Trump, Hegseth seethe at 'fake news' media for doubting US strikes obliterated Iranian nuclear sites: 'Scum'
President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeth railed against the "fake news" media during a NATO summit press conference for casting doubt that the U.S. strikes on Iran obliterated the country's nuclear program.
"A statement came in from the Atomic Energy Commission of Israel," Trump said during a Wednesday press conference from The Hague as he wrapped up his NATO summit trip in the Netherlands. "They're very serious people, as you know."
"'The devastating U.S. strike on Fordow destroyed the site's critical infrastructure and rendered the enrichment facility totally inoperable,'" Trump read from the letter. "'It was devastated. We assessed that the American strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities had set back Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons for many years to come. This achievement can continue indefinitely if Iran does not get access to nuclear material.'"
Trump took aim at U.S. media outlets for initially casting doubt that the strikes he ordered on Iran Saturday evening were not as devastating as the administration initially reported, calling outlets such as CNN "fake news" and slamming them for "maligning" the U.S. military by doubting the ferocity of the strikes.
"I just want to thank our pilots," Trump said. "You know, they were maligned and treated very bad, demeaned by fake news CNN, which is back there, believe it or not, wasting time, wasting time. Nobody's watching them. So they just wasted a lot of time. wasting my time. And the New York Times, they put out a story that, 'well, maybe they were hit, but it wasn't so bad that they ended the war.'"
The president added that he received a call that the pilots who deployed from Missouri to Iran for the strikes were "devastated" due to certain media outlets attempting to downplay the success of the mission.
"Do you know, I got a call from Missouri? Great state that I won three times by a lot. And I got a call that the pilots and people on the plane were devastated because (the media) were trying to minimize the attack. And they all said it was hit, 'but oh, but we don't think it was really maybe hit that badly.' And they were devastated," he said.
"They put their lives on the line and then they have, and I'm not referring to you, but real scum. Real scum come out and write reports that are as negative as they could possibly be," Trump continued.
Hegseth, who joined Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the summit, also slammed CNN and the New York Times during the press conference. Hegseth argued that such media outlets work "to find a way to spin" the news.
"There's a reason the president calls out fake news for what it is. These pilots, these refuelers, these fighters, these air defenders. The skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people and the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom," Hegseth said.
"And then the instinct, the instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times, is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons, to try to hurt President Trump or our country. They don't care what the troops think. They don't care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak. Of course, we've all seen plenty of leakers and what a leakers do? They have agendas. And what do they do? Do they share the whole information or just the part that they want to introduce?"
Trump announced Saturday evening in a surprise Truth Social post that the U.S. military had successfully executed strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities, saying in an address to the nation later that night that the facilities were "completely and totally obliterated."
"For 40 years, Iran has been saying, 'Death to America. Death to Israel.' They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs," Trump said in his address Saturday with the trio standing behind him. "That was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate, in particular."
"Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said. "And Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier."
A handful of legacy and liberal media outlets attempted to cast doubt that the strikes truly devastated the Iranian facilities, including CNN publishing an exclusive Tuesday claiming "US strikes on Iran did not destroy nuclear sites," while the New York Times reported the Fordow nuclear facility was "severely damaged" but not "destroyed."
White House officials, including Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, have slammed such reports as "fake news."
"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," Leavitt posted to X on Tuesday of the CNN report. "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. Everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000 pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration."
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The Hill
34 minutes ago
- The Hill
Early US intelligence report suggests US strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by months
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. intelligence report suggests that Iran's nuclear program has been set back only a few months after U.S. strikes and was not 'completely and fully obliterated' as President Donald Trump has said, according to two people familiar with the early assessment. The report issued by the Defense Intelligence Agency on Monday contradicts statements from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran's nuclear facilities. According to the people, the report found that while the Sunday strikes at the Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites did significant damage, the facilities were not totally destroyed. The people were not authorized to address the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The White House rejected the DIA assessment, calling it 'flat-out wrong.' On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said in a post on X that 'New intelligence confirms' what Trump has stated: 'Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed. If the Iranians chose to rebuild, they would have to rebuild all three facilities (Natanz, Fordow, Esfahan) entirely, which would likely take years to do.' The DNI's office did not immediately respond to questions about Gabbard's post and the new intelligence she mentioned, including whether the information would be released to the public or lawmakers. The U.S. has held out hope of restarting negotiations with Iran to convince it to give up its nuclear program entirely, but some experts fear that the U.S. strikes — and the potential of Iran retaining some of its capabilities — could push Tehran toward developing a functioning weapon. The assessment also suggests that at least some of Iran's highly enriched uranium, necessary for creating a nuclear weapon, was moved out of multiple sites before the U.S. strikes and survived, and it found that Iran's centrifuges, which are required to further enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels, are largely intact, according to the people. At the deeply buried Fordo uranium enrichment plant, where U.S. B-2 stealth bombers dropped several 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, the entrance collapsed and infrastructure was damaged, but the underground infrastructure was not destroyed, the assessment found. The people said that intelligence officials had warned of such an outcome in previous assessments ahead of the strike on Fordo. Trump defended his characterization of the strike's impact. 'It was obliteration, and you'll see that,' Trump told reporters while attending the NATO summit in the Netherlands. He said the intelligence was 'very inconclusive' and described media outlets as 'scum' for reporting on it. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was also at the NATO summit, said there would be an investigation into how the intelligence assessment leaked and dismissed it as 'preliminary' and 'low confidence.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, 'These leakers are professional stabbers.' The intelligence assessment was first reported by CNN on Tuesday. The CIA and the DNI office declined to comment on the DIA assessment. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence coordinates the work of the nation's 18 intelligence agencies, including the DIA, which is the intelligence arm of the Defense Department, responsible for producing intelligence on foreign militaries and the capabilities of adversaries. The Israeli government also has not released any official assessments of the U.S. strikes. Trump special envoy Steve Witkoff, who said he has read damage assessment reports from U.S. intelligence and other nations, reiterated Tuesday that the strikes had deprived Iran of the ability to develop a weapon and called it outrageous that the U.S. assessment was shared with reporters. 'It's treasonous so it ought to be investigated,' Witkoff said on Fox News Channel. Trump has said in comments and posts on social media in recent days, including Tuesday, that the strike left the sites in Iran 'totally destroyed' and that Iran will never rebuild its nuclear facilities. Netanyahu said Tuesday in a televised statement: 'For dozens of years I promised you that Iran would not have nuclear weapons and indeed … we brought to ruin Iran's nuclear program.' He said the U.S. joining Israel was 'historic' and thanked Trump. Outside experts had suspected Iran had likely already hidden the core components of its nuclear program as it stared down the possibility that American bunker-buster bombs could be used on its nuclear sites. Bulldozers and trucks visible in satellite imagery taken just days before the strikes have fueled speculation among experts that Iran may have transferred its half-ton stockpile of enriched uranium to an unknown location. And the incomplete destruction of the nuclear sites could still leave the country with the capacity to spin up weapons-grade uranium and develop a bomb. Iran has maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful, but it has enriched significant quantities of uranium beyond the levels required for any civilian use. The U.S. and others assessed prior to the U.S. strikes that Iran's theocratic leadership had not yet ordered the country to pursue an operational nuclear weapon, but the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned that Iran has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs should it choose to do so. Vice President JD Vance said in a Monday interview on Fox News Channel that even if Iran is still in control of its stockpile of 408.6 kilograms (900.8 pounds) of enriched uranium, which is just short of weapons-grade, the U.S. has cut off Iran's ability to convert it to a nuclear weapon. 