Trump supporters' defense of Jr.'s Russia meeting leaves Anderson Cooper gobsmacked -- and laughing in their faces

CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Monday could not contain himself as former Donald Trump spokesman Jason Miller and former prosecutor Matt Whitaker tried to defend Donald Trump Jr.’s clandestine meeting with a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin.

Miller tried to say Trump Jr. “didn’t know who he was sitting down in the meeting with,” but Cooper wasn’t having it.

“Is that really possible?” Cooper asked, pointing out the president’s eldest son brought along Jared Kushner and then-campaign manager Paul Manafort, who at the time had “a lot of stuff to do.” Cooper told Miller this meeting took place at the height of the campaign, during a tumultuous time when Trump would have needed all hands on deck.

Whitaker said the fact that Trump Jr. put out two separate statements shows, which he purported to boost his credibility. This point perplexed Cooper, who asked if Trump Jr.’s “credibility is ironclad there?”

“I don’t see they’re inconsistent,” Whitaker said of the two statements.

“If I had a meeting with someone about adoption in Russia, and it turns out it was actually about dirt on Hillary Clinton and sanctions—“ Cooper pointed out.



“I’m not suggesting this looks good,” Whitaker replied.

“Okay,” Cooper said, laughing.

Whitaker tried to say that reporters have spoken to the music producer who set up the meeting prompting Cooper to snark, “every music producer we know is certainly credible.”

The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza later lit into Miller, who was trying to argue Trump Jr. didn’t know who he was meeting with at the time.

“You worked at Trump Tower, right?” Lizza asked.


“Yeah, of course, that’s where the campaign was,” Miller retorted.

“Can you get into Trump Tower without showing an identification?” Lizza pressed.

“Yeah,” Miller said, clearly lying as Lizza later pointed out.

“You can just walk up … with no ID, without revealing who you are?” an incredulous Lizza asked.

Miller argued he’s entered the building without showing an ID “plenty of times,” prompting the entire panel to push back on the former Trump spokesman.

Watch the video below, via CNN: