Anderson Cooper Blasts Trump For Trashing ‘Broken’ D.C., Invokes Capitol Riot: ‘That Is the City He Left Behind’

CNN’s Anderson Cooper had a terse but poignant response to Donald Trump’s comments about Washington, D.C. shortly after he was arraigned on Thursday.

The former president pleaded not guilty to federal charges in Washington, D.C. related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, which he falsely maintains was stolen from him. In the weeks following, Trump tried to lean on officials in states he lost in an effort to get them to reverse the election results. He urged Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the election results as the presiding officer over that process in Congress. In doing so, Trump hoped Republican-controlled legislatures in states he lost would deem pro-Trump elector slates the legitimate ones.

After his arraignment, Trump gave brief remarks from the tarmac at Reagan National Airport before flying to New Jersey:

Well, thank you very much. This is a sad day for America and it was also very sad driving through Washington, D.C., and seeing the filth and the decay and all of the broken buildings and walls and the graffiti. This is not the place that I left. It’s a very sad thing to see it.

When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So if you can’t beat ’em, you persecute ’em or you prosecute ’em. We can’t let this happen in America. Thank you very much.

Cooper responded by pointing to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack, which was perpetrated by Trump supporters after he riled them up with a speech earlier in the day. He told the crowd to “show strength.” It was the culmination of two months of alleging nonexistent voter fraud that angered his supporters, who believe him.

“We should point out that when the former president left office and left Washington, D.C., the city was on lockdown because of the attack on January 6th,” Cooper said. “That is the city he left behind.”

Trump is also under indictment in federal court in Florida over his retention of government documents after leaving office. He also faces state charges in New York for allegedly falsifying business records.

Watch above via CNN.

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