CNN’s chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins clapped back at President Donald Trump’s degradation of the network on Wednesday over its reporting on the aftermath of the U.S.’ Iran strikes.
During Trump’s NATO press conference, where the president attacked various news outlets for reporting on an initial U.S. intelligence assessment that said the U.S. strikes did not obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities, Collins tried to ask Trump a question—which prompted his initial attack.
“Fake news CNN. Here we go,” Trump said. “Wait until you hear this question. You should really say how great our soldiers and our warriors are.”
Collins, who has regularly tussled with Trump and his administration, wouldn’t let the attack slide.
“I think everyone appreciates our soldiers and our warriors,” she shot back. She then asked Trump whether he relied on Israeli intelligence to claim the U.S. strikes “obliterated” the facilities.
Trump pointed to Iran’s foreign ministry’s claims that the sites were “badly damaged.” He also claimed a leaked report from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency—which said the damage was limited and the strikes simply set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions by months, not forever—concluded that the strikes’ impact could have also been very severe.
“You didn‘t choose to put that because it was very early after,” Trump told Collins, whose byline did not appear on CNN’s original report. “Since then, we‘ve collected additional intelligence. We‘ve also spoken to people that have seen the site and the site. The site is obliterated, and we think everything nuclear is down there.”
The president also lashed out at other reporters throughout the conference, snapping at NBC News’ Kelly O’Donnell and accusing her of trying to “demean” the U.S. strike pilots.
“You, and NBC—fake news, which is one of the worst—and CNN, are all bad,“ Trump told her. ”They’re sick. There’s something wrong with them. You know what? You should be praising those people instead of trying to find some—by getting me, by trying to go and get me, you’re hurting those people. They were devastated."
Trump’s anger toward some of the outlets marked a shift in his dealings with the media this week after he spoke to multiple reporters following the U.S. strikes on Saturday and before addressing the nation.
Trump spoke to ABC’s Jonathan Karl and told him the strikes had been a “tremendous success.” He later told NBC’s Kristen Welker the mission was a “complete and total success.”
He then attacked both Karl and NBC on Monday for reporting on the intel leak.
The U.S. has since tried to uphold Trump’s claims about the U.S. strikes—while confirming the existence of the initial intelligence report—and have tried to paint the articles as attempts to discredit U.S. soldiers.
“This alleged ‘assessment’ is flat-out wrong and was classified as ‘top secret’ but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X on Tuesday. “The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean President Trump, and discredit the brave fighter pilots who conducted a perfectly executed mission to obliterate Iran’s nuclear program.”
Trump continued raging on Truth Social on Tuesday night, writing an all-caps post eviscerating the news outlets for their reporting.
“FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY,” he wrote. “THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!”
