CNN anchor fact-checks GOP rep in real time using Trump's own words

Outgoing U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter lost his seat in the Georgia primary while running for the Republican nomination against Sen. Jon Ossoff, but he was beaten in the primary by his even more MAGA opponent Rep. Mike Collins (who then went on to fail against Ossoff in the general election).

But Carter is still defending President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, despite Trump himself canceling out the reason for being there in a recent interview.

Carter insisted to CNN anchor Briana Keilar on Tuesday that the U.S. should “finish” the war in Iran — even though he could not describe what an Iran victory would look like.

“We're dealing with a conflict that has been going on for 47 years. We're dealing with a country where they chant in the streets, ‘death to America.’ These people, they don't have any sense.”

“I hear you and you’ve said that before,” said Keilar, interrupting him. “You said that the U.S. didn't start this particular episode very clearly. And voters do not agree with you, if you're looking at the polls.”

But while Carter admitted that Keilar was “absolutely right that “voters don't agree with us,” he insisted voters did not understand the necessity of de-nuclearizing Iran.

Keilar then played a clip of Trump telling “60 Minutes” reporter Ross Douthat that he dismissed the idea that Iran even had nuclear material for a nuclear weapons program.

“They have they have nothing,” Trump told Douthat. “It's buried under thousands of tons of rock.”

“They ‘have nothing,’ he says. And if it's buried under thousands of tons of rock, as you're aware it has been since June of 2025 … why did the U.S. then go to war to stop a nuclear weapon program … and why are you saying that is the basis for continuing?” Keilar demanded.

“I do not have access to the intelligence that this administration has to know whether Iran is continuing to try to develop a nuclear bomb, if they're continuing to try to develop ballistic missiles that can reach our homeland. If they have a nuclear weapon, they will use them. And we cannot allow that to happen,” said Carter.

“But he says ‘they have nothing,’ Keilar insisted.

“Well, I trust the president, if that's what he says. But he must have some intelligence that tells him we've got to stop them,” Carter said, before adopting an accusatory tone “… How much longer do you want it to go on? Those people, they chant death to America in the streets. They want us dead. They want us wiped out.”

“It's not about what I want,” shot Keilar. “We're talking about what the voters want. A Reuters Ipsos poll shows 71 percent of Americans and 51 percent of Republicans want Congress to end the Iran war. Are they wrong?”

“No, I'm not saying the people are wrong. We want the war to end. The president wants the war to end, but we want to make sure that Iran is decimated, that they don't have the opportunity to hold the Strait [of Hormuz] hostage and manipulate gas prices like they have been doing,” said Carter.

“But they weren't doing that until the war began, with the Strait of Hormuz,” said Keilar. “And the president is saying ‘they have nothing’ and that this nuclear stuff is buried under thousands of tons of rock.”

Carter was huffing and losing his temper at that point: “If you want to continue to defend the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world, that's fine, but I'm not going to…”

“I’m quoting the president. I am not defending Iran,” blurted Keilar. “I am telling you what the president said in an interview, and I played his words for you, and I know you heard him.”

- YouTube youtu.be