Anderson Cooper Grills Florida Attorney General Over Anti-LGBT History

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper grills Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi about her role in the fight against the LGBT community.

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While the Orlando shooting, which left 49 dead and 53 more wounded, has been labeled a "domestic terror incident" by Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, many have criticized conservatives for erasing the fact that this was a targeted attack on gay people. One journalist even walked out of an interview with such an erasure. And on Wednesday, Anderson Cooper went in on Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi for her alleged faux support of the LGBT community in the wake of the shooting.

"I saw you saying the other day saying that anyone who attacks the LGBT community will be gone after to the full extent of the law," Cooper said. To which Bondi responded, "That’s exactly right."

Cooper then mentioned that he spoke with a lot of people who thought she was a hypocrite because she spent years in court arguing that "gay people, simply by fighting for marriage equality, were trying to do harm to the people of Florida" before hitting her with one very direct question: "Do you really think that you’re a champion of the gay community?"

"When I was sworn in as Attorney General, I put my hand on the Bible and was sworn to uphold the constitution of the State of Florida," Bondi said. "That’s not a law,  that was voted into our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That’s what I was defending. I’ve never said I don’t like gay people."

The CNN anchor then pointed out the "sick irony" that deeming gay marriage unconstitutional meant that the boyfriends and girlfriends of the Orlando shooting victims probably wouldn’t be able to get information about their loved ones or even visit them in the hospital. Bondi again tried to skirt around the issue, telling Cooper that officials are working with unmarried partners to help them gain information.

Perhaps the biggest verbal smackdown came when Cooper told Bondi that he’s never really seen her talk about LGBT people in a positive light until now. "I read your Twitter history for the last year," Cooper said, pulling out the receipts. "I saw you tweeting about National Dog Month and National Sheltered Dog Appreciation Day. It is Gay Pride Month, and you’ve never even tweeted about Gay Pride Month."

Bondi quickly answered back, claiming her website now features a picture of rainbow colored hands clasped together. However, there appears to be no evidence of this.

Pam Bondi says her website has 'rainbow-hands people' in re: Orlando shooting. But it doesnt https://t.co/vztc0SARW5 pic.twitter.com/VtPICco03I

Check out the full, shady exchange above. 

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