Donald Trump sharply rebuked CNN reporter Jeff Zeleny during a tense moment at a Friday press conference, pushing back hard against claims about the Iran nuclear sites.
Zeleny asked Trump, “I’m wondering now, sir, if you believe that Iran has given up its long history of ambitions with nuclear weapons, or what you would like to see from them to prove that they do, and what type of meetings is your administration looking for next week with Iran?”
Trump fired back immediately. “So, Iran wants to meet. As you know, their sites were obliterated. They’re very evil nuclear sites, they were now, it has been proven — we had some fake news for a little while. The same people that covered the Hunter Biden laptop was from Russia. The same people that did 3 or 4 of the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax.”
As Zeleny tried to interrupt, Trump snapped, “No, no, wait, wait. Just listen.”
He went on to defend the military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in detail: “They came up with something that delayed the credit that our great pilots and these great Americans. I mean, what talent that was. And they hit it right down in the spot, 52,000ft. Think of this — dark, no moon. You couldn’t see a thing. And they hit the refrigerator door, as they say. That’s the size of a target. And overwhelmingly. And it’s amazing what was done. We’re the only ones that could have done it. And we took out the two of the other sites also. In addition to that, we finished them off.”
Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have both blasted CNN and The New York Times for questioning whether the Iran nuclear sites were truly “obliterated,” accusing them of spreading doubt about the mission to make him look bad.
Watch the exchange in the clip below from CNN:
