Anderson Cooper defends CNN reporting, calls out Trump team for ‘absolutely not telling the truth’

President-elect Donald Trump and his transition team have not contacted CNN after calling their reporting “fake news,” despite new evidence supporting the accuracy of their findings, Anderson Cooper revealed Friday.

“Everything that the Trump transition team was saying about CNN’s reporting — we were correct, they were absolutely not telling the truth. They were not being honest,” Cooper said to Andy Cohen on Radio Andy (Ch. 102).

“When the intelligence chiefs decided to brief the president of the United States and Donald Trump about the existence of the document, we felt that’s a legitimate news story,” Cooper added, supporting the decision for the outlet to release a report Tuesday on the subject matter of that intelligence briefing.

In the days following the report’s release, members of the intelligence community and even the vice president have corroborated the CNN’s story.

“Not only did Joe Biden corroborate it, James Clapper, the director of National Intelligence, also corroborated it publicly saying that information was briefed,” Cooper explained. “And CNN has learned based on multiple sources, that in fact, it wasn’t just included in the documents presented to Trump, that James Comey, the director of the FBI, actually verbally talked to Donald Trump about it.”

President-elect Trump fielded questions on the subject at during Wednesday’s press conference. And after attacking the reporting, Trump refused to answer CNN’s Jim Acosta’s question saying, “you are fake news.”

As a spectator, Cohen said he felt “very frustrated” watching Trump’s press conference because of his “fake news, fake news,” tactic.

While CNN has defended its own reporting, Cooper, along with others including Jake Tapper, have made a point to separate their outlet from BuzzFeed and their decision to print a “35 page document full of unsubstantiated allegations.”

“I don’t think what BuzzFeed did is correct. I don’t think it’s right to dump unverified information out there and just kind of throw up your hands and say ‘make of it what you will.’ I mean, nobody knows if that stuff is true.”

Andy Cohen Live airs Mondays at 10 a.m. ET on Radio Andy (Ch. 102)

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