‘Have you no ethics?’: Things turn ugly on CNN as Donald Trump debate turns sour

Steven Goldstein, the Anne Frank Centre's executive director, has ripped into CNN commentator Kayleigh McEnany over her defense of Donald Trump.

Things became heated when McEnany asked Goldstein: "You think the president does not like Jews and is prejudiced against Jews?"

Goldstein's response was unequivocal: "You bet."

"Wow," McEnany responded, kickstarting a fiery exchange between the pair on CNN's Out Front.

The debate escalated when McEnany tried to argue that the President cannot be anti-Semitic because his daughter Ivanka Trump converted to Judaism ahead of her 2009 marriage to Jared Kushner.

"Does he hate his daughter?" McEnany asked. "Does he hate his son-in-law?"

"You know what, Kayleigh?" Goldstein shot back.

"I am tired of commentators like you on the right trotting out his daughter, trotting out his son-in-law as talking points against the president's anti-Semitism. They are Jewish, but that is not a talking point against anti-Semitism, and that is a disgrace.

“Have you no ethics than to invoke people’s religion as a talking point?” he continued. “That itself is anti-Semitic.”

“Let’s make this a dialogue instead of a monologue,” McEnany replied mockingly.

“Do you think the president dislikes his daughter? Answer the question.”

Goldstein refused to answer her question, calling it a “nonsensical question based on nothing.”

It comes after President Trump called recent threats against Jewish community centres "horrible and painful".

Trump made the remarks after touring the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

He said the museum was a "meaningful reminder of why we have to fight bigotry, intolerance and hatred in all forms".

The threats against JCCs are a "very sad reminder" of what still needs to be done, Trump said.

The White House earlier denounced "hatred and hate-motivated violence" following a series of threats across the country but did not directly mention those incidents or Jews.

The FBI said it is joining with the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to investigate "possible civil rights violations in connection with threats" to the centres.

The White House statement said Trump "has made it abundantly clear that these actions are unacceptable".

It followed a tweet by Ivanka Trump on Monday calling for "religious tolerance" after a series of threats against Jewish community centres.

She tweeted: "We must protect our houses of worship & religious centres."