CNN anchor Jake Tapper has slammed Donald Trump for claiming that the media juggernaut has been spreading false news updates regarding the Iran war. The long-term media executive clarified that not only was CNN’s reporting on the Middle Eastern conflict accurate, but also promised his viewers that the organization would continue to share updates regardless of Trump’s backlash.
CNN host Jake Tapper fires back at Donald Trump
On the April 8 episode of his show, the veteran journalist countered the two-time President’s claims about CNN spreading fake news.
Controversy began when CNN anchor Erin Burnett read out a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council on air on Tuesday. “The enemy, in its unfair, unlawful, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat,” she relayed on the April 7 episode of OutFront.
Burnett’s reportage drew a strong response from Donald Trump, who retaliated by calling CNN “fraud” in a Truth Social post. He also claimed that the statement was linked to a fake news site from Nigeria. Moreover, in a second post, the businessman-turned-politician remarked that CNN had “put out a knowingly false and dangerous statement.”
In response, Jake Tapper remarked on The Lead with Jake Tapper, “The statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which claimed victory for Iran, did not fit the messaging that the Trump administration wanted to project. And instead of calling out the Iranian regime for its conflicting statements or explaining how Iran does this all the time, President Trump attacked CNN by falsely claiming we made it up by lying to you.”
Tapper added, “We didn‘t make it up, nor did we present any of Iran‘s narratives as fact. We simply presented what the statement said in the context of the rest of the war, and that is our job as journalists to report on what is happening in a war.”
The CNN host concluded his rant against Donald Trump by saying, “Our job is not to try and please the president or only report the statements he likes. We‘re going to tell you what‘s going on, and we‘re going to keep doing that, no matter how many lies this administration or the Iranians tell.”
Meanwhile, Trump has yet to respond to Jake Tapper’s recent comments.
Originally reported by Apoorv Rastogi on Mandatory.
