"Based On A Lie" - Anderson Cooper On Major News Orgs Declining To Sign On To New Pentagon Rules

Welcome back, everybody.

Get up for Lewis Cato and the Late Show Band.

The Band.

Yes, indeed. You know, thanks, folks.

Please have a seat.

You know, this is our first week back after a week off last week. And I went way away from the United States. And to get there, I had a real problem with my flight and nobody could get me to my flight. Yeah. Because I'm at JFK and there's no information desk at JFK.

Oh yeah.

They said, go to the information desk and there's nobody there.

Yeah.

LaGuardia has been remodeled, Newark's been remodeled. JFK is presently in worse shape than JFK. Accurate. And there was no... Accurate. You know what I'm saying? And so, anyway, so these two wonderful women at American Airlines, it wasn't the airline I was flying with, they just made sure I got on that flight and I wanted to give them a shout out, never done this before, but it was Teresa Butler-James and Ayante Lander

at American Airlines.

Thank you.

Thank you to these wonderful women. And to American Airlines for employing such wonderful people. Folks, my first guest tonight is the anchor of Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, and host of the podcast, All There Is.

Please welcome back to The over here. Thank you.

Because I know you've got a gig tonight, right? You've got a show tonight? I do. You've got a show tonight? Okay, good. Good to see you.

The people, they love the Anderson Cooper. They're always excited when Anderson Cooper is here. They're all hopped up.

They're always excited. Right? You got a show tonight? I do. You got a show tonight? Okay, good. Good to see you.

Yeah.

The people, they love the Anderson Cooper.

Always excited about Anderson Cooper this year. You get them all hopped up.

Yeah, well, yeah. I'm your opening act. Interesting day to be a member of the press. Yesterday, as I was saying in the monologue, yesterday was the deadline for news outlets to agree to new restrictions on journalists

at the Department of Defense.

Just for the record, did CNN go along with this? By the way, I think it's the Department of War. It's actually the Department of War is like the sub-name. It's still called the Department of Defense because it can't be changed without an act of Congress. And so they just, it's nickname is Department of War.

It's a cute pet name they have for weaponry. So no, of course CNN is not going along with it, nor is Fox News, Pete Hegseth's former employer. Which is lovely, yeah. Why didn't CNN go along? Why, I mean, I know it might be an obvious question,

but why is this a dumb idea? First of all, what Secretary Heiggs has said is just a lie. He painted this portrait of sort of reporters randomly roaming through the halls of the Pentagon without credentials, bursting into classified meetings and like forcing their way onto, you know, SEAL Team Six helicopters for, you know.

You know, the idea that that is, that reporters are just wandering around and trying to find state secrets by busting in and interrupting things. Reporters at the Pentagon who work there, who worked there for many years, they have badges,

they know the rules, no one goes into classified areas. I mean, just the portrayal of it is based on a lie. And look, we've heard far too many lies and it's really disappointing. It's know, look, we've heard far too many lies, and it's really disappointing. It's really... Look, it's important for... Whatever you think of reporters,

it is important that you have people asking questions and you have people...

Uh... You know, I think...

There are many forms of patriotism, and telling the truth is one of them.

And I love it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So, uh. So how does the press approach, like, reporting classified material? I mean, look, there are reporters, you know, who are deeply sourced at the Pentagon and in the Department of Defense and they know they're not reporting you know sources and methods of covert operatives. They're

not giving the launch codes. They're not giving the launch codes. Yeah they are you know they want good things for the United States. They want good things for America too. As I said, reporters are patriotic too. But the government doesn't always tell the truth. There's a long history with the Department of Defense during Vietnam War of, you know,

making up a body count of North Vietnamese killed. And, you know, it was journalists who reveal that the body count was not what we were being told. And Walter Cronkite going to Vietnam, seeing things for himself, reporting what he saw. The American people deserve to know things.

And if you think you want government officials, Democrats, Republicans, whoever it is in power, if you think you want the people in power, like spoon feeding you the information and you're not getting any other sorts of information, I think that's an incredibly dangerous thing.

It's also kind of a...

-... ... ... ...

... ... ... ... ... Also kind of, it's also kind of a dumb thing because it's, all you have to do is turn your badge is you can't go in the Pentagon, right?

You can still just talk to these guys at a Starbucks. Right, yes, there will not be an office in the Pentagon, but you can still contact, I mean, there's, you know, the reporters who've been working at the Pentagon for years are deeply sourced and people want, you know, there are people in the Department of Defense who want to talk to reporters for a variety of reasons.

So it's, yeah, it's a very unfortunate development.

We have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more Anderson Cooper, everybody. Stick around. Stick around.

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