Politics'Come On!': CNN Star Scoffs at Donald Trump's Reason for Why He Posted Himself as Jesus
CNN's Erin Burnett blasted Donald Trump's widely mocked excuse that the photo he posted wasn't of him as Jesus, but as a doctor.
April 15 2026, Updated 7:06 a.m. ET
CNN’s Erin Burnett joined the legions of people who aren’t buying President Donald Trump’s explanation of his now-deleted AI-generated photo appearing to portray him as Jesus Christ.
After blasting Pope Leo XIV as “weak on crime” following a 60 Minutes segment titled "Pope Leo’s Church," which highlighted the unprecedented rift between Trump and the Pontiff, who has criticized Trump's policies on mass deportations and military actions in Iran, Trump posted the now infamous picture blasted by Catholic Church bigwigs and former allies as blasphemous and disturbing.
The 79-year-old POTUS claimed he posted the image because he thought it depicted him as a doctor or a Red Cross worker, stating, "had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker there, which we support." He also blamed "fake news" for the Jesus comparison.
Erin Burnett weighed in on the picture.
During the Monday, April 13, broadcast of her show OutFront, Burnett dismissed Trump’s spin, calling it "one of the most ridiculous things he's said.”
“My first thought is, come on,” Burnett said emphatically. “That’s, I mean, one of the most ridiculous things he’s said. Of course, that’s not true, but that’s a ridiculous thing to say. I don’t know anybody who didn’t look at that and think he just posted himself as Jesus Christ.”
Following a spate of humiliating losses in Hungary and Pakistan, Vice President J.D. Vance came to the president’s defense, calling the post a “joke.”
The picture was later taken down.
“And, of course, he took it down because he recognized that a lot of people weren’t understanding his humor in that case,” Vance said. “I think the president of the United States likes to mix it up on social media. And I actually think that’s one of the good things about this president, is that he’s not filtered.”
Trump told CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell he only removed the post, not because it offended people, but because they were clearly confused by his message.
“I didn't want to have anybody be confused. People were confused,” he told O’Donnell.
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Many weighed in on the photo.
Christian activist Sean Feucht wasn’t confused, firing off at the POTUS, saying, “This should be deleted immediately. There’s no context where this is acceptable.”
RNC Youth Advisory co-chair Brilyn Hollyhand said, “This is gross blasphemy. Faith is not a prop. You don't need to portray yourself as a savior when your record should speak for itself, even though Trump’s record is anything but savior-caliber, and he has notoriously used the Bible as a prop in the past, even selling versions of his own.
Riley Gaines hit back at the president.
Conservative activist and athlete Riley Gaines, a diehard Trump supporter, set off a bit of a feud with the president, saying, “God shall not be mocked. ... A little humility would serve him well,” to which he replied with a characteristically dismissive, “I’m not a big fan of Riley, actually.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the post "inappropriate and disrespectful," with Bishop Robert Barron demanding an apology.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian also weighed in, criticizing what he called the "desecration of Jesus."
