President Trump Calls for Firing of '51 Intel Spies Who Lie' Author Natasha Bertrand
On Tuesday afternoon, CNN broadcast a "Breaking News" segment claiming that, according to "three sources," an early battle damage assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency showed that the U.S. strike in Iran over the weekend did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear program and "likely only set it back a few months."
CNN National Security correspondent Natasha Bertrand reported on the exclusive report, which was only "described by seven people briefed on it," acknowledging that it is preliminary reporting and that intelligence is still being gathered. Bertrand still reported that, based on the early assessment by U.S. Central Command, "looking at the images and looking at what was actually damaged," most of the "core components of Iran's nuclear program are largely intact, and that Iran's nuclear program has essentially only been set back by months."
THIS IS WHY NO INE WAS TOLD ABOUT THE HIT ON IRAN !!!! They would have known a week in advance…CNN IS NOW GETTING TOP SECRET BRIEFINGS NOW pic.twitter.com/RjTZ4zFI0W
— Mark (@tide_forever) June 24, 2025
The Gateway Pundit reported on President Trump's reaction to the CNN "exclusive" Tuesday evening, calling CNN, and the New York Times, "FAKE NEWS" and saying they "TEAMED UP" to try and discredit the attack's success.
Today, President Trump went a step further and shone the spotlight on Bertrand herself, calling for her termination from the network.
Several Mockingbird outlets latched onto the "exclusive" report, including the BBC and the New York Times. President Trump has maintained that the Iranian nuclear program was "OBLITERATED," citing Israel's confirmation in a post on Truth Social this afternoon.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said today that she believes the FBI is investigating the source of the top-secret leak and confirmed that Iran "no longer has the capability to produce a nuclear weapon as imminently as they did prior to the strike."
When asked what should happen to the leaker, Leavitt responded, "they should be in jail" as she walked away from the gaggle.
NEW: Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says whoever leaked the intelligence report to CNN should GO TO JAIL!
Leavitt "They took bits and pieces from a leaked top secret intelligence report. And by the way, I understand the FBI is investigating who was the source of that… pic.twitter.com/DswPJ06kEU
— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) June 25, 2025
This isn't Bertrand's first mix-up in highly-controversial reporting. In October 2020, while writing for Politico, Bertrand spread mis- and disinformation regarding the Hunter Biden laptop story, stating in her piece's title "Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say."
In May 2023, The Gateway Pundit reported that the emails contained in the Weaponization of the Federal Government subcommittee showed that Bertrand was, in fact, told that the "Spies Who Lie" were not "making a call on whether the materials are true or not" and just that they "believe[d] Moscow played a role in getting the information out."
The article from Politico, written by Bertrand, kicked off a social media censorship frenzy. Twitter, now X, and Facebook, now Meta, were blocking almost any reporting or mention of the story. Twitter went as far as censoring the story from being sent via Direct Message.
One report by Paul Sperry showed that "8 in 10 Think Biden Laptop Cover-Up Changed Election." But there has yet to be any repercussions for the highly-orchestrated "rush job" from the '51 Spies Who Lie,' spearheaded by then-campaign advisor Antony Blinken, who went on to be Secretary of State, and former CIA Acting Director Michael Morell.
Natasha Bertrand still remains gainfully employed at CNN despite her misrepresentation of a story attributed to interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election.