'If they have 60% enriched uranium, but they don't have the ability to enrich it to 90%, and, further, they don't have the ability to convert that to a nuclear weapon, that is mission success. That is the obliteration of their nuclear program, which is why the president, I think, rightly is using that term,' Vance said. Approximately 42 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium is theoretically enough to produce one atomic bomb if enriched further to 90%, according to the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi informed U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi on June 13 — the day Israel launched its military campaign against Iran — that Tehran would 'adopt special measures to protect our nuclear equipment and materials.' American satellite imagery and analysis firm Maxar Technologies said its satellites photographed trucks and bulldozers at the Fordo site beginning on June 19, three days before the Americans struck. Subsequent imagery 'revealed that the tunnel entrances into the underground complex had been sealed off with dirt prior to the U.S. airstrikes,' said Stephen Wood, senior director at Maxar. 'We believe that some of the trucks seen on 19 June were carrying dirt to be used as part of that operation.' Some experts say those trucks could also have been used to move out Iran's enriched uranium stockpile. 'It is plausible that Iran moved the material enriched to 60% out of Fordo and loaded it on a truck,' said Eric Brewer, a former U.S. intelligence analyst and now deputy vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Iran could also have moved other equipment, including centrifuges, he said, noting that while enriched uranium, which is stored in fortified canisters, is relatively easy to transport, delicate centrifuges are more challenging to move without inflicting damage. Apart from its enriched uranium stockpile, over the past four years Iran has produced the centrifuges key to enrichment without oversight from the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Iran also announced on June 12 that it has built and will activate a third nuclear enrichment facility. IAEA chief Grossi said the facility was located in Isfahan, a place where Iran has several other nuclear sites. After being bombarded by both the Israelis and the Americans, it is unclear if, or how quickly, Isfahan's facilities, including tunnels, could become operational. But given all of the equipment and material likely still under Iran's control, this offers Tehran 'a pretty solid foundation for a reconstituted covert program and for getting a bomb,' Brewer said. Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, a nonpartisan policy center, said that 'if Iran had already diverted its centrifuges,' it can 'build a covert enrichment facility with a small footprint and inject the 60% gas into those centrifuges and quickly enrich to weapons grade levels.' But Brewer also underlined that if Iran launched a covert nuclear program, it would do so at a disadvantage, having lost to Israeli and American strikes vital equipment and personnel that are crucial for turning the enriched uranium into a functional nuclear weapon. ___ Liechtenstein reported from Vienna and McNeil reported from Brussels. Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, David Klepper, Ellen Knickmeyer and Aamer Madhani in Washington and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report. —- The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. —- Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:
Politico
35 minutes ago
- Politico
Bernal bows out
With President Donald Trump's July 4 deadline drawing near, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told POLITICO on Tuesday night he believes the Senate is 'on a path' to start voting on the megabill Friday. But he's got several fires to put out first. For one, he's under immense pressure to water down the Medicaid provisions the Senate GOP is counting on for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of savings. Speaker Mike Johnson is warning in private that Senate Republicans could cost House Republicans their majority next year if they try to push through the deep Medicaid cuts in the current Senate version, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the matter. That comes as Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) cautions GOP senators that those same cutbacks could become a political albatross for Republicans just as the Affordable Care Act was for Democrats. '[Barack] Obama said … 'if you like your health care you can keep it, if you like your doctor we can keep it,' and yet we had several million people lose their health care,' the in-cycle senator told reporters Tuesday. 'Here we're saying [with] Medicaid, we're going to hold people harmless, but we're estimating' millions of people could lose coverage. GOP leaders are trying to ease concerns by preparing to include a fund to help rural hospitals that could be harmed by the reductions, even as Thune insisted Tuesday 'we like where we are.' Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who's been pushing for the fund, said while that 'helps lessen the impact,' she remains 'concerned about the changes in the funding for Medicaid in general.' The other drama hanging over the bill are several imminent, critical rulings from Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. Several committees that already have rulings in hand are due to release revised text as soon as this morning, according to a person familiar with the plans. And Republicans could know as soon as Wednesday whether MacDonough will clear major parts of their tax package. As of late Tuesday, the parliamentarian had not yet ruled on provisions linked to the so-called current policy baseline, an accounting maneuver that zeroes out the costs of $3.8 trillion of expiring tax cuts, according to two people granted anonymity to disclose the private discussions. Make no mistake: Adverse rulings could send Republicans back to the drawing board on making their tax plan permanent or otherwise force them to go nuclear and override or ignore MacDonough altogether. There's uncertainty from all sides about how that would play out, given the gambit has never been tried before with tax legislation. This much is already clear: With the tax package in flux and Medicaid savings under threat, GOP leaders have a major math problem on their hands. And House fiscal hawks are watching to see, regardless of the accounting method, whether the Senate sticks to the budget deal they agreed to with Johnson earlier this year. What else we're watching: — Bove on the Hill: Senate Judiciary lawmakers will convene the first blockbuster judicial hearing of the second Trump administration later Wednesday, where they will grill Emil Bove, a top Justice Department official and former criminal defense lawyer for Trump who has a shot at a lifetime appointment on the federal bench. Some even see him as a potential future Trump Supreme Court nominee. — Vought testifies on rescissions: OMB Director Russ Vought will testify in front of the Senate's full bench of appropriators Wednesday afternoon to justify the White House's request for $9.4 billion in cuts of previously approved money. Expect pointed questioning from various Republicans on the panel, including Collins, who has publicly opposed cuts to PEPFAR, the HIV and AIDS foreign aid program. — Iran briefings incoming: Senators will have a postponed briefing on the situation in Iran on Thursday, after which Democrat Tim Kaine (Va.) is aiming to call a vote on his resolution seeking to block further U.S. military action against Iran. On the House side, Speaker Johnson said that members will now be briefed Friday. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday there had been no Gang of Eight meeting yet. Jordain Carney, Meredith Lee Hill and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The better Israel/Iran explanation: Trump got played
On June 12, Axios reported, the U.S. regime refused to support Israeli strikes on Iran ... but U.S. president Donald Trump said such strikes "might very well happen" even though he wouldn't want Israel to "blow it" ("it" being a new nuclear deal to replace the one Trump began violating in 2018). Hours later, Israeli aircraft attacked, apparently damaging Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military figures. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the action as "unilateral" and emphasized that "we are not involved." Within hours, however, Trump described the Israeli strikes as, effectively, an outsourcing of U.S. policy. "We knew just about everything," he said. "We knew enough that we gave Iran 60 days to make a deal and today is 61, right? So, you know, we knew everything." After which U.S. forces put its air defense capabilities in the region to work helping Israel blunt the impact of Iranian counterstrikes. One reasonable conclusion, drawn by any number of reasonable people, is that Trump and Rubio were lying to begin with and that the Israeli strikes enjoyed U.S. approval and possibly even active, direct US support (such as the use of U.S. aerial refueling for the Israeli aircraft). That certainly seems possible, but I'd like to offer a different theory: Trump got played. The Israelis said they intended to strike. Trump said not to. The Israelis struck anyway, betting that Trump would circle back to claim prior knowledge and tacit approval, then throw in to defend Israel from the consequences of its actions. I don't know that either theory will ever be fully proven as correct, but the latter theory tracks with everything we know about Trump's history and method. As a "leader," Trump is congenitally incapable of admitting either of two things: Error or weakness. Prior to running for politics, he operated entirely on "brand," not actual accomplishment. Opinion: America cannot retreat from the world stage. Our values must be shared abroad. Over decades as a real estate developer, casino operator, etc., he racked up multiple business bankruptcies and built a smaller fortune than he'd have earned from investing his inheritance in an S&P 500-indexed mutual fund and going on permanent vacation. When sequential failures in real business moved him to go full Hollywood with The Apprentice, the focus was on being a "boss" dispensing sage advice to (or yelling "you're fired" at) future business moguls (most of whom subsequently sank from view). Having failed upward into the presidency, his strategy remains the same: Promote a Trump "brand" built on the pretense that he's either competent or in charge. When both prove false, just change the story to fit the image. In my opinion, the Israelis correctly saw Trump as an easy mark and acted accordingly. We'll get stuck with the bill, in treasure and quite possibly blood. Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism ( He lives and works in north central Florida. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump's Israel/Iran intervention looks like he got played | Opinion
