Out CNN host Anderson Cooper didn’t take kindly to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aggressive accusations of media bias at an unhinged press coverage, methodically disproving Hegseth’s claims with clips from CNN’s coverage.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, raged at journalists Thursday morning at a press conference where he accused them of “cheering against” the president after the U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. In one exchange, he told the well-respected chief national security correspondent at the Pentagon for Fox News, Jennifer Griffin (his former colleague), that she’s “been about the worst” as “one who misrepresents the most intentionally.”

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But a lot of his ire was directed at reporting on an early intelligence assessment of the strikes and at “fake news” CNN specifically. Cooper pointed out on CNN that “a number of the claims he [Hegseth] made about the reporting were not accurate.”

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Cooper then played a montage of clips of what Hegseth said about media reports mixed in with clips from CNN’s actual coverage that contradicted Hegseth’s claims.

For example, Hegseth accused CNN and the New York Times of providing “fawning” coverage of the early Defense assessment without mentioning that it will actually take weeks to get enough data to fully assess the outcome of the airstrikes.

“This initial intelligence assessment from the DIA [Defense Intelligence Agency], which was leaked, was, as we reported, very preliminary, no doubt, more assessments using other methods, other sources, and deeper analysis are being done,” Cooper said in a clip showing how he actually discussed that report.

Hegseth also claimed that the media wasn’t using the word “destroyed” to discuss the impact of the military strikes. Cooper then played multiple clips of CNN reporting where that exact word was used.

The incident highlights the current administration’s general opposition to journalism and hostility towards mainstream media outlets. Early in the administration, the AP was banned from White House press briefings because the storied press organization refused to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”

The White House has instead let rightwing podcasters and conspiracy theorists attend press briefings, and they have predictably asked softball questions of the administration.

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