Overview

• Karoline Leavitt publicly singled out Natasha Bertrand at Thursday’s White House briefing, accusing her of pushing a false narrative to undermine the administration’s success claim.
• Bertrand’s report on Tuesday drew from a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment that the U.S. strikes set Iran’s nuclear program back by months rather than years.
• President Trump has insisted the strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites and called for Bertrand to be fired over her coverage.
• CNN anchors and analysts including Brianna Keilar and Brian Stelter condemned the White House’s personal attacks and reiterated the preliminary report’s low confidence caveat.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the leaked assessment as incomplete and defended the operation as a complete success.