Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Anderson Cooper Brings The Receipts After Trump's Baseless Claim About E. Jean Carroll Interview

Screenshots of Anderson Cooper and Donald Trump
CNN

After the ex-President accused Cooper of using a commercial break to coach Carroll to be 'more hostile' toward Trump during an interview on CNN, Cooper showed the unedited footage of the pre-recorded interview that instantly proved Trump wrong.

After former President Donald Trump accused CNN anchor Anderson Cooper of using a commerical break to coach E. Jean Carroll to be "more hostile" toward him during a recent interview on the network, Cooper showed the unedited footage of the pre-recorded interview that instantly proved Trump wrong.

During a recent press conference at Trump Tower, Trump claimed Cooper had directed Carroll—who accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1990s and won a judgment that found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation—to speak ill of him.


He said:

"Then there was an Anderson Cooper interview where she said essentially, no, he didn’t rape me… In the Anderson Cooper tape, it’s an interview of [Carroll] and Cooper says something to the effect, ‘Did he rape you? Did he rape you?’…"
"She gave a very good answer for me, but a bad answer for CNN for Anderson and he said, we’re going to a commercial break right now. Then she came back from commercial break and she was much more hostile."
“But this man wouldn’t let us use the tape or the proper questions having to do with the tape. Wouldn’t let us, the judge, Judge Kaplan wouldn’t let it be used. We wanted to get the outtakes."
"In other words, what did Anderson Cooper talk to her about during that intermission for a commercial that he called for immediately?”

Cooper fired back not long afterward—and he had the receipts.

Cooper noted that Trump made a similar statement during his deposition for the trial in which Carroll accused him of sexual assault. In the October 19, 2022, deposition transcript, Trump stated:

“If you watch Anderson Cooper’s interview with her where she was promoting a really crummy book, you will see that it is a complete scam. She changed her story from beginning to end after the commercial break to suit the purposes of CNN and Andy Cooper.”

He responded to Trump's conspiracy claim by airing the complete footage of both the interview and the behind-the-scenes moments, noting that "I normally don't respond when Trump says something about me" but said he wanted to show that Trump's statements are "demonstrably false":

“So the former president seems to be suggesting that something we discussed, or that I discussed with E. Jean Carroll during a four-minute-long commercial break that you would have been watching at home, made Ms. Carroll change her tone toward him."
“The problem with this conspiracy theory is that this interview was actually pre-recorded, and we had to pre-record a toss to a commercial break, and then welcome viewers back after a commercial break so that the entire two parts of the interview would fit into my show that night." …
"Because it’s pre-recorded, you don’t have to sit there during a commercial break. You just take a few seconds. You make sure the control room is still recording. You welcome viewers back as if you’ve just come out of a commercial break, and you continue with the interview.”
“And that’s exactly what I do with Jean Carroll, and I know this because we have the tape… And if you don’t believe me, here’s the raw, unedited video of what was actually being recorded, and you will hear exactly what I said in the few seconds it took me to resume the interview.”

Cooper then referenced the unedited video, which shows him briefly pausing after laughing at a comment made by Carroll to check on the producer and crew. Moments later, he resumes the interview without any disruption, continuing the segment as usual. Cooper did not speak with Carroll during the break as Trump alleged.

Cooper concluded:

"So that was the entire break so when Donald Trump said during the break I was talking to E. Jean Carroll, you just saw the break and that weird look I have is how I talk to my control room when I'm saying, 'Okay, we good? We coming back? Okay.'"
"I'm talking to a producer who's talking to me in the control room in my earpiece right here, making sure that we're good on time, that we're still recording, and I can immediately resume the interview. That's what happened in the break of this interview that Trump was again talking about today."

Many joined Cooper in calling out Trump's latest lie.



Trump was in New York to sit in Manhattan's federal appeals court, where a three-judge panel listened to oral arguments in Trump's appeal of the first civil trial verdict, which found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

Prior to the release of her 2019 book, What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal, Carroll wrote in New York Magazine that Trump had sexually assaulted her in the fall of 1995 or the spring of 1996 in the Bergdorf Goodman department store in New York City.

In May 2023, following a lengthy legal process, a jury ruled Trump was responsible for the sexual abuse and defamation of Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages. Trump's remarks regarding Carroll formed a central part of her original defamation lawsuit. That jury concluded that he defamed her by branding her a liar and dismissing the entire incident as a hoax.

Carroll would go on to sue Trump again. The judge overseeing this second case said its purpose was not to reopen the question of whether the assault during the 1990s took place since that had already been decided.

The primary task for this jury was to determine the appropriate consequences for Trump's persistent dissemination of false defamatory statements. Additionally, they were tasked with assessing the compensation owed to Carroll for the emotional distress resulting from years of being targeted by the former President and his supporters (leading her to keep a gun by her bedside) and the damage to her reputation as a journalist reliant on trust and factual reporting.

In the end, the jury granted Carroll $65 million in punitive damages, affirming that Trump's actions were malicious. They also awarded her $18.3 million for the emotional harm and harm to her reputation for a grand total of $83.3 million in total damages.

More from News/2024-election

A man and a woman sitting at a table and drinking coffee
man in gray suit jacket sitting on black chair beside brown and white dog
Photo by Chewy on Unsplash

People Share Their Biggest 'WTF?!' Moments From A First Date

At the end of a first date, it is often fairly clear whether or not there will be a second date.

Sometimes it's just clear that the chemistry just isn't there.

Keep ReadingShow less
People checking under the bed
fizkes/Getty Images

Kansas Babysitter Finds Man Hiding Under Child's Bed While Checking For 'Monsters'

Many horror movies with plots involving children would be *much shorter* if movie parents listened when the kid complained about something under the bed.

Those fears are often pushed away with, "You're imagining things," or "Oh, that's nothing," only to become a very real problem later in the film. Parents in real life are also quick to brush off their kids concerns as an over-active imagination or too much sugar.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Elon Musk
Fox News

Elon Musk Ripped To Shreds After Saying Trump Is 'An Honest Man' With A Straight Face

Billionaire Elon Musk was ridiculed after claiming during a Fox News interview that President Donald Trump is an "honest man," prompting people to immediately call him out for gaslighting.

When network anchor Bret Baier asked Musk if there is "something people don't know about the president" given the amount of time he and Musk spend in proximity," Musk gave the following response:

Keep ReadingShow less
Ty Burrell
JC Olivera/Getty Images

Ty Burrell Reacts To Fans Thinking He 'Died' After He Missed 'Modern Family' Reunion

Contrary to rumors on the internet, actor Ty Burrell, who played Phil in the hit sitcom Modern Family, is not dead.

He is in fact in the living world. He and fellow costar Jesse Tyler Ferguson discussed this and more in a recent podcast episode of Dinner's on Me, with the clip of their discussion of Tyler's supposed passing posted on Instagram to tease the episode.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from Kane Smith's TikTok video
@kane_smith97/TikTok

TikToker Freaks Out After Large Group Of Monkeys Suddenly Descends Upon Pool In Thailand

There are so many ways to ruin a vacation, but there's nothing like a vacation fail brought on by a large troop of monkeys.

TikToker Kane Smith (@kane_smith97) was enjoying a quiet and restful afternoon in a pool at a secluded resort that was off the beaten path in Thailand—but after an unexpected incident, he suspected the resort was quiet for a reason.

Keep ReadingShow less