'It was obliterated': CNN anchor corners Republican on Trump's Iran story

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins demanded Trump House ally Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) defend President Donald Trump’s claims that the U.S. “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear building arsenal while also claiming a need to invade to obliterate it again a mere handful of months later.

Last year, Trump claimed to Fox entertainers that U.S. missile strikes on Iran's Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities had "completely and totally obliterated" that nation’s nuclear capacities.

But now Trump is threatening to invade Iran claiming the nation is on the cusp of nuclear capabilities.

Mullin defended Trump’s calls to invade on CNN Wednesday night.

“A nuclear Iran is bad for the entire world. It's bad for the economy remember,” said Mullin. “This is the No. 1 sponsor of terror around the world, and they make no bones about who their enemy is. They chant ‘death to America!’ since 1979. … [T]hey said they were done trying to build a nuclear weapon, yet they're obviously trying to rebuild it. We're not going to let that happen.”

“If we obliterated it — we being the United States last summer — then why are you worried about it right now?” Collins asked.

“Because they're rebuilding it, and you can see them rebuilding it,” Mullin said.

“But it was obliterated,” Collins repeated.

“But that doesn't mean you can't rebuild. I mean people have car accidents and obliterate their bones and their legs, and yet they can still put — you know, they can still put metal back in them and, and, and walk again.”

“But obliterated last June,” Collins pressed. “How is it February, and we're now, as [U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East] Steve Witkoff put it, ‘a week away from Iran having nuclear weapons?’”

“I don't know. I can't speak for, for Steve,” Mullin said. “I haven't got those reports. And you know, I've been read in on some of these programs. And so, I don't know what Steve is looking at. I don't say anything's wrong or right. I just haven't seen those reports.”

Collins again pressed Mullin to explain the inconsistency a few minutes later in the interview. “I think it's just hard sometimes to get your head around that: We were told last summer it was ‘obliterated,’ and now we're saying a strike might be necessary. … How can you rebuild from ‘obliterated?’”

“I just — I’ve already explained that,” Mullin insisted. “How do you rebuild your legs after you shatter them? How do you rebuild a house after it's been knocked down by a tornado or a hurricane? You can rebuild things. The, the foundation may still be there. You can build a lot back on a foundation once the top of it is removed. And so, the structure, if the, if the structure of the foundation is there, they can start rebuilding.”

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