White House counselor Kellyanne Conway challenged CNN “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo and his cable network to “talk as much about America as Russia today” during a tense back-and-forth exchange Tuesday.

“Let’s talk as much about America as Russia today. What do you think?” Conway asked Cuomo. “Do you feel the least bit, I don’t know, pushed back or a little ashamed that we’ve had person after person on your network and elsewhere for a year … promising Russian collusion, impeachment, treason is coming around the corner?”

The CNN host replied, “Literally never.”

Conway and Cuomo sparred with one another hours before President Donald Trump was set to deliver his first State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. While Cuomo kept pressing Conway about why Trump hadn’t put into effect the set of Russian sanctions Congress passed last summer, Conway mocked CNN for its obsession with the probe into Trump-Russia collusion at the expense of de-emphasizing important issues that Americans care about more.

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Conway said that CNN’s incessant reporting on Russia is “so absolutely overwrought and ridiculous. And it’s why Americans are losing faith in some institutions.”

Cuomo pushed back, arguing that “nobody is losing faith in American institutions because you have people of good faith in some of these [congressional] committees and [Special Counsel] Bob Mueller.”

But the White House counselor mocked CNN hosts and contributors for behaving “like bobblehead dolls saying, ‘Here comes treason. Here comes impeachment.'”

Cuomo argued that CNN goes “after these things forensically and facts first,” saying, “that’s what we do.”

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The topic that Cuomo particularly wanted Conway to comment on was the White House’s decision not to impose new sanctions on Russia following the country’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The White House counselor defended Trump, saying he is trying to encourage a working relationship between the two countries to tackle important issues such as North Korea and its nuclear program.

Conway asked Cuomo if he thought Russia’s election interference was the reason why Trump won and “why the person whose name I never mention on TV anymore lost?”

“No,” Cuomo replied. “I don’t. But I think you going there by default explains why there’s such resistance to doing anything about the Russian interference.”

Conway ripped Cuomo for “talking about this every single day, “including the day when we have invited people to the capital to be part of the State of the Union” address as the Trumps’ guests.

Related: Justice Department Spokeswoman Mocks CNN’s Chris Cuomo

Cuomo claimed that he doesn’t mix those two issues up before saying that Conway’s accusation “cheapens your effort of bringing them here.”

“If you’re bringing them here to distract from Russia, that’s disingenuous,” Cuomo said, accusing the Trump administration of using “people’s character and their pain as cover” during the special counsel’s Russia probe.

“Excuse me. Don’t do that. They were not using them as cover,” Conway replied, noting that the guests want to be there and represent issues about which Trump and his administration are passionate.

Russian interference — “the thing that you’re trying to cover today” — isn’t the top issue that Americans want to hear about, Conway told Cuomo, noting that they want to hear about “jobs and the economy, health care, education, terrorism, immigration, national security, transparency.”

“[It’s] arguably important,” Cuomo argued, adding, “And you don’t always just do what’s popular. Sometimes you just do what’s right.”

Conway mocked CNN once again, saying that “everybody who said Donald Trump couldn’t win, everybody who said the election was all wrapped up, every screaming headline, every wrong poll, every anchor, every pundit who said, ‘This is over, it’s a joke, [Trump] can’t win, he can’t govern,’ tried to interfere in the election.”

“And it didn’t work,” Conway said. “Get out of bed, go breathe air and have a great day, everybody.”

“Nice. Insult the audience, very nice,” Cuomo said.

Conway replied, “Love the audience.”

PoliZette writer Kathryn Blackhurst can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter.