‘Don’t Be a Dick’: Anderson Cooper Tells off Republican for Interrupting Him
CNN’s Anderson Cooper lost his patience with former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, telling the Republican, “Don’t be a dick.”
On Tuesday’s AC360, Cooper and his guests discussed Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency,” which has been meddling in several government departments while cutting personnel and freezing congressionally appropriated funds. Several judges have struck down the actions taken by Musk and President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday held a joint press conference in the Oval Office.
“It was surreal,” Sununu said of the presser. “But I gotta tell you, I know what you’re not showing here but Musk gave seven specific examples off the top of his head of where the corruption and fraud were… He was talking about a contractor that had a three-month contract. He was paid for 20 years. He was talking about welfare benefits that were being paid to someone that was technically 150 years old.”
“But we didn’t see any of that. He doesn’t present any actual evidence,” Cooper noted of Musk, who has a prolific history of making false statements.
“He’s standing there in the Oval Office,” Sununu protested. “Do you expect him to come in with 10,000 pages? And I have to be clear. To complain about this administration, about transparency when this president takes open questions on a daily basis, yet Joe Biden didn’t show up for a press conference in six months is insane. These guys are being extremely transparent. They don’t have to sit there and take the questions, but they do. It’s all on the website. It’s all out there.”
Sununu’s comment about DOGE’s website echoed a comment Musk made in the presser. However, the website is simply a homepage that says the name of the department and has no links.
The former governor’s response prompted former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin to jump in:
TOOBIN: It’s not transparency to say things that have no factual background. I mean to say… we’ve found $1 billion or $1 trillion in waste with no specifics, that’s just talk. That’s not transparency.
SUNUNU: It’s 23 days in here, guys, 23 days. You’re talking about 2.3 billion that was saved last year. These guys are saving 2.3 billion a day.
TOOBIN: That’s what they’re saying. But where’s the proof?
SUNUNU: You’re not gonna be satisfied til he shows up with 10,000 pages.
[CROSSTALK]
COOPER: He’s giving very specific things, but he’s not actually giving any evidence of that.
SUNUNU: It’s all going to come because what they also said was, if we have to go to Congress, we’ll go to Congress. We’ll show where it is.
COOPER: But some of the details that have come out like the $59 million spent on luxury hotels. It’s actually not–
SUNUNU: You’re talking about the FEMA money that was abused for migrants. That was FEMA money for migrants. That’s ok now?
COOPER: No, I’m not saying it’s ok. Don’t put words in my mouth.
SUNUNU: So, would you stop that? Would you stop that process?
COOPER: Don’t be a dick. What I’m saying is the portrayal by him is just not factually accurate. He’s talking about luxury hotels–
[CROSSTALK]
CNN’s Alyssa Farah Griffin interjected to offer her two cents and the segment moved on. At the end of the block, Cooper apologized to Sununu.
“Before we go, I wanna apologize,” the host said. “I was mean, I was rude to you.”
Sununu seemed surprised.
“Are you kidding?” he said. “I grew up with seven brothers and sisters, and I’m a Sununu.”
“I don’t know why I said that,” Cooper said.
“It’s post-eight o’clock. Have some fun on CNN,” Sununu replied.
“I don’t wanna do that,” Cooper responded before going to break.
Watch above via CNN.
