Chris Cuomo Says Members of Congress Caught Lying Should Be Fined: ‘They Should Up the Stakes’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Chris Cuomo says Congress should “up the stakes” and levy fines against lawmakers caught lying to the American people – and that Republicans who shied away from including fines in their censure of Adam Schiff are “pathetic.”
The News Nation anchor was responding to a “Cuomo” caller’s question on Wednesday night: “Do you believe that the members of Congress and the executive branch should be fined or censured for lying to other members of Congress, such as fraudulent claims of the 2020 election being stolen or the whole thing about George Santos?” asked Patrick from Indiana.
“Listen, you don’t have to categorize it. Keep it general,” Cuomo responded. “[This is] what I didn’t like about the Republicans who moved over their vote to censure Schiff. You want to censure him, go ahead. Nobody cares anymore anyway – you should! but we don’t – but they only switched their votes once they removed the fine provision. Because they wanted to fine Schiff if they could find out he had lied about advancing the Russia probe.”
The Republican-led House on Wednesday voted 213 to 209 to censure Schiff for his role in investigating former President Trump over alleged collusion with Russia, a probe that did not yield the result the California Democrat was seeking. The censure only passed after GOP leaders altered its language to remove a multi-million dollar fine that some in the party believed was unconstitutional.
Cuomo did not share those concerns.
“I think they should be fined if they lie about what mattes to you!” he said. “I think they should – whether it’s the Russian probe, whether it’s Soros, whatever it is! I think we should up the stakes on them. I think it’s pathetic that [Republicans] voted for censure once they knew it would be free, if it ever happened to them.”
He warned, however, that the practice would – and should – cut both ways.
“But you don’t have to only look at one side,” he said. “Have it for everybody! If you lie, you should pay. Why not? Right? Why not.”
Watch Cuomo make his fines-for-fibbers case in the video clip above.
