Politics & Government

Anderson Cooper issues apology after getting ‘crude’ with Trump supporter on CNN

By Brian Murphy

bmurphy@mcclatchy.com

May 19, 2017 11:18 PM

CNN News anchor Anderson Cooper attends the Turner Network 2017 Upfront presentation at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in New York. Evan Agostini Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper made headlines last week with his epic on-camera eyeroll during an interview with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway (start at 10:12 mark of the clip).

Now Cooper is in the news again for a reaction to a President Donald Trump-supporting guest. On Friday, while discussing a New York Times report that Trump called former FBI Director James Comey a “nut job” and “crazy” in an Oval Office meeting with the Russian foreign minister and ambassador, Cooper couldn’t contain himself while Jeffrey Lord defended the president.

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“I don’t care what he says to the Russians. I mean, he’s the President of the United States,” Lord said. “If he wants to say that, if Barack Obama wants to say whatever, if George Bush says I looked into his eyes ...”

“If he took a dump on his desk, you would defend it,” Cooper said, interrupting Lord. “I don’t know what he would do that you would not defend.”

Lord laughed. A few minutes later, Cooper apologized to Lord, saying “I was a little crude before, I apologize. I like having your voice on here, and I think you’re an important voice to have,” according to CNN’s Brian Stelter.

“No offense taken,” Lord said, who was appearing via Skype.

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Later in the evening, Cooper published another apology on Twitter.

“I regret the crude sentence I spoke earlier tonight and followed it up by apologizing on air. It was unprofessional. I am genuinely sorry,” Cooper wrote in his post.

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