Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will hold a press conference at the Pentagon on Thursday about Operation Midnight Hammer in response to reports questioning the success of the strikes.
President Donald Trump announced in a Truth Social post that Hegseth and others will partake in the presser at 8:00 a.m. “to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots.”
He wrote:
These Patriots were very upset! After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly! Fortunately for them and, as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, the Fake News (Times and CNN) lied and totally misrepresented the Facts, none of which they had (because it was too soon, there were no Facts out there yet!). The News Conference will prove both interesting and irrefutable. Enjoy!
Earlier in the day, Trump ripped CNN for its report stating that key components of Iran’s nuclear program were not destroyed in the strikes on Saturday, based on a description of an “early U.S. intelligence assessment” from anonymous sources.
At the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Trump read a report from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel that stated the United States’ strike on Fordow “destroyed the site’s critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable.”
The report further said Iran’s capability to develop nuclear weapons was set back by “many years,” in contrast to the CNN report, which said the mission likely only caused a months-long hindrance to Iran’s nuclear program.
“I just want to thank our pilots. You know they were maligned…demeaned by fake news CNN, which is back there, believe it or not, wasting time. Nobody’s watching them, so they’re just wasting a lot of time, wasting my time,” Trump went on to say at the NATO Summit.
One of the reporters who authored the CNN report, Natasha Bertrand, notably wrote the original report in which more than 50 ex-intelligence officials signed a letter claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation in October 2020 when she was with Politico. It, of course, turned out not to be Russian disinformation.
Trump called for her firing on Wednesday before announcing Hegseth’s press conference:
Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News. She should be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out “like a dog.” She lied on the Laptop from Hell Story, and now she lied on the Nuclear Sites Story, attempting to destroy our Patriot Pilots by making them look bad when, in fact, they did a GREAT job and hit “pay dirt” — TOTAL OBLITERATION! She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN. It’s people like her who destroyed the reputation of a once great Network. Her slant was so obviously negative, besides, she doesn’t have what it takes to be an on camera correspondent, not even close. FIRE NATASHA!
In a statement to the Hill, a CNN spokesperson said the company stands behind Bertrand.
“CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence,” the statement read. “We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep skepticism about it.”
“However, we do not believe it is reasonable to criticize CNN reporters for accurately reporting the existence of the assessment and accurately characterizing its findings, which are in the public interest,” the individual added.
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