President Donald Trump lashed out at CNN and MSNBC on Tuesday, accusing them of downplaying the success of U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn, Trump didn’t hold back — calling CNN “scum” and labeling both networks “gutless losers.”
"You're gutless losers," Trump said. "I say that to CNN because I watch it. I have no choice. I've gotta watch that garbage. It's all garbage. It's all fake news. But I think CNN is a gutless group of people."
The president was responding to media skepticism over Operation Midnight Hammer, a coordinated strike that hit Iran’s nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The weekend assault used B-2 bombers armed with 30,000-pound bunker-busters. Trump called it “a spectacular military success.”
"Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said in his national address following the operation.
When a reporter asked if Iran could rebuild, Trump scoffed. “That place is demolished. The B-2 pilots did their job. They did it better than anybody could even imagine. They hit late in the evening. It was dark with no moon. And they hit that target with every one of those things. And that place is gone."
Trump then circled back to CNN, blasting their coverage as dishonest. “All night long, they're trying to say, ‘Well, maybe it wasn't really as demolished as we thought.’ It was demolished,” he said. “You take a look at the pinpricks, and you see that place is gone.”
He wasn’t finished. “I think CNN ought to apologize to the pilots of the B-2s. I think that MSDNC [MSNBC] ought to apologize. I think these guys, really — these networks, and these cable networks are real losers. You really are.”
Trump also criticized CNN’s corporate leadership. “The people that run it, nobody even knows, it's been sold so many times,” he said. “But the people that run it ought to be ashamed.”
He ended with a swipe at MSNBC’s parent company. “MSDNC — a guy named Brian Roberts — he heads it. He's a disgrace. He's a weak, pathetic disgrace." CNN declined to comment. MSNBC did not respond.