CNN’s Manu Raju pressed Rep. Carlos Giménez (R-FL) about rising gas prices during a Republican retreat attended by President Donald Trump.

Giménez and others attended a policy conference in Doral, Florida, this week where Trump spoke. Raju was also there, and he spoke to a number of Republican lawmakers, which he reported on Thursday on Inside Politics with Dana Bash. Bash played a clip of a briefly tense moment between Raju and Giménez as Raju pressed about rising gas prices.

“I think this is temporary, and then I think the gas prices will go down,” Giménez said.

“If it doesn’t?” Raju asked.

“I’m saying your premise is wrong. It will, okay? I’m saying that —” the lawmaker said as Raju pressed furhter.

“You’re just hoping,” Raju said.

“And so are you,” Giménez shot back.

“I’m not hoping. I’m positing the question,” Raju said.

“I’m not hoping. I am confident that this is not going to last a long time, okay? And I’m confident of that, and in the end, I guess let’s say about a month from now, we’ll have this conversation again and see who was right,” Giménez said.

The current national average price for gas is approximately $3.60, according to AAA. A month ago, the national average was just below $3. Most of the increase in price has come amid U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran.

Raju said on Thursday that he heard mixed messages from Republican lawmakers on how to deal with gas prices. Some, like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), argue that an uptick in gas prices is better than Iran having a nuclear weapon, while others, like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), told Raju Republicans are losing on their affordability messaging, and it could impact the midterms.

“That’s really what the Republican plan is to deal with gas prices: hope,” Raju said. “Hope that this ends sometime soon, hope that the economy, the crude oil market will stabilize, hope gas prices will come down, and hope that this does not undercut their own affordability message come November, but you talk to other Republicans, and they say, hope is not a plan.”

In a Thursday Truth Social post, Trump tried to give a positive spin to prices going up amid the global conflict.

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” he wrote.

Watch above via CNN.

The post Republican Lawmaker Gets Testy as CNN’s Manu Raju Presses Him on Rising Gas Prices: ‘Your Premise Is Wrong’ first appeared on Mediaite.

from Mediaite https://ift.tt/Pf8rK1t