A debate about the weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, got heated Monday morning as a former Virginia attorney general asked a CNN political commentator to “shut up.”
Symone Sanders, who worked as national press secretary for Bernie Sanders during his presidential campaign, accused former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli of not speaking “to the heart” of what happened in Charlottesville when white supremacists descended on the city for a “Unite the Right” rally.
“Can I finish, Symone?” asked Cuccinelli at one point during the “New Day” debate. “Will you just shut up for a minute and let me finish?”
Anchor Chris Cuomo was quick to jump in, saying, “Ken, you don’t want to use language like that when you’re talking to Symone. You can disagree, but you don’t talk like that on this show. You know better.”
Sanders and Cuccinelli are not the first to tangle over where to cast blame for the violence in Virginia, which included a vehicular attack that left one counter-protester dead and 19 injured.
After President Donald Trump condemned the violence on “many sides” without directly naming white supremacists and neo-Nazis, he was met with bipartisan calls to name them.