CNN fires back as Trump demands reporter be fired and thrown out 'like a dog'

CNN is defending national security reporter Natasha Bertrand after President Donald Trump lashed out over her reporting on the U.S. airstrikes in Iran and demanded she be fired and “thrown out ‘like a dog.’”

In a fiery statement posted Wednesday, CNN said it stands “100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism” and blasted Trump’s attack as out of line.

“CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence,” the network’s communications team posted on X. “We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep skepticism about it. However, we do not believe it is reasonable to criticize CNN reporters for accurately reporting the existence of the assessment and accurately characterizing its findings, which are in the public interest."

The president became livid after the network became the first to report on a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that found the U.S. strikes over the weekend likely delayed Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months – and did not “obliterate” the nuclear sites as Trump has insisted, The Washington Post reported.

The Post noted on Wednesday that other major outlets, including The New York Times, also confirmed the intelligence findings. But Trump still took to Truth Social, where he unleashed a tirade and demanded Bertrand “be IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out 'like a dog.'"

"Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News," he wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday. Trump added: “Her slant was so obviously negative, besides, she doesn't have what it takes to be an on camera correspondent, not even close. FIRE NATASHA!"

But CNN made clear Wednesday it isn’t backing down from and would defend Bertrand "and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities."