In a scathing dissection of President Donald Trump’s wiretapping claims against his predecessor Barack Obama, CNN journalist Anderson Cooper said, “Tonight we know the President of the United States has no facts.”
On his news show Anderson Cooper 360°, the television news personality called out Trump’s citations of media reports to back up his unsubstantiated claim, and pointed out that “bipartisan members of the Senate Intelligence Committee say they’ve seen no evidence” proving Trump’s allegations. “We know this because House Speaker Paul Ryan also says he’s seen no evidence,” Cooper said.
Cooper referenced White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who defended Trump’s claim to reporters on Thursday. Spicer told the press corps that Trump “stands by” his tweets that started the firestorm and berated the press for taking the tweets too seriously.
Without evidence, White House stands by Pres. Trump's wiretap claim @andersoncooper is #KeepingThemHonesthttps://t.co/9yjYHBgHhC
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) March 17, 2017
Cooper also mentioned Trump’s interview on Fox News Wednesday, in which Trump said he had “been readings things” and referenced several media outlets, including the New York Times, to apparently back up his assertions.
In a later segment, Cooper spoke to Matthew Rosenberg, author of the Times article Trump appeared to hold up as evidence. “It’s getting bizarre at this point,” Rosenberg told Cooper, “because we’ve said very clearly on your show that that’s not what the story said.”