Tensions ratcheted up on CNN’s NewsNight after commentators began arguing over a confirmation hearing and Republicans’ continued submission to President Donald Trump’s repeated falsehoods over his 2020 election loss.
It happened on the July 15 show after NewsNight host Abby Phillip asked New York Post correspondent Lydia Moynihan about Jay Clayton, Trump’s pick for national intelligence director.
During Clayton’s confirmation hearing, Democratic senators asked the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who won the 2020 election.
Clayton refused to say former President Joe Biden was the winner, at one point telling Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, “I’m not going to do this with you.”
“That’s kind of embarrassing,” Phillip noted. “If he can’t just state a fact, how can he do that other job?”
“I mean, he’d been asked, I think, three times at that point, and he did mince words,” Moynihan admitted. “But there’s a lot of theatrics at these kinds of hearings. So, to me, it’s theatrics.”
That’s when former New York Times columnist and author Charles Blow jumped in.
A condescending blow hard by the name of Charles Blow melts down at @LydiaMoynihan and calls her a “child” on CNN Newsnight:
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) July 16, 2026
Moynihan: “I know you’re trying to get your social media clip with a gotcha… I’m not here to answer to you.”
Blow: “I really appreciate you lecturing… pic.twitter.com/BkpbVyokhF
‘Get Your Social Media Clip’
“Can you acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election?” Blow asked Moynihan.
“Yeah,” she acknowledged before Blow pointed out, “So, you can do it just now, but he couldn’t do it?”
Guests began talking over each other with Moynihan telling Blow, “I know you’re trying to get a social media clip, Charles, but” and she was interrupted by the panelists again.
Then she accused Blow again of looking for a fight. “I know you’re trying to get your social media clip for the ‘gotcha.’”
Blow tried to interrupt again, but she talked over him.
“I answered your question already. And I’m also not here to answer to you, so, “she caustically stated before he interjected.
“I’m happy that you told me that … I really appreciate you lecturing me about what I’m here to do, because I’m here because Abby’s show invited me here. And I have been in journalism for a very long time. In fact, I came to The New York Times the year that you were born. So, I would choose — I would suggest that you choose a lane that is your own and stay in it. And don’t lecture me because I won’t be lectured by a child. Thank you,” he said plainly, telling her off in an eye-popping and direct manner.
‘She Got Cooked’
Social media erupted in applause over Blow’s clapback.
“The face you make when you realize you just got cooked…” an X user joked.
Others chimed in. “She is screaming internally because she had no clap back ready” and “Oh he ATE her UP with zero burps.”
X user Karen Bass Superfan observed, “She had the right idea but the wrong person.”
Still others piled on with “Damn she got cooked” and “Schooled” with a laughing emoji and “Cleared…”
Trump addressed the nation the following day to inform Americans of what he described as declassified documents that he says prove foreign actors interfered in the 2020 election.
Many courts, including the Supreme Court, have ruled over and over that the 2020 election was free and fair and that Biden beat Trump soundly.
That compares to the 2016 election, in which Trump beat Democratic nominee and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A subsequent investigation determined Russia meddled in that election on behalf of Trump.
