A CNN anchor tore President Donald Trump’s press secretary to shreds after she lost it at his colleague over media coverage of troop deaths.
Jake Tapper delivered a pointed monologue on The Lead on Wednesday night in the aftermath of a fiery clash between White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins earlier in the day.
During the clash, Leavitt accused Collins of being disingenuous and doubled down on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that the media only reports on the death of U.S. troops to make Trump look bad. “That’s a fact,” Leavitt claimed.
“Actually, that’s not a fact,” Tapper said, following a replayed clip of the heated exchange in the White House on Wednesday. “It’s an opinion and it’s not particularly relevant to the question of whether we only honor fallen veterans because we wanna make Trump look bad. And by the way, Hegseth was crystal clear on what he was saying.
“Just in point of fact, and anybody can Google it, we have covered fallen veterans under Bush and Obama and Trump and Biden and now Trump again. And we will continue to honor troops by memorializing them and discussing their sacrifices.
“The only difference is that Bush and Obama and Biden didn’t have secretaries of defense who would petulantly complain about our coverage of fallen warriors.”
Hegseth’s comments triggered the latest round of acrimony between the administration and CNN.
The defense secretary had delivered a bullish press conference of his own on Wednesday morning to discuss the president’s new war with Iran.
He hit out at the press for its coverage of the death of six U.S. service members who died in the line of duty when an Iranian drone hit a base in Kuwait. Five have been identified: Captain Cody Khork, 35; Sergeant Nicole Amor, 39; Sergeant Declan Coady, 20; Sergeant Noah Tietjens, 42; Major Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45; while Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, is “believed” to have also been killed, according to a statement.
“This is what the fake news misses,” Hegseth said. “We’ve taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without boots on the ground. But when a few drones get through or tragic things happen, it’s front-page news. I get it—the press only wants to make the president look bad.”
His comments were later taken to Leavitt, who was asked if she agreed with him.
“No, it’s the position of this administration that the press in this room and the press across the country should accurately report on the success of Operation Epic Fury and the damage it is doing to the rogue Iranian regime that has threatened the lives of every single American in this room,” she said.
Collins then asked if Hegseth had been annoyed by the press giving significant attention to the dead service members.
Leavitt hit out. “That’s not what the secretary said, Kaitlan, and that’s not what the secretary meant—and you know it.
“You know you are being disingenuous,” she continued. “We’ve never had a secretary of defense who cares more.”
When Collins read out Hegseth’s comments, Leavitt hit back again.
“The press does want to make the president look bad,” she said. “Especially you, and especially CNN.”
“We expect you to cover [the story] as you should, Kaitlan, but you and your network know that you take every single thing this administration says and tries to use it to make the president look bad; that is an objectionable fact,” Leavitt said.
“If you’re trying to argue right now that CNN’s overwhelming coverage is not negative of President Donald Trump, I don’t think the American people would tend to agree, and your ratings would tend to agree.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
