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From left: Anderson Cooper attends 92NY on May 20, 2025, in New York City; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a press conference at the Pentagon on June 26, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia.
Cooper takes Hegseth to task.
No, Pete Hegseth, CNN isn’t reporting “fake news” about the U.S. bombing of Iran.
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CNN anchor Anderson Cooper played several clips Thursday that showed Defense Secretary Hegseth’s criticism of the coverage is completely unfounded. At a news conference that day, Hegseth had critiqued the reporting by MSNBC, The New York Times, and others, but particularly what he called “fake news CNN.”
But “a number of the claims he made about the reporting were not accurate,” the out journalist said in a segment titled "He Said, We Said" on Anderson Cooper 360.
Related: Pete Hegseth melts down over media coverage & gender questions in explosive Pentagon press conference
Hegseth complained about the “fawning coverage” of an initial assessment of the damage done by U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities; the assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombing set Iran’s nuclear program back by only a few months and didn’t obliterate it, as Donald Trump had said. Hegseth said the coverage didn’t note the preliminary nature of the report.
Cooper showed, however, that he and his outlet had emphasized that the assessment was preliminary and that much more information could come to light. In a clip he played, he called the intelligence report “very preliminary” and said a “deeper assessment is being done.”
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Hegseth went on to allege that CNN and other prominent media companies didn’t say Iran’s nuclear facilities had been destroyed or severely damaged by the strikes from the U.S. and Israel. He cited an Israeli Atomic Energy Commission report that concluded the U.S. bombing had rendered one facility inoperable. “Have any of these quotes made their way into The New York Times or The Washington Post? MSNBC? CNN?” he said.
But Cooper read from the same report, as shown in a clip he ran. He went on to show he also cited reports from the Israel Defense Forces and CIA Director John Ratcliffe on the extent of the damage, contrary to Hegseth’s claims that CNN had ignored them. In addition, Cooper had interviewed former United Nations weapons inspector David Albright, another source mentioned by Hegseth.
Hegseth continued, “How many stories have been written about … how hard it is to fly a plane for 36 hours?” Well, CNN did a story on this, a reference to bomber pilots. “Pilots did a remarkable job, flying all the way around the world and back without stopping, safely,” Cooper said in one clip. He called the mission successful, again contrary to Hegseth’s critique.
“That’s what Secretary Hegseth claimed we said and what we actually said,” Cooper concluded.
