Anderson Cooper berates Florida AG Pam Bondi over Orlando
By Nick Gass 06/14/16 02:52 PM EDT
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/anderson-cooper-pam-bondi-orlando-224325?platform=hootsuiteFlorida Attorney General Pam Bondi went on CNN Tuesday afternoon, ostensibly to talk about the response and recovery to the deadliest shooting on American soil two days earlier. Instead, she walked into an Anderson Cooper-sized buzzsaw.
"I saw you the other day saying that anyone who attacks the LGBT community, our LGBT community, you said will be gone after to the full extent of the law," Cooper said, after a brief opening exchange about how people should beware of scam charities seeking to profit from the massacre.
"That's exactly right," the Republican attorney general responded.
Cooper, who publicly announced that he was gay in 2012, then said that he had spoken with a number of "gay and lesbian people" in Orlando "who are not fans of yours and said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought – you’ve basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality for trying to do harm to the people of Florida. To induce public harm, I believe was the term you used in court. Do you really think you're a champion of the gay community?"
"Let me tell you. When I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on the Bible and sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida. That's not a law. That was voted into our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That's what I was defending. Had nothing to do — I've never said I don't like gay people," Bondi said. "That’s ridiculous."
Cooper then pressed, noting that Bondi had in 2014 argued in court that recognizing same-sex marriage would "impose significant public harm."
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