June 26, 2025 — President Donald Trump ignited a fierce controversy on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, when he demanded that CNN fire its national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand over her reporting on the U.S. military strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In a blistering post on Truth Social, Trump accused Bertrand of spreading “Fake News” and called for her to be “thrown out ‘like a dog,’” escalating his ongoing feud with media outlets.
The remarks have drawn sharp criticism from press advocates and raised questions about the balance between national security reporting and political rhetoric.
The controversy stems from a CNN report co-authored by Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis, and Zachary Cohen, published on Tuesday, June 24, 2025.
The article cited an early Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment indicating that U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan, conducted as part of “Operation Midnight Hammer,” did not destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program.
According to the report, the strikes likely set Iran’s nuclear capabilities back by only a few months, with sources noting that Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium was not destroyed and that centrifuges remained largely intact.
The report emphasized that the assessment was preliminary and could change with further intelligence.
Trump, who has repeatedly claimed the strikes resulted in the “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear program, took issue with the report’s findings.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague, he reiterated his assertion that the facilities were “totally demolished.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s sentiment, stating, “If you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordo, you better get a big shovel and go really deep because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated.”
Hegseth also revealed that the FBI had launched a leak investigation into how the classified assessment reached the media, describing it as information intended for “internal purposes.”
Trump’s Attack on Bertrand
In his Truth Social post, Trump singled out Bertrand, writing, “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!”
He further claimed that Bertrand’s reporting was “obviously negative” and that she lacked the qualities to be an on-camera correspondent.
Trump’s reference to the “Laptop from Hell” alludes to a 2020 Politico article by Bertrand, which reported on a letter signed by over 50 former intelligence officials suggesting that emails allegedly from Hunter Biden’s laptop bore “classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
The claim has since been a point of contention among conservatives, who argue it misrepresented the laptop’s authenticity.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also criticized Bertrand, calling the DIA assessment “flat-out wrong” and alleging it was leaked by an “anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community” to discredit Trump and the U.S. military.
Leavitt appeared on Fox News, describing Bertrand as a “mouthpiece for people who don’t like Donald Trump” and noting that CNN gave the White House only an hour to respond to the report.
CNN issued a robust defense of Bertrand and her colleagues, stating, “We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism and specifically her and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence.
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.”
Other major outlets, including The New York Times, Associated Press, Reuters, and NBC News, published similar reports confirming the DIA’s preliminary findings, indicating that the story was not exclusive to CNN.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, acknowledged in an Al Jazeera interview that the nuclear facilities were “badly damaged,” though he did not confirm their complete destruction.
Conversely, Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office claimed the strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back by “many years,” aligning more closely with Trump’s narrative.
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Conflicting Assessments and Public Reaction
The conflicting narratives highlight the complexity of assessing the strikes’ impact.
Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh reported that U.S. and Israeli forces deliberately aimed to “bury and seal off” Iran’s nuclear sites, rendering enriched uranium inaccessible under rubble, which could explain the discrepancy between Trump’s claims and the DIA’s assessment.
Meanwhile, Gen. Eyal Zamir of the Israel Defense Forces cautioned that such evaluations were preliminary, stating, “I say this with humility, because it’s still too early to determine.”
Public sentiment on X reflects polarized reactions.
Some users, like @PaulaChertok, condemned Trump’s remarks as an attempt to intimidate the media, warning that targeting Bertrand by name could “enrage MAGA & fuel stochastic terrorism.”
Others, such as @vanguardintel, amplified Trump’s call to fire Bertrand, framing her report as undermining the military’s success.
A CNN poll cited by Yahoo News found that 56% of Americans disapproved of the strikes, with 44% in favor, suggesting public skepticism about the operation’s success.
This context underscores the sensitivity of Bertrand’s reporting, which challenges the administration’s narrative at a time of heightened political and international tension.
Trump’s demand to fire Bertrand has reignited concerns about press freedom under his administration.
Critics argue that his rhetoric, including phrases like “thrown out like a dog,” risks inciting hostility toward journalists.
The First Amendment protects reporters like Bertrand from punishment for publishing leaked information, as noted by news-pravda.com, though the administration’s leak investigation signals potential repercussions for sources within the government.
The controversy also highlights Trump’s broader campaign against media outlets he deems “Fake News.”
On the same day, he criticized The New York Times and called for the defunding of Voice of America, labeling it a “complete disaster.”
These attacks come amid a reported “utter chaos” in the Pentagon under Hegseth, who is said to be preoccupied with leak investigations.
As the dust settles from the U.S. strikes on Iran, the clash between Trump and CNN underscores deeper tensions over transparency, national security, and the role of the press.
While the administration insists on the strikes’ success, early intelligence assessments and corroborating reports suggest a more limited impact.
Bertrand’s reporting, backed by CNN and echoed by other outlets, has thrust her into the center of a political firestorm, with Trump’s demand for her dismissal amplifying the stakes.
As the FBI’s leak investigation unfolds, the public awaits further clarity on the strikes’ true impact—and whether the administration’s rhetoric will escalate further against the media.
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