CNN’s Anderson Cooper expressed regret over the weekend for controversial remarks he made about President Donald Trump last week, explaining to viewers that he made the comments “in the moment.”
On Thursday, the news anchor lambasted Trump for his erratic and dishonest press conference as election results rolled in. As former Vice President Joe Biden looked increasingly likely to win the election, Trump falsely claimed he would win “if you count the legal votes” and baselessly suggested many votes were illegal.
“That is the most powerful person in the world, and we see him like an obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over,” Cooper said on air immediately after Trump spoke.
Many people spoke out against Cooper and slammed his comments for being fat-phobic.
During an interview with Cooper on Saturday, former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang invoked the anchor’s description of the president: “I’m happy to say, it seems like Trump is going to be, in your words, an obese turtle on his back, just flailing around, Anderson.”
After Yang concluded his thoughts, Cooper replied: “By the way, I should say I regret using those words, because that’s not the person I really want to be. It was in the moment, and I regret it.”
As of Monday morning, the president has not conceded to Biden. He continues to accuse Biden and the Democratic Party of stealing the election, firing off tweets making baseless accusations of theft and insisting he won the election.