CNN’s Cooper Pushes Back on Excusing Sinema Bathroom Confrontation: Would Reaction Be Same if Trump Supporters Did That to Pelosi?

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” host Anderson Cooper pushed back against attempts to excuse protesters following Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) into a bathroom by asking if the reaction would be the same if Trump supporters were “following some Democrat into a bathroom while they were going to the bathroom, following Speaker Pelosi into a women’s room?”

CNN Political Commentator Ana Navarro said the fact that the protesters went into the bathroom is “upsetting. But if you hear what these protesters were saying, if you hear what these — and they’re not just protesters, they’re constituents of Kyrsten Sinema, they are people who supported Kyrsten Sinema, they are people who knocked on doors for Kyrsten Sinema who feel betrayed and who are telling their senator their story, and why this bill is important to them.”

Cooper then cut in to say that the protest wasn’t actually about convincing Sinema, but was really about “theater” by the activists.

Navarro responded that the protest was “about making it known their displeasure with their senator. And let’s remember that this senator was — Kyrsten Sinema, was once a protester herself.” Navarro continued that she doesn’t like the protesters’ behavior, “but what these young people did, that wasn’t threats. That wasn’t shouting. That wasn’t bad words. That wasn’t offensives. It’s much worse, what we saw being done to Lindsey Graham or when Mitt Romney got called a traitor.”

Later, after referencing the White House’s response to the incident, Cooper said, “Ana, would you feel the same way if these were, pro — supporters of the — who felt very passionately that the election had been stolen against the former president and were following some Democrat into a bathroom while they were going to the bathroom, following Speaker Pelosi into a women’s room? I mean, would that — is it fair for anybody just because they’re passionate about something to be able to do this?”

Navarro answered that the protesters’ behavior was “inappropriate. But when you put it in context with what we have seen, there [were] no threats. There [were] no offenses. There was no screaming. Anderson, I’ve had worse said to me.”

Cooper cut in to argue that following someone into a bathroom is “creepy,” which Navarro agreed with.

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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