Monday’s CBS Mornings played the proverbial role of the skunk at the garden party by scoffing at Saturday night’s U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, cheering “several countries across the Middle East” siding with Iran and blaming the U.S. for Iranian strikes this past weekend in Israel.
Senior foreign correspondent Debora Patta — who’s shown since October 7, 2023 a clear disgust with Israel and Jews — boasted “several countries across the Middle East have criticized the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites calling for diplomacy amid fears the war could spiral out of control.”
“This morning, sirens warned of another wave of Iranian missiles. This one exploding in Ashdod. And just hours after the weekend’s U.S. strikes, Iran unleashed a barrage of rockets, devastating a huge residential neighborhood in Tel Aviv. All that remained of this building were the hollowed out shells of apartments where people once lived,” she fretted.
Given her years of sympathetic coverage for Hamas terrorists amid a years-long war with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it’s rich to see her show concern for buildings being hit in Israel.
She made sure to tout the pro-regime thugs:
Israel has also not let up its bombing campaign on Iran and thousands of Iranians rallied in Tehran to protest Israeli and U.S. strikes. “The U.S. has no right to tell us what to do,” said Ali. “We must slap America hard.” Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Aragchi, is in Moscow today for talks with president Vladimir Putin...while Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has thanked the U.S. for stepping in and offered prayers for President Trump, saying he had driven out evil from the world. Netanyahu has also flirted with regime change in Iran.
Senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang doubled down on this, focusing on what co-host Gayle King called the “mixed messages” about any future U.S. intervention given President Trump’s Sunday tweet about regime change.
Jiang made sure to repeatedly tout congressional Democrats worked into a tizzy whether this was constitutional (which they, at most, issued tepid to semi-stern statements when foreign strikes happened in, say, Libya, Syria, and Yemen (click “expand”):
JIANG: President made the final decision to attack just a few hours earlier, giving the green light to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth while aboard Marine One. Democratic Senator Adam Schiff slammed Trump for striking Iran without approval from Congress.
SENATOR ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA) [on CNN’s State of the Union, 06/22/25]: This was not constitutional. It was not lawful in the absence of a declaration by Congress.
JIANG: On Face the Nation, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended Trump’s decision to carry out the operation.
SECRETARY OF STATE MARCO RUBIO [on CBS’s Face the Nation, 06/22/25]: Well, we have intelligence that they have everything they need to build a nuclear weapon. That’s more than enough.
JIANG: And he said the administration is not looking to overthrow the Iranian government.
RUBIO [on CBS’s Face the Nation, 06/22/25]: What we are focused on is not the changing of the regime. That’s up to the Iranian people if they want to do that. That’s not what we’re focused on.
JIANG: But then, in mixed messaging, Trump floated the idea in a social media post Sunday night saying, “if the current Iranian regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Earlier, his Vice President said America’s sole focus is ensuring Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.
VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE [on ABC’s This Week, 06/22/25]: We’re not at war with Iran, Jon. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program.
SENATOR TIM KAINE (D-VA) [on CBS’s Face the Nation, 06/22/25]: I think it’s BS, and I think anybody hearing it would conclude the same thing. When you’re bombing another nation, ask them if they think it’s war.
To see the relevant CBS transcript from June 22, click here.
