Trump shares fake video of Anderson Cooper reacting to CNN town hall

Former President Trump shared a doctored video clip depicting a CNN broadcast as he mocked the network over the public reaction to his town hall this week.

“That was President Donald J. Trump ripping us a new a—— here on CNN’s live presidential town hall,” anchor Anderson Cooper says on the manipulated video, which was posted to Trump’s Truth Social account Friday morning. “Thank you for watching, have a good night.”

The fake video had first been posted on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, who often uses social media to mock liberals and media figures critical of his father and other conservatives.

In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday night’s town hall, members of Trump’s inner circle expressed glee to a number of media outlets at the 2024 White House hopeful’s performance, which on several occasions sparked cheers and laughter from the crowd of largely supportive prospective GOP voters.

CNN is facing widespread criticism from Democrats and media pundits who say it made a mistake in giving a forum to Trump, who used the event to promote false claims about the 2020 election, mock the woman a jury recently found he sexually abused in the late 1990s, and voice support for defendants charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

CNN’s leadership has defended the decision by pointing to Trump’s status as the front-runner in the Republican primary and arguing the network has an obligation to confront him over his false statements.

Cooper himself made a point of defending his network during a monologue on his nightly show Thursday evening, saying he “understands the anger” being directed at CNN but supports the decision to put Trump on the air.

“You have every right to be outraged today and angry and never watch this network again,” Cooper said during his remarks. “But do you think staying in your silo and only listening to people you agree with is going to make that person go away?”