Jake Tapper hits again at Trump after he accused CNN of ‘fake news’ on Iran: ‘Our job is not to please the president’
CNN Anchor Jake Tapper hit out at President Trump after the commander-in-chief accused the network of reporting a “false statement.”
Trump tore into CNN on Tuesday, after anchor Erin Burnett read out a statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, regarding the ceasefire between the Islamic Republic and the U.S.
“The enemy, in its unfair, unlawful, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat,” the statement, which Burnett read on OutFront, said. Burnett also read out a shorter communiqué from Iran’s Foreign Minister.
Trump demanded that the network “withdraw this statement with full apologies” and claimed that an investigation was being launched into whether CNN had committed a crime by publishing the document.
On Wednesday’s episode of The Lead with Jake Tapper, the host fired back at the president over his remarks.
“The issue boils down to this,” Tapper said. “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,” he added.
Highlighting that CNN did not invent the statement nor present Iran’s claims as fact, Tapper said that it was the network’s job to report on the ongoing events in the war.
“Our job is not to try and please the president or only report the statements he likes,” Tapper continued. “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.”
Trump uploaded two furious Truth Social posts targeting CNN, describing the Iranian statement as a “FRAUD.”
“The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a ‘legitimate’ (sic) headline,” the president wrote.
In a follow-up post, Trump claimed that “CNN got caught cheating.”
On Tuesday, Matthew Chance, another reporter at CNN, clarified on-air that both statements came from Iranian officials.
The first, which was from Iran’s foreign ministry, confirmed that the ceasefire would be observed by the Islamic Republic and that it planned to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“The second document, the one apparently President Trump seems to be objecting to, is the one sent to us by The Supreme National Security Council of Iran.” Chance added. “That’s Iran’s highest military body.
“And that’s a lot more aggressive. And it goes into a lot more detail about what that 10-point plan to end the war from Iran actually involves.”
Brendan Carr, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, claimed that it was “time for change at CNN.”
In a social media post, he accused the company of “pushing out a hoax headline.”
CNN defended itself in a public statement responding to Carr, noting that the statement was obtained by the network from Iranian officials.
Source: independent.co.uk
