CNN anchor Jake Tapper referred to the Washington, D.C., pipe bomb suspect as a "White man" last 4 December during his coverage of the breaking news, shortly before airing the man's picture that showed he was Black.
Brian Cole Jr. of Woodbridge, Virginia, was arrested nearly five years after he allegedly placed pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the 6 January 2021, riot on Capitol Hill.
Tapper kicked off the show's installment of "The Lead" by addressing the arrest.
"After nearly five years of investigation, the FBI finally announced that they had arrested a suspect, a suspect accused of planting pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack," Tapper told viewers.
"Brian Cole Jr., a 30-year-old White man from the D.C. suburbs, is charged with transporting an explosive device in interstate commerce and with malicious destruction by means of explosion."
As Todd was speaking to Tapper, "The Lead" aired photos of Cole, showing viewers he wasn't actually White, but Black as night. It was the first CNN program to show the photo.
Tapper later issued a correction and apology for the error, but not before he was skewered brutally online for that obvious deflection just to put the blame on a White man.
"Funny they sure do make that mistake a lot," one Reddit user posted.
"Gaslighting at its worst. Try harder, cnn, " another user responded to the first post.
"The never ending hierarchy of victim hood of our lying leftist media. Slant and distort the best you can," added another.