Anderson Cooper gives bizarre explanation for 'hacked' anti-Trump tweet

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper tried to explain away a tweet that was posted on his account after the surprising victory of Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate election Tuesday, but many are not buying his excuse.

What did the tweet say?

While the tweet was deleted, screenshots are being reposted on social media.

The deleted tweet read "Oh Really? You endorsed him you tool! Pathetic loser."

The tweet responded to one from President Donald Trump about the election for Alabama's U.S. Senate seat.

"The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right!" he said. "Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!"

What was the official reason the tweet was posted?

Cooper tweeted about it Wednesday, explaining, "just woke up to find out someone gained access to my twitter account. [I] have not sent a tweet in days or replied to any tweets."

"We are looking into how this happened," he added.

CNN later released a statement saying that the tweet was made by someone who stole the phone of an assistant to Cooper.

"Geolocation tools confirm that the tweet in question was not sent from Anderson Cooper’s phone. Anderson was in Washington, and we have proof the tweet was sent from New York, from a phone belonging to his assistant," the statement read.

"His assistant inadvertently left his phone unlocked and unattended at the gym early this morning, and someone took the phone and sent the tweet," it continued. "His assistant, who has worked with Anderson for more than a decade, is the only other person with access to Anderson's Twitter account."

What was the reaction?

Not everyone bought the bizarre explanation for the tweet.

Charles C.W. Cooke from National Review asked, "Not to sound like Alex Jones, but why would someone temporarily steal a phone owned by Anderson Cooper’s assistant, who was in a gym in a different city than Anderson Cooper? And how would that person know it was logged in to that Twitter account?"

Sonny Bunch of the Free Beacon, among others, mocked the explanation.