Jake Tapper Delivers Fiery Defense Against Trump Claim CNN ‘Lied’ in Its Iran Reporting: He’s ‘Shooting the Messengers’ in an ‘Ugly Way’
Jake Tapper went to bat for CNN’s reporting on the impact of the U.S. military strike on Iran in a lengthy, fiery monologue Wednesday.
In a 10-minute commentary to kick off Wednesday’s edition of The Lead, Tapper defended his network against claims from President Donald Trump that they “lied” in reporting that three Iranian nuclear sites were not destroyed in Saturday’s attack — as the White House has publicly maintained. The CNN anchor began by calling out the fact that Trump confirmed the intelligence assessment on which CNN’s report was based.
“CNN was first to report that one early DIA — or Defense Intelligence Agency assessment — suggested that the U.S. Military strikes on Iran this weekend did not completely destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program, setting back the program by only a few months, not a few years,” Tapper said. “Now, it’s a low-confidence assessment — meaning that the DIA is far from sure about it. It was described to CNN by seven people briefed on the DIA assessment, and our reporting stressed that the assessment’s conclusion could evolve as new information comes to light. Now, CNN reached out to the White House before reporting on this DIA Intel assessment, and the White House attacked the assessment but confirmed that it exists. Even President Trump himself today confirmed it.”
Tapper went after Trump and the White House for attacking the network — and specifically, one of the reporters who worked on the story, Natasha Bertrand.
“Today, President Trump and his administration are going after shooting the messengers in an increasingly ugly way,” Tapper said. “They’re calling journalists ‘fake news’ for true stories. They’re calling for an excellent CNN reporter, Natasha Bertrand, to be fired, which is preposterous — and to which a CNN statement today reads, ‘we stand 100% behind Natasha Bertarnd’s journalism,’ as they should. The Trump administration is also accusing any news media who reports on this intel assessment as not being patriotic.”
Tapper made clear the service members who carried out the mission deserve “honor and respect,” and that scrutiny of the mission is not directed at them.
“The key questions for the American people in the world are simply about the degree of success of the operation, and the current state of Iran’s nuclear weapons program and what the intelligence — not the politicians — what the intelligence reveals,” Tapper said. “Our obligation as journalists is not to praise President Trump, or protect his feelings, or to disparage him, or to praise him — for that matter. Our obligation is to report facts. In this case, the fact is that an initial DIA intel assessment out of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s own Pentagon exists. And that’s not going to change, no matter how many insults Trump levels.
Tapper closed out his monologue by stressing the importance of journalists not blindly accepting what they’re being told.
We don’t know yet whether this administration is accurately portraying what happened in Iran or not. We don’t. That’s the point of publishing what we know that the government learns, once we learn it … The news media needs to press for facts, even if it’s uncomfortable. Even if, as Americans and as humans, there is a personal instinct to rally around the flag. Asking questions is literally our job, demanding facts and answers, instead of just taking a president’s word for it. History has taught us that the most pro-service member action we can take is to ask questions of our leaders, especially in times of war. That, for journalists, is the height of patriotism.
Watch above, via CNN.
