Story highlights John Phillips dismissed the alt-right as "kooks"

Chris Cuomo said denouncing the group is part of Trump being a leader

(CNN) While President-elect Donald Trump has yet to denounce the alt-right by name, CNN's Chris Cuomo says he should.

"It's about being a leader," Cuomo said on "New Day" Tuesday. "You denounce things that are wrong. That's what leaders do."

He was responding to CNN political commentator John Phillips, who supported how Trump denounced "racism of any kind" after an alt-right leader urged people at a Trump victory gathering to "hail Trump" and "hail our people!" Trump did not, however, condemn the alt-right directly.

"We know the political game that his opponents try to use against him, which is they want Trump's name in the same headline as these kooks," Phillips said.

But Cuomo and CNN political commentator Christine Quinn were not satisfied with that answer.

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