A former Republican congressman fired back at Anderson Cooper on Monday night after the CNN anchor slammed former President Donald Trump for spreading voter fraud claims — arguing the left-leaning network has promoted false claims itself.
Former Rep. Scott Taylor (R-Va.) argued that millions of Americans have “issues” with allegations of voter fraud via mail-in ballots during the 2020 election and are worried about the results in November.
“They want to have a safe and secure election, just like anyone, and the former president is highlighting that,” Taylor said.
“Every time you start your argument with, ‘There are people who believe this,’ it weakens your argument. I mean, that’s like classic high school debate stuff,” Cooper argued.
“Anderson, with all due respect, with all due respect, then that would be the same with the Steele dossier, Hunter Biden’s laptop, lab leak theory dismissal, Jussie Smollett and so on and so on,” Taylor shot back.
“On this network, be honest, I mean you guys didn’t have the facts correct there, right? And people believe those things. With all due respect.”
CNN has faced criticism for suppressing The Post’s front-page Hunter Biden laptop scandal story.
CNN had reported the FBI was investigating claims that the laptop scandal was Russian disinformation efforts against former Vice President Joe Biden.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) — who served on the Jan. 6 select committee and voted to impeach Trump — argued that CNN’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop and other issues was “completely different” because it was not an attempt “to overthrow an election.”
“Oh really, Adam? This ‘Russia, Russia’ and Hunter Biden laptop wasn’t an attempt to interfere with the election?” Taylor said. “Of course it was, you know that.”
The argument revolved around a Truth Social post by Trump on Sunday.
“An interview by Tucker Carlson of an election expert indicates that 20% of the Mail-In Ballots in Pennsylvania are fraudulent,” Trump wrote. “We will WIN Pennsylvania by a lot, unless the Dems are allowed to CHEAT.”
Cooper said Trump was “lying” since there is “no evidence” of voter fraud.
“Look, as I said before, there are tons of irregularities in the 2020 election that never happened before, right? There are people that have problems with it –,” Taylor said.
Cooper cut the former congressman off and asked for specific irregularities.
“Sure, suspension of state laws that didn’t happen before COVID, drop boxes that are unsecure,” Taylor said. “There’s tons of things out there that changed in 2020 that are still there now.”
Taylor said he ran for re-election in 2020 and lost, but there are many other people “who had issues with the way 2020 was handled.”
“There’s people around the dinner table who think the Earth is flat,” Cooper said. “It doesn’t make it real.”
“What I just mentioned to you, those are facts,” Taylor replied.