Jake Tapper spoke out in defense of CNN’s reporting of Iran’s “victory” statement following the two-week ceasefire news, despite Donald Trump criticizing it as “fake news.”
“The issue boils down to this. The statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which claimed victory for Iran, did not fit the messaging that the Trump administration wanted to project,” Tapper said during Wednesday’s broadcast. “And instead of calling out the Iranian regime for its conflicting statements or explaining how Iran does this all the time, President Trump attacked CNN by falsely claiming we made it up. By lying to you.”
He continued: “We didn’t make it up, nor did we present any of Iran’s narratives as fact. We simply presented what the statement said, in the context of the rest of the war. And that is our job as journalists to report on what is happening in a war.”
Before concluding his defense, Tapper stated point-blank that their “job is not to please the president or only report the statements he likes.”
“We’re going to tell you what’s going on and we’re going to keep doing that,” he added. “No matter how many lies this administration or the Iranians tell.” Watch his response below.
Tapper: The statement from Iran's supreme national security council did not fit the messaging that the Trump administration wanted to project. And instead of calling out the Iranian regime, President Trump attacked CNN by falsely claiming we made it up. We didn't make it up. pic.twitter.com/w1V8RIPiOY
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 8, 2026
Tapper’s statement came a day after Trump laid into CNN in a Truth Social post Tuesday evening, nearly two hours after announcing the two-week ceasefire with Iran. Specifically, the president slammed “fraud” CNN for allegedly putting out a “false statement” from Iran, which claimed the U.S. had “suffered an undeniable, historic and crushing defeat.” (The New York Times ran a similar statement attributed to Iran’s National Security Council, which read: “We congratulate the people of Iran for this victory and reiterate that until the final details of the victory are finalized, officials and people must remain united and defiant.”)
This was strikingly different to the statement shared by Trump, which is why the president felt compelled to speak out.
“The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows,” Trump railed in his social media post. “The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a ‘legitimate’ headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below. Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player?”
A couple hours later, Trump further wrote, “No one can believe that Fake News CNN put out a knowingly false and dangerous statement pretending it came from the upper levels of the Iranian Government. It didn’t! It was totally made up and posted, as a headline, for purpose of, perhaps, inflaming a very delicate situation. It was a new, trouble making site from Nigeria, and CNN just got caught cheating – A very dangerous thing to do!”
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr co-signed Trump’s rebuke of CNN by taking to X and blasting the news network for “outrageous conduct.”
“Fake news is bad enough for the country, but pushing out a hoax headline in such a sensitive national security moment as this requires accountability,” Carr wrote at the time. “Iran put out an official statement that simply cannot be squared with the one CNN’s false headline attributes to them. Time for change at CNN.”
Despite the criticism from the Trump administration, CNN stood by its reporting, noting in a statement released via a spokesperson: “The statement in question was obtained from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets. We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us.”
