CNN makes GOP lawmaker squirm under pressure: 'You don't believe the president's threat?'

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) was put on the spot by CNN’s John Berman Tuesday after refusing to directly address President Donald Trump’s threat to permanently destroy Iran’s civilization, and instead, attempted several times to downplay the threat’s severity.

In a statement issued Tuesday morning, Trump warned that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again,” noting that while he did not “want that to happen,” but that it “probably will.” His threat comes as his deadline he imposed on Iran to lift restrictions on a critical shipping channel is set to expire Tuesday night at 8 p.m. EST.

“Does being reluctant to end a civilization make it okay?” Berman asked Lawler, who supported Trump in the 2024 GOP primary election.

“I don't think we're talking about ending a civilization,” Lawler said.

“Are you saying you don't believe the president's threat?” Berman pushed back.

Lawler argued that Trump’s threat to permanently destroy Iran’s civilization was, in fact, not a threat to end Iran’s civilization, but rather, a threat to destroy its “energy infrastructure and civilian infrastructure.”

Berman pressed Lawler again.

“You don't believe the threat?” Berman asked. “You don't take him at his word that he will end a whole civilization?”

Again, Lawler deflected, and argued Trump was “talking about the energy and civilian infrastructure.”

“Is he?” Berman said. “Have you had a conversation with him about that? He says 'never to be brought back again!' It just means the bridges and the infrastructure?”

Lawler deflected again to insisting Trump was not threatening to end Iran’s civilization, despite explicitly saying as much, and accused Berman of “parsing” Trump’s remarks.

“I wasn't parsing, I was quoting,” Berman fired back.