CNN on Wednesday released a statement saying that primetime host Anderson Cooper’s tweet calling President Donald Trump a "pathetic loser" was sent by someone who obtained his assistant’s phone.
CNN issued a statement alleging that Cooper’s assistant left his phone unattended at the gym, and the perpetrator then tweeted from Cooper’s account and returned the phone. The network explained the situation by tracking the tweet’s location to New York while Cooper was in Washington, D.C.
"Geolocation tools confirm that the tweet in question was not sent from Anderson Cooper’s phone," CNN’s statement said. "Anderson was in Washington, and we have proof the tweet was sent from New York, from a phone belonging to his assistant."
"His assistant inadvertently left his phone unlocked and unattended at the gym early this morning, and someone took the phone and sent the tweet," the statement added. "His assistant, who has worked with Anderson for more than a decade, is the only other person with access to Anderson’s Twitter account."
The tweet was a reply to Trump's tweet distancing himself from Republican Roy Moore after the candidate lost his Senate race in Alabama. Trump said he expected Moore to lose and that’s why he endorsed Sen. Luther Strange during the primary to win the runoff election, but he lost the GOP primary to Moore.
"The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!" Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/940904649728708609
In reply, Cooper’s account tweeted, "Oh Really? You endorsed him you tool! Pathetic loser."
Cooper deleted the tweet a little later and said he was looking into what happened.
just woke up to find out someone gained access to my twitter account. i have not sent a tweet in days or replied to any tweets. We are looking into how this happened.
— Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) December 13, 2017