CNN’s Jake Tapper Identifies Pipe Bomb Suspect as ‘White Man’ Before Airing Photo Showing Otherwise

CNN host Jake Tapper identified Washington, D.C. pipe bomb suspect Brian Cole as a “30-year-old white man” on Thursday, just minutes before airing photos that showed that was clearly not the case.

“Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old white man from the D.C. suburbs, is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosion,” reported Tapper on his show The Lead.

Just a few minutes later, however, Tapper aired photos of the suspect, showing that he was clearly black, not white.

The FBI took Cole into custody on Thursday morning, years after a masked figure was caught on surveillance footage placing bombs at the DNC and RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C. on January 5, 2021.

Nearly five years after the incident, Cole was named as the suspect after the FBI placed him near the scene of the crime by trawling through license plate readers and cell tower data.

“Today’s arrest was the result of good, diligent police work and collaboration on a case that languished for four years under the prior administration,” said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement. “The American people are safer thanks to this morning’s successful operation.”

CNN made a similar error regarding the race of a shooting suspect in July, with CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller reporting on-air that the suspect was “male, possibly white” – a claim repeated by CNN host Erin Burnett.

During CNN’s report, a surveillance image of the suspect was already circulating on social media, showing that he was clearly not white.

An hour later, the suspect was named as 27-year-old Shane Tamura.

Watch above via CNN.