Cuomo Critiques New York Times on Trump’s Iran Strike Coverage

Chris Cuomo, host on News Nation, expressed his discontent with the New York Times on Thursday. He took issue with the headlines in an article suggesting he had misrepresented President Donald Trump’s success regarding the June strike on Iran’s nuclear facility.

The New York Times released a report stating that “Some of Iran’s rich uranium survived the attack,” referencing the U.S. airstrikes on various uranium enrichment sites in Iran. Cuomo asserted during his show “Cuomo” that the media outlet misled readers by implying significance around the strike.

He commented, “Now it’s the headline ‘We’ve been screwed.’ Is that so? There’s still a possibility for them to create bombs. The understanding here suggests a failure on Trump’s part, with the administration being able to construct bombs. What’s the reality? One really has to dig deep into the article to grasp that.”

Cuomo mentioned that around 60% of people generally only skim headlines, and he pointed out that just 25% read more than that.

“You know who’s aware of this? Media outlets and, well, other tricky individuals,” he stated. “That’s why important elements are often overshadowed. The New York Times mentioned that the necessary equipment to enrich uranium is likely destroyed or irreparably damaged.” He questioned, “Isn’t that a bit different from what the headline suggests?” Cuomo elaborated, indicating that Israeli officials’ worries about Iran’s recovery efforts are being sidestepped.

Political analyst Mark Halperin echoed Cuomo’s concerns, criticizing CNN and the New York Times for portraying Trump as deceptive based on an earlier assessment of the damage caused by the strikes.

After the attacks, Trump claimed he had “completely wiped out” crucial Iranian nuclear sites; however, both outlets pointed to an intelligence report suggesting that Iran’s nuclear program might only be temporarily stalled.

Both CNN and the New York Times leaned on unnamed sources, noting that the intelligence assessments challenged Trump’s assertions.

However, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), CIA, and even the Iranian government disputed some of CNN’s coverage regarding initial damage reports, claiming that the strike indeed caused substantial harm to Iran’s nuclear endeavors.

Later, the DIA went on to label the assessments as “unreliable.”