Chris Cuomo rips CNN over report on Iran strike intel: ‘Trying too hard to compete with these pod bros'
Cuomo's criticism came during his NewsNation show 'Cuomo,' where he hosted Bill O'Reilly to discuss fallout from a leaked intelligence assessment suggesting the recent strikes likely delayed Iran's nuclear ambitions by months — not years, as US officials had claimed.
'I think that [CNN is] trying too hard to compete with these pod bros and people who sell hysteria for profit,' Cuomo said on his show.
4 NewsNation anchor Chris Cuomo (left) criticized his former network CNN while hosting Bill O'Reilly on his show on Thursday.
Newsnation
'We just too often get caught up in the propaganda game.'
Trump blasted the media coverage, labeling it 'fake news,' while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also dismissed the reports during a Thursday press conference.
'Iran's nuclear sites were obliterated,' Hegseth said, adding that initial intelligence is 'almost always wrong, almost always incomplete.'
O'Reilly told Cuomo that CNN was deliberately downplaying the impact of the strikes.
'There's nobody who went under the mountain to see. The Iranians can't even do that because the mountain may collapse on them,' he said.
'There's absolutely no primary source reporting on the damage that the American planes caused. None. So you got four anonymous people saying, 'Well, I might have heard this, I might have heard that.''
4 CNN's Jake Tapper defended his network from blowback after it reported that the US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities set the country's nuclear program back a few months, according to intelligence assessments.
CNN
The former Fox News host slammed the network's editorial judgment, calling it part of a broader decline in journalism.
'It's absurd. No competent journalistic editor would have printed that article, but since CNN is in business to make Trump look bad, as you said, every moment of every day, they throw it out there,' O'Reilly said.
'I think we all know that the journalism industry in America and the world is at the lowest point in the history of that industry.'
Cuomo agreed with the broader media critique, suggesting the news business is chasing hype to compete with internet personalities.
4 'I think that [CNN is] trying too hard to compete with these pod bros and people who sell hysteria for profit,' Cuomo said on his show.
Getty Images
Still, he pushed back on some of O'Reilly's points — especially the role of anonymous sources.
'Trump asked for it by saying everything was obliterated, so he asks for the criticism, because he doesn't know that either,' Cuomo said.
'But anonymous sources matter, Bill. If it weren't for anonymous sources, in your career and mine, very often you wouldn't know anything about what's happening in the halls of power.'
Though Cuomo was fired by CNN in 2021, he expressed admiration for many of its journalists, while calling out what he sees as its recent ideological tilt.
'Even though I got fired, I have a lot of respect for the men and women who are doing the job there, and I miss a lot of them,' he said.
4 President Trump has denounced CNN and other news outlets who reported the intelligence assessment.
Ken Cedeno/UPI/Shutterstock
'But they see what's happening on the left. You see that they're in MAGA mode… There are no more Democrats. There are no more Republicans. There's MAGA, and now you have whatever they call the new lefty MAGA.'
A CNN spokesperson told The Post: 'CNN stands by our thorough reporting on an early intelligence assessment of the recent strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, which has since been confirmed by other news organizations. The White House has acknowledged the existence of the assessment, and their statement is included in our story.'
Cuomo was fired from CNN in December 2021 after it was revealed that he used his media connections to assist his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in responding to sexual harassment allegations.
The news anchor lashed out at the Democratic Party earlier this week after his brother lost in the New York City mayoral primary to socialist underdog Zohran Mamdani, declaring on his NewsNation show that the Democratic Party is 'dead' and accusing it of embracing extremism.
He also took aim at Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling her a 'deranged form of Democrat,' and expressed disbelief at her continued popularity.
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