Anderson Cooper defends interview with Pam Bondi

Anderson Cooper took to the air kast night to defend himself against Pam Bondi after the Florida attorney general said the CNN anchor blindsided her in an interview ‘filled with anger.’

‘Miss Bondi’s big complaint seems to be that I asked, in the wake of massacre that targeted gay and lesbian citizens, about her new statements about the gay community and about her old ones,’ Cooper said.

Bondi complained to WOR’s Len Berman and Todd Schnitt in the Morning that she’s been getting ‘horrible hatred emails and texts now, based on Anderson’s story.’

The openly gay anchor asked Bondi if she thought it was hypocritical to be speaking in support of the LGBTI community in the wake of a mass shooting inside a gay nightclub in Orlando when she had fought so hard against same-sex marriage in her state.

Explains Cooper: ‘It’s my job to hold people accountable. And if on Sunday a politician is talking about love and embracing “Our LGBT community,” I don’t think it’s unfair to look at their record and see if they have actually ever spoken that way publicly before. Which I never heard her say.

‘The fact is Attorney General Bondi signed off on a 2014 federal court brief that claimed married gay people would “impose significant public harm.” Harm. She spent hundreds of thousands in taxpayer money, gay and straight taxpayer money, trying to keep gays and lesbians from getting the right to marry.’

He says ‘there is irony’ to the fact that Bondi is now championing her effort to help the gay community, including attack survivors, with ‘the very right which allows gay spouses to bury their dead and loved ones’ which he points out, is “a right that would not exist if Ms. Bondi had had her way. I think it’s fair to ask her about that.’

Cooper adds: ‘For the record, my interview was not filled with any anger. I was respectful before the interview, I was respectful during the interview and I was respectful after the interview.’