Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper’s reaction to CNN’s ‘disturbing’ town hall

Donald Trump shared doctored video of Anderson Cooper’s dark reaction to CNN’s town hall with the former president, using old clips to make it sound like the host was talking about Joe Biden.

The video posted to Truth Social on Saturday begins with Cooper’s monologue Thursday addressing outrage over the event with Trump before moving on to footage of a town hall the CNN host held with Biden in October 2021.

The town hall on Wednesday (May 10) featured Trump in a mildly moderated discussion with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, during which he made numerous false statements, advanced conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and vowed to pardon Capitol Hill protesters. accused of crimes for their participation in the attempted insurrection two years ago.

Cooper opened his show, andersoncooper 360, the next day by acknowledging that many viewers expressed “deep anger and disappointment” after the event.

In the altered video released by Trump, Cooper’s comments were spliced ​​together to remove any direct reference to the former president.

In his actual monologue, Cooper told viewers: “Many of you are upset that someone who tried to destroy our democracy was invited to sit onstage in front of a crowd of Republican voters to answer questions and, unsurprisingly, continued spewing lie after lie after lie. lie. And I get it. It was disturbing.”

He acknowledged all of the objectionable statements Trump made during the town hall, including how he insulted E Jean Carroll, who was found guilty of defamation and sexual assault, called Ms. Collins “nasty” and labeled the black police officer who fatally shot Capitol. the troublemaker Ashli ​​Babbitt a “thug,” and said she understood the rejection of CNN giving Trump a platform to speak.

Now many of you think that CNN should not have given him any platform to speak. And I understand the anger about that, giving the audience the time. I get it,” she said.

Cooper said viewers “have every right to be outraged and angry today” and understood if they “never watch this network again.”

He also warned that the town hall audience (Independents and Republicans) represented about half of the US population and showed that Trump could possibly win a second term as he is “running hard.”

Cooper then challenged viewers, warning them that staying in echo chambers won’t stop Trump from trying to seize power once again.

“Do you think staying in your silo and just listening to people you agree with will make that person go away? If we only listen to those with whom we agree, the opposite may actually occur. If lives are allowed to pass unchecked, however imperfect our ability to control them in a real-time setting, those lies continue and those lies spread,” he said.

He concluded the segment by reminding viewers that they can do something to stop Trump from winning in 2024.

“If you’re angry or upset, I understand, but you have the power to do something about it. In fact, you can get involved. You can make a difference,” she said. Whichever side of the hall you’re on after last night, neither of us can say, I didn’t know what was out there. He didn’t know what was coming.”

The doctored video shared with Truth Social by Trump features only a small part of those comments.

The former president previously shared another doctored video of Cooper’s reaction to the town hall immediately afterward, in which he is introduced as saying, “That was President Donald J. Trump blowing a new hole in us here on CNN’s live presidential town hall. .”

Meanwhile, Trump has defended CNN for hosting the controversial event, telling Fox News: It was an “honor” to participate.

“CNN is getting a lot of attention,” Trump said. “I think CNN did the right thing by including me: all you have to do is look at their fantastic ratings.”

While the town hall made CNN the most-watched cable news network Wednesday night with 3.3 million people tuning in, according to Nielson ratings, the event drew fewer viewers than the town halls it drew on Fox News. , reported Axios.