Twitter Reacts To Kellyanne Conway Defending Trump's Response To Hurricane Harvey

Things got heated between the counsellor to President Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, and CNN's Chris Cuomo Wednesday night during a debate on Hurricane Harvey, which included a discussion on how the president would avoid the pitfalls that occurred during the former administration’s efforts to pass a relief bill after Superstorm Sandy.

Conway's defense of the administration's response to the hurricane, had some Twitter users up in arms, as they accused her of being "Trump's tool of distraction."

The pair, known for their marathon interviews on the news channel, went back and forth during the discussion, and Conway spoke how the administration was trying to provide relief to victims and hoped the Congress would not indulge in playing politics when it came to issuing funds for the affected.

Cuomo brought up the fact that the Republicans did the same thing following Sandy, when the Obama administration tried to a pass the relief bill.

“We hope it will be bipartisan in nature,” Conway responded to Cuomo's concern. “So few things in this city have been since we arrived in January. We can’t seem to get many Democrats at the table for big, meaningful initiatives and that’s very disappointing.”

While Conway was stressing the administration's efforts to help the victims, Cuomo asked how the Republicans would get the emergency funds approved by the Congress, citing that Trump might need to make a choice between funds for his border wall or disaster relief.

“Well, Chris, that’s not very fair,” Conway responded. “And I heard you three times in a row get the same sound bite out, so let me reply in kind.”

After a bit of this, Cuomo shifted the topic to climate change and its impact on floods and storms, like the one being currently witnessed in Texas.

“One of the themes that's coming out of this, and it's not a discussion just to have now, but certainly in the weeks and months as we move forward, is whether or not what happened in Harvey and why it's happening and why these storms happen open up a discussion about the role of climate change,” Cuomo said, a bit tentatively. “Is the president, is the administration, open to that conversation?”

Conway appeared to be infuriated by the query, saying it was not the right time to discuss such things when people are suffering and needed help.

“Chris, we're trying to help the people whose lives are literally underwater, and you want to have a conversation about climate change?” she said.

She added, “I mean, that is — I’m not going to engage in that right now.”

When Cuomo said he was assuming the answer to his question to be no, Conway said, “No, I didn't say that, Chris, you don't need to put words in my mouth.”

Chris responded saying she did "berate" him for just asking the question.

In response, Conway said she was simply “exposing the irony” of the conversation and accused Cuomo of playing “amateur climatologist,” while she said she would like to play “professional helper of those in need.”

She then added, “I'm going to focus on them in the short-term, perhaps the long-term, because I literally see people, I see pregnant women, including on your channel, who are in need, who say they're shivering or their kids or hungry,” likely referring to a Houston survivor whose confrontation with a CNN reporter went viral this week.

“Good, you should,” Cuomo said. “But it doesn't mean you do that to the exclusion to the question of why storms happen. At some point, that could be part of the conversation.”