CNN host delivers brutal fact-check on Trump's 'regime change' in Iran: 'Let's be honest!'

CNN's Abby Phillip delivered a brutal fact-check on Thursday over President Donald Trump's "regime change" ambitions in Iran.

Trump gave an exclusive interview to Axios on Thursday, where he claimed that he should play a role in picking Iran's next leader. Those comments seem to follow in line with one of his stated ambitions for striking Iran in the first place, which he said was to create the conditions for the Iranian people to rise up and take over their government.

Jason Rantz, host of the conservative radio news show "Seattle Red," argued on CNN's "NewsNight" that Trump was not "directly calling for" regime change in Iran, which caused the panel to erupt.

"Let's be honest!" host Abby Phillip said. She read back Trump's quote to Rantz.

Rantz said that

"The administration has not just said they want regime change, they've actually carried out an operation that has killed the Ayatollah," she argued.

On Saturday, U.S. and Israeli forces coordinated bombing strikes across more than 100 sites in Iran, which killed many of the country's top military and political leaders. Even some of the poeple Trump was considering to replace the Ayatollah were killed in the strike, the White House said.