CNN host Anderson Cooper had to issue a disclaimer after his live reporter remote was disrupted by a Reflecting Pool protester screaming that “THE PRESIDENT IS A PEDOPHILE!” — in reference to President Donald Trump and the Epstein Files — who was also holding a sign that read “No Rapist Will EVER Tell Me What To Do.”

On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper was interviewing correspondent Sunlen Serfaty about her team’s exclusive scoop that Trump’s Reflecting Pool project was shot down by an experienced company before he awarded the job to his own former pool guys.

But the shot was immediately hijacked by the heckling “Team Algae” protesters, who persisted throughout the three-minute report, forcing Cooper to note that “the president obviously has denied wrongdoing in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case”:

ANDERSON COOPER: You know, Sunlen Serfati is there now. So what did you learn about this other company?

PROTESTER: –a pedophile!

CNN CORRESPONDENT SUNLEN SERFATY: Yeah, interesting.

PROTESTER: THE PRESIDENT IS A PEDOPHILE!

CNN CORRESPONDENT SUNLEN SERFATY: This is a New Jersey-based company called Sika–.

PROTESTER: THE PRESIDENT IS A PEDOPHILE!

CNN CORRESPONDENT SUNLEN SERFATY: And they were part of these renovations many years ago during the Obama administration, and they were actually contacted by the Trump administration to have part and take part in this renovation now.

PROTESTER: (INDISTINCT PEDOPHIL-THEMED MEGAPHONE HECKLING).

CNN CORRESPONDENT SUNLEN SERFATY: And two employees who spoke with us in a condition that we would not reveal their identities of that company said that the company considered it, they looked at the proposal, but they ultimately decided against it, against being involved this time around for two specific reasons. One, as you said, the demands of the Trump administration that this project was…

ANDERSON COOPER: Hey Sunlen, sorry, I gotta ask you about, hey Sunlen, I just gotta ask what’s going on down there, because obviously someone’s got a megaphone.

CNN CORRESPONDENT SUNLEN SERFATY: Yeah, I’m glad you asked. I’m sorry for the for the audio, but I do want to explain what’s going on over here. And my photojournalist, Manny, can move the camera over. There is a bit of a protest, a small protest. Some people wearing algae shirts out here, Team Algae shirts and other shirts. We’ve been watching him for about 20 minutes now.

They seem to be airing grievances writ large against the Trump administration. Certainly the Reflecting Pool among some of the top concerns here, but they have a whole bunch of concerns from the Trump administration as well as the Epstein files.

There have been many tourists here that have gotten into minor squirmishes with them. Two young adults came by just a few minutes ago waving U.S. Flags, chanting USA, USA.

Really speaks to how this Reflecting Pool, Anderson, has become the epicenter of a lot of the political grievances about President Trump.

Also, the epicenter of people, you know, worried about the direction of the country and certainly has become a flashpoint here.

Many tourists I talked to said they came down to the reflecting pool because — for the first time because of all the controversy this iconic landmark has created in the last few months. But back on your questions about this company in New Jersey who turned down the opportunity to again work on this reflecting pool, they turned it down because of the July 4th deadline that the Trump administration wanted this to be completed by.

They also turned it down specifically because the request was to paint the bottom of the pool blue. Two employees that we spoke to said that those demands were unfeasible, and that’s why they decided to sit this out and should be noted that this is a company with institutional knowledge about this reflecting pool and the renovations. So that’s just one more layer here into the criticism that’s stacking up against this project.

And today we saw many Hill Democrats in the House Oversight Committee start to request many documents and information from the contractors who were solicited to get involved and ultimately accepted the contracts to get involved with this next round of renovations. Anderson?

ANDERSON COOPER: Alright, Sunlen, thanks very much, appreciate it.

Just as a footnote to the protests there, the president obviously has denied wrongdoing in connection with the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.

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