lewandowski responded by also skirting the topic.
“Jim, I think it’s very simple – the American people have passed the 2020 election, they are focused on an election that’s just under five weeks away,” Lewandowski responded, the same emphasis Vance laid on the matter on the campaign trail in Michigan on Wednesday.
After debating the relevance of 2020 to the 2024 contest and how “widespread” voter fraud may or may not have been four years ago, Acosta followed up by giving Lewandowski the opportunity to denounce the Trump-Vance lie that Haitian immigrants are stealing and eating residents’ pet cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio.
The Trump adviser dodged this also: “You know what I can say Jim? I can say that 13,099 murderers were let into this country, 16,000 rapists, 425,000 people in the last four years have been let into this country by Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s own Customs and Border Protection that are running around this country committing crimes…”
Acosta sharply fired back: “I asked you at the beginning of this interview ‘Did Donald Trump lose the 2020 election?’ I just asked you if Haitian migrants are eating dogs and cats in Springfield. You won’t admit the truth on either of those questions.”
