Seven B-2A Spirit bombers prepare to depart Whiteman AFB, Missouri, for Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER to strike Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday, June 21, 2025. (Courtesy 509th Bomb Wing)

President Donald Trump says the U.S. pilots who bombed three nuclear sites in Iran Saturday are “devastated” by negative news reports in American media minimizing the damage inflicted on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons development.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday at the NATO Summit in the Netherlands, Trump said: “I got a call that the pilots and the people on the plane were devastated because they (the media) were trying to minimize the attack. And they all said it was hit.”

“They were devastated. They put their lives on the line and they have … real scum come out and write reports that are as negative as they could possibly be. It should be the opposite. You should make them heroes and heroines.

President Donald Trump at the NATO Summit at the Hague in the Netherlands, Wednesday, June 25, 2025

“There were so devastated when they heard this news. And you know what they said? I spoke to one of them. He said, ‘Sir, we hit the site. It was perfect, it was dead-on!’

“Because they don’t understand fake news because they have a normal life, except they have to fly very big, very fast planes. But it’s a shame. You should be making them heroes.”

President Trump says the pilots who flew the bombing mission in Iran were disappointed to hear that the media were downplaying their success.

“Real scum, real scum came out and wrote reports that were as negative as they could be.” pic.twitter.com/d1WmI04PLN

— Media Research Center (@theMRC) June 25, 2025

At another press availability earlier in the day, Trump said: “This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military, and they’re not being given credit for it because we have scum … CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum. They’re bad people. They’re sick.

“What they’ve done is, they’re trying to make this unbelievable victory into something less. Now even they admit that it was hit very hard. But it wasn’t hit hard. It was hit brutally, and it knocked it out.”

.@POTUS: “This was an unbelievable hit by genius pilots and genius people in the military, and they’re not being given credit for it because we have scum… CNN is scum. MSDNC is scum. The New York Times is scum.” pic.twitter.com/IrRhwgqQaK

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

Appearing with Trump at The Hague was U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who stressed Iran’s nuclear weapons program is indeed “obliterated.”

“Those that dropped the bombs precisely in the right place know exactly what happened when that exploded,” Hegseth said.

“And you know who else knows? Iran. That’s why they came to the table right away because their nuclear capabilities have been set back beyond what they thought were possible because of the courage of a commander in chief who led our troops despite what the fake news wants to say.”

He continued: “The skill and the courage it took to go into enemy territory flying 36 hours on behalf of the American people and the world to take out a nuclear program is beyond what anyone in this audience can fathom.

I will always defend @POTUS leadership, especially our skilled and amazing warfighters. https://t.co/2OIAHiOi6X

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) June 25, 2025

“And then the intact, the instinct of CNN, the instinct of the New York Times is to try to find a way to spin it for their own political reasons to try to hurt President Trump or our country. They don’t care what the troops think. They don’t care what the world thinks. They want to spin it to try to make him look bad based on a leak.”

“What do leakers do? They have agendas. And what do they do? Do they share the whole information or just the part that they want to introduce.”

“Why is there low confidence [in the damage assessment]? Because all of the evidence of what was just bombed by twelve 30,000-pound bombs is buried under a mountain, devastated and obliterated. So if you want to make an assessment of what happened at Fordow, you better get a big shovel and go really deep, because Iran’s nuclear program is obliterated.”

As WorldNetDaily reported Tuesday, CNN reported that three sources indicated the U.S. attack Saturday “did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back a few months.”

The network claims the information was based on a bombing assessment report done by the Defense Intelligence Agency after the strikes.

CNN says “anonymous sources” have told them that strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and “likely only set it back a few months.” pic.twitter.com/Qe25MIDcG0

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 24, 2025

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt rebutted the report on social media, pointing out the CNN story was put together “by the same ‘reporter’ who wrote the very first FAKE NEWS story claiming the Hunter Biden laptop was disinformation.”

That reporter is Natasha Bertrand.

FAKE NEWS CNN STRIKES AGAIN:

This alleged “assessment” is flat-out wrong and was classified as “top secret” but was still leaked to CNN by an anonymous, low-level loser in the intelligence community.

The leaking of this alleged assessment is a clear attempt to demean…

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) June 24, 2025

On Monday, President Trump named other names of the worst fake news giants in the Iran conflict: “Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of ‘Con’cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast’s NBC Fake News.”

Trump’s mention of “Allison” Cooper of CNN is actually a reference to Anderson Cooper, the openly homosexual anchor for the Cable News Network.

“It never ends with the sleazebags in the Media, and that’s why their Ratings are at an ALL TIME LOW — ZERO CREDIBILITY!” Trump concluded.

Last weekend, the United States successfully carried out a massive precision strike on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, and it was very, very successful—It was called OBLITERATION. This incredible exercise of American strength has paved the way for peace, with a historic… pic.twitter.com/odEtvlsHsn

— Trump Posts on (@trump_repost) June 25, 2025

We’ve collected additional intelligence, and we’ve also spoken to people who have seen the site—and the site is obliterated! pic.twitter.com/tSfYsidzd6

— Trump Posts on (@trump_repost) June 25, 2025

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White House flays CNN for claim Iran-attack damage was minimal

‘ZERO CREDIBILITY!’ Trump erupts as he names names of worst fake news giants in Iran conflict