CNN Anchor Leads ‘Trump Is Dead’ Segment by Comically Noting ‘Not True’

CNN anchor Audie Cornish punctuated her intro to the “Trump is Dead” story with the comical aside “not true,” alerting CNN viewers that President Donald Trump did not die without their knowledge.

Speculation on social media built this weekend after veteran journalist Laura Rozen, who routinely shares details of President Trump’s schedule, observed that “Trump has no public events scheduled all weekend” and hadn’t been seen in public since his cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

That empty schedule, combined with heightened attention after Trump was repeatedly photographed with serious bruising on his hand and swollen ankles and an interview snippet from Vice President JD Vance raising the specter of “tragedy” contributed to an explosion of social media speculation.

“Where’s Trump?” and “Trump is Dead” became viral trending topics, and even persisted after Trump was spotted Saturday morning by pool reporters. Users insisted that photos being circulated were of a “crisis actor,” or were AI-generated, or were outdated.

On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Cornish reported on the trend and the president’s non-deceased status before leading her “Group Chat” panel discussion on the trend.

CNN senior reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere told Cornish that the trend was based on “legitimate” questions about Trump’s health:

AUDIE CORNISH: I– there’s one other thing I have to bring up before the end of the show.

In just a few hours President Trump is touting an appearance for what the White House is calling a quote “major announcement” from the Oval Office, and that happens all the time.

But here’s the thing. This is the first public event after a weekend of speculation about Trump’s health.

At one point the term “Trump is dead” was even trending on social media.

Not true

UNIDENTIFIED: I’m definitely going to need to text my boss and let them know like I’m going to need the rest of the day off to process this.

UNIDENTIFIED: That guy looks like my grandpa he’s got this is not him look at his body posture his hands this just does not look like the same trump that was talking crazy

AUDIE CORNISH: The president is insisting he’s fine. Responding to the online chatter with a social media post writing, “Never felt better in my life.”.

Group chat, bringing it to you because you only have to respond when it like reaches your desk, right? And it turns into a thing. Who’s got thoughts? Did anyone weigh in?

MARIA CARDONA: This was, I mean, I weighed in only privately, not publicly. I won’t judge you. Thank you. I said to everyone, you guys know this is not true, right? But the fear with which this grew from one second to another is what sort of made me go, wow, like the internet is on fire today.

AUDIE CORNISH: I wonder if it was the path paved by speculation to Biden that was easily run through the track again of the algorithm.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE: Yeah, that seems to be some of it. It’s also questions that are legitimate about what’s going on with the president’s health. These bruises that are on his hands that they keep saying are because he’s shaking a lot of hands. Trump is a famous germaphobe. He doesn’t shake a lot hands. So unless that’s changed and they want to tell us that, then it does feel like we’re not getting a full explanation of that. That doesn’t mean that there’s anything more seriously wrong with that.

AUDIE CORNISH: But we know the more you raise questions, the more people want answers, which we are seeing in social media.

JONAH GOLDBERG: He’s also a really old guy who’s not in fantastic shape. I mean, he’s in better shape than a lot of people his age, but you’re going to get speculation about the president when he disappears from public view for a while.

AUDIE CORNISH: And is now not in comparison to someone else right now you’re looking at his health independently

MARIA CARDONA: Well, there was comparison from the left, which is like, what about this, right? If this had been Biden, you know, forget it. The right would be…

AUDIE CORNISH: Well, let’s see if it’s… Let’s see if his appearance today puts some of this to rest after all that speculation.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.