So how difficult is it to be on CNN
reporting the news when Washington is so confusing?
I mean, it's just--
what do you do?
It's frustrating.
I mean, you know, Washington is often confusing,
and administrations often shade the truth,
don't tell the truth.
But this is certainly, you know, there's really an assault,
a war on the truth going on.
And we're in a time now with this pandemic where the truth
matters more than ever.
I mean, it's literally life or death
whether you get correct information about how
to stay safe, whether you get misinformation
about what can help you and what can't hurt you.
I've never been more proud to be a reporter at a time like this.
It's difficult. It's incredibly challenging.
You have administration which is--
you know, and I'm not saying this from a political vantage
point--
but they certainly give out tremendous misinformation
and misdirection and shade the truth and lie about things.
And that's a real difficulty as a reporter.
Yeah, and that's exactly what the problem is.
And when you have reporters asking questions and being
basically attacked for asking a normal question,
a legitimate question, and yet it's hard.
Because when a reporter asks the question,
I'm anxious for that answer.
And I never really get that answer.
And there's all this misdirection now of testing,
like saying, we don't really all need testing.
It's like, no, we do need testing.
And I mean, more than ever, we need
testing because now everybody is wanting to open up again.
And I watched your interview with the mayor of Las Vegas.
I was watching when it happened, and I just
thought you were fantastic.
And that went viral.
I mean, that was that was a very popular interview.
Yeah, I mean, I was--
Look, you were just--
I was surprised.
I mean obviously, for mayor who's
calling for the reopening of casinos and convention centers
and getting tourists in, she was remarkably ill informed,
and seemed to be proud of that, and not believing
that part of her role as mayor, if she's calling for that,
would be to at least have some ideas about how that can be
done safely, or what she could do to improve testing, or get
greater access to testing.
She didn't seem to think that was any of her responsibility,
though she was calling for very low-paid people
to go and work in dangerous settings,
that she herself wasn't even willing to go and sit
on a nightly basis.
Right.
Yeah, that was frustrating.
Well, [INAUDIBLE] because she doesn't gamble anymore.
She's too busy.
That's why she's not going, she said.
Hey, let's talk about you being on Who
Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Jimmy said that you--
Jimmy Kimmel's version, I really like it a lot.
I'm enjoying it.
He said you were not so good at pop culture, which--
I know
--didn't surprise me, really.
Yes.
I've gotten worse on pop culture.
You know, I was an early Housewives fan.
I think you and I discussed this when
I was on the show one time.
And I think I can take a little credit I think for introducing
you to kind of the Housewives.
I don't know that you were watching at the time.
I don't know if you watch now.
But anyway, Yes, I--
Do you want to use that phrase, "take credit,"
like it's a proud thing?
Is that--
(LAUGHING) You're right.
That's probably not the best phrase.
But yes, you did introduce me to it.
So go ahead.
I was a gateway to it.
But, yeah, I have fallen off the wagon.
So yes, there were a couple of questions.
Thankfully, Andy was my backup person,
because I knew he would know pop culture.
And I knew I wouldn't.
So he saved me.
I mean, I don't think I can say how far I got.
But I wouldn't have gotten to wherever
I got because I would not have made it past,
like, the dummy questions.
Because one of the earliest questions
was a basic pop culture question and I totally had no idea.
Yeah, well they're all over the place, the questions.
That's what I like about it, because some are pop culture.
So you kind of have to know a little bit about everything.
Anderson, I love talking to you.
I have missed talking to you.
I'm happy for you.
Thank you.
You look like you're just beaming,
and that's what you deserve.
So you can catch Anderson every night on AC 360 at 8:00 on CNN.
Anderson Cooper.
Thank you, Ellen.
Bye.