Kirk Clyatt: US Correspondent on the latest developments regarding the US strikes on Iran

The Trump Administration has hit out at reporters pushing back against their official line on Iran. 

US President Donald Trump continues to insist the strikes from the US obliterated Iran’s nuclear sites – a stance Iran’s Supreme Leader claims is exaggerated.  

Fox News’ Pentagon Correspondent Jennifer Griffin questioned Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth during a press conference, asking if the White House was certain all the highly enriched uranium was inside the Fordow Mountain – the location hit by the US.  

US Correspondent Kirk Clyatt joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to break down the latest developments. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Clyent, US correspondence with US he Cook.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hey, it's great to be with you, Heather, and you
kind of alluded to it with these differences of opinions
from the US senators. There's an all saying in journalism,
if your mom says she loves you, get a second source.
And the Trump administration is certainly not too happy when
reporters try to get a second source and push back
on the official line that the administration is still sticking with.

(00:26):
With American B two bombers obliterated Arand's nuclear facilities, there
was just a wild press briefing at the Pentagon this morning. Now,
this is Jennifer Griffin. She is the Pentagon correspondent for
Fox News, a former colleague of Secretary of Defense Pete
Hetchis when he was, of course at Fox News, he

(00:46):
was the weekend morning show host before becoming Secretary of Defense.
And she was asking hess a question about what is
going on as far as the ability of NURAN to
regenerate their new clear program.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Do you have certainty that all the highly enriched uranium
was inside the Four Dome Mountain or some of it?
Because there were satellite photos that showed more than a
dozen trucks there two days in advance. Are you certain
none of that highly enriched uranium was moved.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Of course, we're.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Watching every single aspect, But Jennifer, you've been about the worst,
the one who misrepresents the most intentionally.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
I know what the President says, and of course he
saith at the NATO summit just recently concluded at the
Hague and the Netherlands said so, if you want to
make an assessment of what happened, you better get a
big shovel and go really deep, because Iran's nuclear program
is here again their favorite word, obliterated. The President is

(01:44):
not at all happy with some of these leaks that
have now been confirmed to come out in all capital letters.
This morning, he posted on social media fake news reporters
from CNN and The New York Times should be fired
immediately three exclamation points, bad people with evil intentions. And
the administration today, including the Press Secretary, has called out

(02:05):
Natasha Bertrand from CNN with the president. How is it
to have the President of the United States calling for
you to be fired from CNN? He goes on and on.
The President Trump says she should be fired immediately and
thrown out like a dog. Just amazing commentary that we

(02:25):
have continue on a daily basis from the White House.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, just another day with Donald Trump and charge. Listen,
if you've got senators going into the same briefing and
you've got the Republicans coming out and saying it was obliteration,
and you've got the Democrats coming out and saying it
was not obliteration at all, then I think the fair
assumption is that it's somewhere in the middle right, that
there was significant damage down, but we don't know how much.

Speaker 2 (02:45):
That is pretty much the case. You know, it's always
the story if you're in a courtroom and you have
eyewitness testimony, always take that with a grain of silent,
the grain of sand, because it could go really either way.
And we have amazing stories coming from the Heartment of
Homeland Security. They're now pushing back Heather. He may have
heard about this. Earlier this month, a young Norwegian tourist

(03:06):
named Madz Milkinson says that he had been denied entry
to the country simply because he had a meme of
a fat and bald Vice President JD Vance on his phone.
DHS says he was not let in now because he
admitted marijuana use and had a picture of a wooden
pipe on his phone. But wait, how can you be
deported for doing something that is legal for recreational use,

(03:29):
including in New Jersey where he came into the US
at Newark Airport, in almost half the states. Well, the
states say it's okay to use marijuana, but it's still
a federal crime, so you still can technically be deported.
Same thing happened to Australian journalist Alis stair Kitchen when
he tried to come back into the US earlier this month.
The real reason, and it was even alluded to him

(03:51):
by according to him, by some of the Customs and
Border Patrol agents, was because of his reporting about pro
Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University in New York. Speaking from
Melbourne after flying to Los Angeles and then right back
to Australia, he had this advice for anyone thinking of
a visit to the US.

Speaker 4 (04:10):
If you don't have a great reason to go to
the United States and you're a tourist, this might not
be the time. The second is that if you have
anything sensitive on your phone, do not take that phone.
Take a burner phone, populate it with some content so
that it doesn't look suspicious. And the third thing is
if all that fails and you end up in the
position that I was in, and you were offered after

(04:30):
getting off a fifteen hour flight, a choice between deportation
and having your phone searched and downloaded. My view is
accept immediate deportation.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
Now head the I don't go quite that extreme. I
was just in Mexico last week and last month. But
what I even do is I turn off face ID
because in our interesting wives, I don't think our founding
fathers had any idea of biometric identification. They can just
hold the phone to you and unlock your phone if
you have face ID, but if you turn that off,

(05:04):
they are not allowed because of Fourth Amendment and unreasonable
search and seizure to get into your phone. They're not
able to compel you to give them the pass code
if you're an American, but they can still take your phone.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Kirk, that is very very good advice to anyone traveling
with dodgy stuff on their phone. Thank you appreciate it, Kirk.
Client us corresponds.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio