On CNN Wednesday, anchor Anderson Cooper laid into White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for her defense of President Donald Trump's conspiracy theory about the Buffalo protester hospitalized by police.
"Here's the conspiracy theory which the president tweeted out to nearly 81 million followers. Quote, 'Buffalo protester shoved by police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away from appearing to scan police equipment in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a setup?' The whole notion that the president is tweeting about came from a Russian-born alleged 'reporter' on a fledgling right wing network who also has written for the Kremlin propaganda network Sputnik. You can't make this up."
"Kayleigh McEnany was asked about it today right out of the gate today," said Cuomo, playing a clip in which she said Trump "has a right to ask those questions" and said it is "not a baseless conspiracy theory."
"Actually it is," said Cooper. "He said he was a member of the group of Antifa, which is the driving force behind the protests, but it is not. He said he was a provocateur, and there was no evidence he was. He was using a super secret device. This man who was 75 could barely turn on his own phone, and why would someone need a tracking device to see them around him? And he claims that he faked his fall."
Cooper played another clip of McEnany saying Trump is just "standing back and saying we need to ask questions before we destroy lives and convict people in the court of public opinion."
"Okay, that is such doublespeak. It is Orwellian," said Cooper. "He was just asking questions. But before we defame somebody, and convict them in the court of public opinion, we need to find out facts. He sent out a tweet defaming this man, convicting him in the court of public opinion to 81 million of his followers. This is a 75-year-old guy protesting for a lot of his life. It is a whole range of issues. And that, what Kayleigh McEnany said there ... the president wasn't pushing a conspiracy theory, wasn't speaking without the facts and wasn't speaking badly about a man bleeding from the ears after falling."
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