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Lemon Reprimands Guests for Talking Over Each Other

June 20, 2017

Former Republican National Committee chief of staff Mike Shields and former policy adviser to Hillary Clinton Neera Tanden caused CNN's Don Lemon to lose his patience on air Monday.

Lemon's two guests were discussing the special congressional election being held in Georgia's sixth district on Tuesday to fill Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price's vacant House seat.

In the midst of the most expensive House race ever, Lemon turned the discussion to the GOP-funded advertisements that took former President Barack Obama "out of context" to fit the message of the ad.

Shields, an associate of Republican candidate Karen Handel, called the advertisements "inappropriate" and said that Handel denounced them. Tanden claimed that all of the attacking and accusatory ads were "one-sided."

Lemon turned the discussion to how Democrats ended up losing the last three special elections he has covered.

Tanden claimed this instance was different because the district in question is a "plus-20 Republican district" and the race is "neck-and-neck" compared to the districts in the previous elections, which she claimed leaned more Republican.

"That's not true. That's a non fact fact that that you just gave there. It's not a plus-20 Republican district," Shields responded.

Tanden spoke over Shields, asking how much Price had won by in his election. Shields said that Price had run nearly unopposed and that President Donald Trump had only won Georgia's sixth district by one point.

"Are we having a congressional election or a presidential election?" Tanden said.

The two then began to talk over each other about the two candidates' funding.

Lemon could be heard attempting to cut in a few times with, "One at a time please."

When Lemon could not cut in, he reprimanded his guests.

"Hold on both of you, both of you. Stop, stop, stop. Let's stop, let's stop," Lemon said. "OK, let me tell this to you guys: When I need to get in, let me in or I'm going to end the segment. It doesn't do any good when both of you are talking over each other, when you don't listen to the moderator. People at home don't get anything out of it."

"I'm here to ask you questions because I'm trying to get some answers," Lemon said. "And I'm trying to help the people at home come to some understanding about what's going on. OK, so will you please do that?"

Published under: CNN , Don Lemon , Georgia