Media

CNN’s Bolduan fights tears, tells Debbie Dingell she’s ‘tired of getting emotional on air’

by Joe Concha - 12/19/19 2:19 PM ET

CNN anchor Kate Bolduan fought back tears during an interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) on Thursday while speaking about President Trump’s attacks on Dingell’s husband, the late Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), during a rally in Michigan the previous night.

Trump on Wednesday went after Debbie Dingell for supporting impeachment, while also attacking her late husband, who passed away earlier this year.

“Maybe he’s looking up,” Trump said about John Dingell during the rally in Battle Creek, Mich.

“Maybe, but let’s assume he’s looking down,” he then said.

Debbie Dingell has responded to Trump in several interviews since he made the comment, including with Bolduan on “CNN Newsroom.”

“The United States House of Representatives and the Senate are representative bodies. We’re not perfect. We’re human beings that go through the same experiences that the people that we represent do,” Dingell said before saying the upcoming holidays will be “lousy” without him.

“I miss him a lot, and it’s going to be a lousy Christmas,” she added.

“I am really tired of getting emotional on the air with you,” Bolduan responded while fighting back tears.

The interview was reminiscent of another the two women shared in January 2019 when they were discussing an announcement by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) that she had been raped in college and is a survivor of domestic violence.

Dingell staunchly supported Ernst when speaking with Bolduan, saying she had her own experiences of abuse in the past.

“My heart goes out to her,” Dingell said. “And I will be with Joni Ernst wherever she is trying to stick up for sexual assault survivors and domestic violence survivors. Because you do survive. You can go on. It doesn’t define you, but it never stops hurting.”

“That breaks my heart. And thank you for your strength,” Bolduan replied while choking up.

“I’m going to start crying,” Dingell responded.

“Yeah, we’re done,” Bolduan said, ending the interview while waving her hand to go break.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told ABC News on Thursday that the president “was just riffing” after being “under impeachment attack for the last few months.”

“You’d have to talk to the president about that,” Grisham said. “He was at a political rally. He has been under attack, and under impeachment attack, for the last few months, and then just under attack politically for the last 2 1/2 years. I think that as we all know, the president is a counterpuncher.”

“It was a very, very supportive and wild crowd, and he was just riffing on some of the things that had been happening the past few days,” she added.

Tags CNN interview Debbie Dingell Donald Trump John Dingell Joni Ernst Stephanie Grisham Trump rally