CNN anchor Erin Burnett put President Donald Trump’s shifting claims about the Iran conflict under the microscope.
Burnett aired a brutal supercut of the 80-year-old’s repeated declarations that the country’s military had already been wiped out before questioning why the U.S. is now expanding its campaign.
Burnett opened her broadcast by highlighting the latest escalation after Trump announced the United States would strike Iran for a third straight night and declared the U.S. military was “taking over” the Strait of Hormuz.
She then pointed to a White House briefing outlining a sweeping list of military targets.
“The White House told Congress that the U.S. is targeting missile launch sites, air defenses, military maritime assets, military support infrastructure and command and control capabilities, which is quite an extensive list,” Burnett said.
“And it does raise a really important question, because isn’t this what Trump has already said again and again and again was already accomplished by his 136-day war? After all, Trump has claimed all those things that I listed have been wiped out and eviscerated, destroyed by the U.S.”
CNN followed with a montage of Trump repeatedly boasting that Iran’s military capabilities had been “eviscerated” or destroyed during the conflict.
Burnett also pushed back on Trump’s description of Iran’s remaining military strength.
“Of course, that is not true,” she said. “And just on some of the basic numbers, right, we know that Iran still has about 70 percent of its pre-war missile stockpile, and it has 70 percent of its launchers. Even though you heard him say they’ve cut the launchers by 90 percent.”
She noted that Iran claimed it had targeted what it called a “hostile U.S. vessel with cruise missiles today,” calling the latest developments “a big escalation.”
Burnett also questioned Trump’s surprise announcement that the United States would effectively police one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.
“All of this is a big escalation. And it comes as Trump says the U.S. is about to take over the Strait of Hormuz, which is another oddity, because if it were easy to do, obviously, given the disruption economically around the world, the U.S. would have done it a long time ago.”
