CNN anchor Jake Tapper came under fire Thursday after mistakenly referring to accused D.C. pipe-bomb suspect Brian Cole Jr. as a 'white man.’
Tapper made the cringeworthy slip-up during his opening segment on "The Lead" while discussing the arrest of Cole, who is Black.
His "white man" remark came at 5:01 p.m. — just as CNN became the first outlet to publish a photo of Cole, pulled from his mother’s Instagram account.
CNN’s Jake Tapper sparked backlash Thursday after mistakenly calling Brian Cole Jr. a ‘white man’ on air. CNN
Cole’s father, who is also Black, previously hired attorney Ben Crump — best known for taking on major racial discrimination cases.
"You can’t make this stuff up," conservative commentator Benny Johnson wrote on X.
"Jake is sharp as a tack. Nothing gets past him. Dude’s elite!" another wrote, dripping with sarcasm.
“Its impossible that he does not know what he is doing,” one user speculated.
Conservative influencer Nick Sorter slammed CNN, accusing the network of pushing "anti-white rhetoric."
Cole Jr. is accused of planting pipe bombs in the lead-up to the January 6 riot. FFBI
But some viewers were more sympathetic.
“Not a fan of Jake, but the guys name is Brian – that may be a top 3 white name. So understandable mistake,” one user joked.
“Clearly he never looked at the graphics. Probably just read a script,” another suggested.
Cole was taken into custody early Thursday morning at his home in Woodbridge, Virginia.
A pipe bomb was discovered outside the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C., on January 6. AP
The 30-year-old faces charges for using an explosive device and attempting malicious destruction with explosive materials.
Authorities say Cole is the mysterious figure who planted pipe bombs at both the Republican and Democratic National Committees in Washington, D.C., on January 5, 2021 — the night before Congress certified the 2020 election results.
The investigation went largely nowhere for five years, with U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel claiming that crucial evidence was "collecting dust" while the suspect remained at large.
The Trump administration seized on the investigation, quickly renewing the $500,000 reward for information leading to an arrest — though the payout went unclaimed, as federal authorities did most of the work.
Authorities believe Cole may have started building the crude bombs, housed in 8-inch galvanized pipes, as early as 2019.
Authorities say he shopped at major hardware stores and big-box retailers like Walmart to gather the materials needed to build the bombs.
According to a criminal complaint, Cole kept buying bomb-making materials even after allegedly planting two devices in the nation’s capital.
