CNN Cuts Live Coverage After Hecklers Hijack the Broadcast Screaming the One Word Trump Can’t Escape — Then the Network Reads a Disclaimer
Hecklers hijacked a CNN live report, screaming through a megaphone as the reporter tried to discuss the botched renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, but the shouting was so loud and distracting that host Anderson Cooper stopped her to clarify what was happening, and the network aired a disclaimer.
The disruption occurred Thursday night, June 25, on “Anderson Cooper 360,” according to Mediate, as journalist Sunlen Serfaty was trying to give an update on the Reflecting Pool and a company that had first turned down a Trump administration request to make the repairs before it awarded a no-bid federal contract to President Donald Trump’s so-called “pool guys.”
“So what did you learn about this other company?” Anderson asked Serfaty as a protester screamed “pedophile” in the background.
Then another yelled, “The president is a pedophile,” blasting it out loudly over a megaphone.
Serfaty tried to continue, “This is a New Jersey-based company,” but she was interrupted again.
“The President is a pedophile,” a protester screamed.
Serfaty, ignoring the screaming hecklers, continued, “And they were part of these renovations many years ago during the Obama administration, and they were actually contacted by the Trump administration to have part and take part in this renovation now.“
The protesters kept screaming “the president is a pedophile” so loudly Cooper was forced to stop Serfaty and asked her what was happening there.
“There is a bit of a protest, a small protest. Some people wearing algae shirts out here, Team Algae shirts and other shirts,” Serfaty explained.
“They seem to be airing grievances writ large against the Trump administration. Certainly, the Reflecting Pool among some of the top concerns here, but they have a whole bunch of concerns from the Trump administration as well as the Epstein files,” she added.
Serfaty did finish her report, but Cooper was forced to issue a disclaimer over Trump and his ties to the Epstein files.
“Just as a footnote to the protests there, the president obviously has denied wrongdoing in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case,” Cooper said.
The Epstein files have been an albatross around Trump’s neck almost since the beginning of his second term in office after campaigning for years and vowing to release all the files if re-elected.
Once back in office, he and his cronies have actively worked to hide the files and redact the names of abusers in the files. Trump’s name appears in the files thousands of times. Best friends with Epstein for more than 20 years, the president has repeatedly denied involvement in the disgraced financier’s criminal underage sex trafficking ring.
But the scandal has been following him around.
Earlier this week during a campaign rally at a truck manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, security escorted a protester from the event after he yelled “pedophile” at Trump and raised his two middle fingers at the president. It’s unclear if Trump heard the shouts.
And back in January, a worker at a Ford plant in Michigan yelled “pedophile protector” while Trump was touring the facility.
Video from the incident appears to show the president mouth “f-ck you” back at the worker and flip him off.
The worker, later identified as TJ Sabula, was suspended but ultimately reinstated without any pay loss.