Jake Tapper Caught in Awkward Hot-Mic Moment as Anderson Cooper Plays It Off

Tap(per), tap(per)… is this thing on? CNN anchor Jake Tapper got snippy with someone offscreen in a hot-mic moment viewers witnessed on air on Friday, August 15.

The awkward moment came during Tapper’s program The Lead as the anchor reported live from Anchorage, Alaska, as part of CNN’s ongoing coverage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In the CNN studio, Tapper’s colleague Anderson Cooper paused a conversation with John King to check in with Tapper. “Let’s go back to Jake in Anchorage. Jake?” Cooper said, as seen in an online clip.

Cut to: Tapper looking miffed as he spoke to someone offscreen, presumably a producer in the control room. “I’m fine,” he said, testily. “Just give me my show back.”

Cooper, watching the hot-mic moment unfold, smiled and said, “Your show’s back,” as someone in the studio laughed.

A miffed Jake Tapper goes over a hot mic. The way Anderson says “show’s back” is just 😘 pic.twitter.com/YJ4Jggz1n8

— Dylan McLemore (@voiceofD) August 16, 2025

Tapper, by then aware he was on live TV, stammered as he tried to segue into an interview with U.S. Senator Adam Schiff. “All right, here we go,” he said. “So, uh, let’s go now to, uh, Senator Schiff, uh, who I, we have here. Senator Schiff is joining me, uh, ready, uh, to go, and, uh, Senator, the Democratic senator from California.”

It’s possible Tapper was frustrated with the satellite reception he was getting (or, more accurately, not getting) in Alaska. During his interview with Schiff, the two men apparently lost touch. “Jake, I think I lost you — I think I lost the connection,” the senator said.

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“We’re having real comms problems today,” Tapper said. “I’m sorry about that. If anybody can hear me, let’s go throw it back to New York.”

Tapper, who’s also CNN’s chief Washington correspondent, isn’t the first anchor from the network to suffer a hot-mic moment — and relatively speaking, his wasn’t that embarrassing.

In 2006, anchor Kyra Phillips didn’t realize her mic was on as she chatted with another woman in a restroom, as the Associated Press reported at the time. And so, as then-President George W. Bush gave a speech marking the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, CNN viewers heard Phillips describe her brother’s wife as a “control freak.” Phillips later made fun of herself and her gaffe on Late Show With David Letterman.

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