On Tuesday, CNN’s Anderson Cooper grilled Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) over how she squares her solidly anti-LGBT record with her attempts to present herself as a fierce defender of the LGBT community in the aftermath of the mass shooting at an Orlando gay bar that left 49 people dead. On Wednesday and Thursday, Bondi took to conservative media outlets to scold Cooper for “mocking” her.
In the initial interview, Cooper said Bondi’s rhetoric in the wake of the tragedy carried “a sick irony,” given that she and her office had vigorously fought to defend Florida’s same-sex marriage amendment — even after five federal and state judges had determined the ban to be unconstitutional. Her official court brief claimed that recognizing other state’s same-sex marriages would “impose significant public harm” on Florida. Had she prevailed, same-sex spouses would not have had rights to make decisions about their lost and injured loved ones.
Asked whether she had ever spoken out for LGBT rights prior to the shootings, Bondi claimed that she had just recently put an image of rainbow hands on her website (an apparent reference to a non-public image on her personal Facebook page).
On Wednesday, Bondi appeared on a friend’s talk radio show and blasted Cooper for ambushing her with questions about her record. “The interview was supposed to be about helping people’s families, not creating more anger and havoc and hatred,” she said. “Yesterday was about unity, about bringing people together, about helping people.” Bondi noted that she has received many angry emails and said all the interview did “was encourage anger and hate — and families who we’re trying to help to probably not trust my office and the 14 advocates we’ve brought in.” She also claimed that she thought the interview was only going to be about her efforts to protect people trying to help Orlando victims from potential scams.
Cooper responded on his show on Wednesday, defending his interview. “It’s my job to hold people accountable. If, on Sunday, a politician was talking love and embracing quote ‘our LGBT community,’ I don’t think it is unfair to look at their record and see if they have actually ever spoken that way publicly before, which I never heard her say.”
He also noted that Bondi’s office had not even included potential charity scams on the list of topics she could discuss. “Let’s be real here. Ms. Bondi’s big complaint seems to be that I asked in the first place, in the wake of a massacre that targeted gay and lesbian citizens, about her new statements about the gay community and about her old ones.”
On Thursday morning, Bondi repeated her attacks on Cooper in a Fox News interview. She conceded that Cooper “did not know in advance” that she wanted to talk about scams, but objected to the fact that he “just flipped on me.” “There’s a time and place for everything. If he wants to ask me about doing my job, defending the constitution. But to incite anger and hatred — was not the time not the place in front of a hospital.”
Shown Cooper’s response, Bondi observed, “the interview is what it is.” She suggested that everyone should “just focus on unity and love,” adding that Cooper “basically mocked me for saying that.”