Chris Cuomo, Tucker Carlson debate Jan. 6, Affirmative Action

NewsNation host Chris Cuomo and conservative commentator Tucker Carlson debated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and the merits of Affirmative Action during the second part of a conversation that aired on the network Tuesday.

“Affirmative action, totally immoral,” Carlson remarked at one point during the discussion. “You should never punish someone because of how he was born.”

“But the country did,” Cuomo countered.

“Of course, and that ended in 1965,” Carlson said, to which Cuomo responded, “No, it didn’t.”

Earlier during the discussion, Cuomo referred to the the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Trump as “a riot,” saying “and that’s bad enough.”

In a previously released clip from the interview, Cuomo told Carlson he “cherry picked” footage from the Capitol riot provided to him by then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

“Ashli Babbit, for good reason, bad reason, no reason was where she was, she put that officer in fear for his life, with 10 other people. And that’s why she got shot,” Cuomo said.

Carlson pushed back, asking, “Do cops get to shoot people without a warning?”

“Cops don’t get to shoot you without a warning, in a situation where they are exercising the use of force in apprehending you,” Cuomo responded. “In a situation where there is a mob descending upon this guy, he’s trying to hold the glass doors because he wants lawmakers to not get hanged or whatever and they’re breaking through he then made a judgement that his life was going to be threatened otherwise.”

The conversation between the pair of cable news figures aired over two nights on Cuomo’s prime time program, with the first episode on Monday evening resulting in a ratings spike for his weeknight show.

During the portion of the conversation that aired Monday, Carlson told Cuomo it was “good to be fired” from Fox News, the network that pulled him off the air last April and explained why he didn’t press Russian President Vladimir Putin about the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying “I’m not going to move the ball at all.”

Since being fired by Fox, Carlson has started a media company and launched a new show on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

CNN fired Cuomo in December of 2021 and later joined NewsNation, a cable news channel owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.

As he ended his program on Wednesday, Cuomo said his goal in airing the Carlson interview is “not for you to like or dislike,” the pundit.

“The whole point is we don’t have to demonize what and who we disagree,” he said. “It’s not working. It’s not getting us where we say we want to be. Unless what we really want is just to destroy this place and break it apart. That’s my whole point.”