CNN’s Anderson Cooper defended his network Friday after a Republican congressman fed into a conspiracy theory about why its reporters were present during the FBI’s raid on the home of Roger Stone.
The host of “Anderson Cooper 360°” hit back at Georgia Rep. Doug Collins’ intimation during acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that CNN’s journalists had been tipped off ahead of the arrest of President Donald Trump’s longtime associate on Jan. 25.
“CNN has been upfront from the start how we came to be there that morning. In fact, we wrote a full piece on it the day of the arrest,” said Cooper.
“Congressman Collins likely knows the real story but we can only guess he suggested some shadowy conspiracy because it tucks neatly into the idea that the so-called mainstream media is in cahoots with the special counsel,” he added, referencing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible Trump campaign collusion.
Cooper claimed Collins had turned down an invitation to appear on his show, before again noting how “we got the scoop through plain ’ole shoe-leather reporting and a little luck.”
“A CNN producer and photojournalist were there because our ongoing reporting at the courthouse where the grand jury meets led us to suspect an arrest might be imminent,” he said. “Armed with that, our team was just staking out Stone’s house. They arrived about an hour before FBI agents went in. No tipoff, just hard work.”
Check out the clip from the 3:15 mark here: