CNN taunted Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) for refusing to do an interview–while hiding a 15-minute interview Cruz had already done with CNN.

On Thursday afternoon, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke to the far-left CNN for 15 minutes about the Parkland school shooting massacre and his specific ideas about preventing future massacres. Nevertheless, hours after Cruz recorded that interview, CNN anti-Trump pundit Chris Cuomo publicly taunted Cruz as a coward for not talking to CNN.

“If Cruz thinks gun control improvement is not the answer, what is?” the left-wing Cuomo tweeted hours after Cruz recorded the interview. “Ask the question, Senator: what are we going to do to stop school shootings? Don’t just say what won’t work, work to find an answer!”

Linked to Cuomo’s frantic and confusing tweet was a Hill article reporting on Cuomo’s bullying of Cruz earlier that same day: “Chris Cuomo names GOP lawmakers on-air who wouldn’t come on CNN after shooting,” the Hill’s headline reads before quoting Cuomo directly, stating, “What are they afraid of?”:

If Cruz thinks gun control improvement is not the answer, what is? Ask the question, Senator: what are we going to do to stop school shootings? Don’t just say what won’t work, work to find an answer! https://t.co/NAmAQOTudu — Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 15, 2018

To his credit, Cruz was having none of it. On Friday, using his own Twitter account, the Texas senator linked Cuomo’s fake news-taunt and wrote, “That’s funny, I spoke to CNN for 15 mins yesterday about proactive solutions to prevent gun violence … yet CNN has aired NONE of it. Why not air the (entire) interview?”

As proof, Cruz included a picture taken of him during the interview, along with this comment: “Here’s a pic of the @CNN interview — a 15-min exclusive given yesterday — that y’all still haven’t aired… (While falsely claiming I’m “afraid” to talk to CNN.)”:

Here's a pic of the @CNN interview — a 15-min exclusive given yesterday — that y'all still haven't aired… (While falsely claiming I'm "afraid" to talk to CNN.) https://t.co/Bo8AzsuGFX pic.twitter.com/sEtt4bTeUT — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 16, 2018

The manic Cuomo then attempted to move the goalposts.

“Cruz and others were invited to come on [my show, New Day] and be tested about how to stop these shootings. They declined,” Cuomo explained. “If Cruz or others did an intv with Cnn thereafter fine, but they didn’t when we asked. Period. Offer stands. Anytime. Anywhere”:

Be clear: Cruz and others were invited to come on @NewDay and be tested about how to stop these shootings. They declined. If Cruz or others did an intv with Cnn thereafter fine, but they didn’t when we asked. Period. Offer stands. Anytime. Anywhere. https://t.co/Wxy1KsutIo — Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 16, 2018

Cuomo’s neurotic response can only be interpreted as trashing his own network for not “testing” Cruz in the way Cuomo believes he personally would have “tested” Cruz. One wonders if Cuomo would have made that insulting insinuation if the CNN reporter interviewing Cruz was a man instead of a woman.

But it was not just Cuomo taunting Cruz. The pro-North Korea CNN itself joined the bullying with this on-air graphic that was later dropped on social media by CNN anti-Trump pundit Brian Stelter:

Even more troubling is the fact that the CNN graphic and Cuomo’s claim that Cruz chickened out on a New Day appearance appears to also be fake news. According to Cruz staffer Catherine Frazier, what CNN, Cuomo, and Stelter are covering up is the fact that Cruz was not even asked to appear on New Day until 8:11 a.m., 49 minutes before the last-place show ended:

Pardon my typo: 49 minutes — Catherine Frazier (@catblackfrazier) February 15, 2018

By asking Cruz to come on at the last possible second, and when you consider CNN’s history of using proven lies and extremist rhetoric to gin up hate against Republicans, it is not unfair to wonder if CNN deliberately tried to set Cruz up to attack him with the fake news the he is a coward for not coming on.

Why else would CNN hide the Cruz interview and allow these attacks to continue even after Cruz had already done the interview?

CNN’s sitting on the Cruz interview while taunting Cruz for not doing an interview is nothing less than a partisan dirty trick.

The pro-gun control Cuomo, who is widely viewed as not very bright, and who is sometimes mocked with the nickname “Fredo,” is also attacking those he derisively refers to as the “thoughts and prayers crowd”:

Look what these guys are focused on. The thoughts and prayers crowd. Patriots. https://t.co/hgXxST9u2h — Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) February 15, 2018

Cuomo even retweeted someone quoting him (Cuomo) as saying on-air, “What kind of prayer is one that promises to do nothing”?

Cuomo identifies as a Catholic. How, then, he can see the act of praying as “doing nothing,” he has yet to explain.

Cuomo’s shrill and shameless grandstanding might have something to do with New Day‘s humiliating ratings: Total Average Viewers: New Day 565,000/Morning Joe 1.095 million/Fox and Friends 1.501 million

In all of cable on Tuesday, New Day‘s best showing was during its 9 a.m. ET hour. Nevertheless, only 669,000 people tuned in, and the hour ranked 95th.

By comparison, on MSNBC, Morning Joe‘s earliest hour, 6 a.m. ET, snagged 1.095 million viewers and ranked 86th. Fox & Friends ranked 54th and attracted a whopping 1.826 million viewers at 9 a.m. — nearly tripling the faltering Cuomo.

CNN itself is in major ratings trouble. The anti-Trump cable channel lost a whopping -30 percent of its primetime viewers and has fallen way behind MSNBC and Fox News.

It would appear as though the only thing politicians need be “afraid of” when it comes to appearing on CNN is 1) not being seen at all and 2) being sandbagged by CNN’s abiding affection for spreading fake news.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.