Cornish Touts Former Military Analyst’s Iran Views, Omits Zeteo Ties

In her introduction of Mann, she asked about war crimes and asked Mann to help her “understand the history there.” Nowhere in her introduction, did she note that Mann just started to write for Zeteo. A Zeteo article that announced Mann’s contributorship called Mann an “ex-Defense intelligence analyst turned truth-teller on Iran and Gaza.” CNN This Morning had on a retired Maj. Harrison Mann, a former intelligence analyst who resigned in 2024 over US support of Israel, to allege Trump is doing war crimes. Cornish did not disclose that Mann is now a contributor to Mehdi Hasan's Zeteo. pic.twitter.com/bCQMPoIV7a — Nick (@nspin310) April 20, 2026 Following Cornish’s war crime question, Mann made his own introduction as he praised himself for his resignation: “Yeah. As somebody who resigned under the last administration to avoid being complicit in war crimes, I, unfortunately, have some experience on this.” After his self-praise and resignation disclosure, he claimed Trump had threatened war crimes and he was only “threatening to destroy them as a punishment to the Iranian government.” Of course, Iran had been fighting and had shot missiles into American military bases and troops, some that had resulted in the deaths of American troops. It seemed that punishments for the Iranian government would be valid since they had attacked troops and civilian locations throughout the region. Mann said Trump was “doing war crimes to show that he’s serious,” while he claimed Israel had blown up universities that train scientists for Iran’s nuclear program, but it was not “legal”: That's why possibly we see Israel blowing up universities because they say, oh, that trains nuclear scientists who build Iran's nuclear program. Yes, it contributes to the government, but it doesn't make it legal, and it doesn't make it right to attack those. Cornish asked what tactics Dems should use to “stop a war.” Mann suggested government shutdown tactics similar to the DHS shutdown: “Congress figured out they should stop funding DHS because they didn't like what ICE was doing. They need to think about using the same pressure about the Pentagon.” Cornish continued her portrayal of Mann as a guide. CORNISH: I feel like they're trying to protect their lifeline to dudes who look and sound like you. Like a military dude. Independent thinking, anti-war. Like, it feels like they would have lost that person. pic.twitter.com/iNPsh4HTDH — Nick (@nspin310) April 20, 2026 Cornish then framed Mann as a moral example of former U.S military and their views on war, especially the war in Iran. She praised Mann and began her praise of him for being a former military guy against the President: I'm glad you're here as a man, as a guy, former military and as somebody who is anti-war, because that is a Venn diagram that's been a circle, frankly, in this conversation when people are saying they don't like what the president is doing. After a conversation on Joe Rogan, Cornish returned to the Mann praise: “I feel like they're trying to protect their lifeline to dudes who look and sound like you. Like a military dude. Independent thinking, anti-war. Like, it feels like they would have lost that person.” CNN and Audie Cornish had placed Mann on as a seeming representation of a majority of U.S. service members and men in general, who were seemingly, according to Cornish, now anti-War. To have an undisclosed Zeteo contributor, who resigned from the military over Israel now be a TV military analyst and moral military guide of a panel blurred the truth, just as it omitted his connections to Mehdi Hasan’s media platform. The transcript is below. Click expand: CNN This Morning April 20, 2026 6:52:32 AM Eastern (...) AUDIE CORNISH: All right, group chat is back. And we're bringing in Harrison Mann. He's a former U.S. Army major and former executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency's Middle East Africa regional center. To talk about a couple of things. One, this idea of war crimes, but two, something he just said, we have a long history of attacking infrastructure. When you hear that, can you help me understand the history there? HARRISON MANN: Yeah. As somebody who resigned under the last administration to avoid being complicit in war crimes, I, unfortunately, have some experience on this. There is a long history of the U.S. attacking civilian infrastructure. Sometimes, under very specific circumstances, it can be justified legally if you say that this power plant or bridge has military value. But in this case, Trump himself has made it very clear that these targets have no military value. That's why they haven't been blown up yet six weeks into this war. And he's only threatening them - threatening to destroy them as a punishment to the Iranian government. CORNISH: Yes, but a regime, like Iran's regime, all of these things contribute to them maintaining their grip on power, right? It seems like he's trying to use, for instance, bombing of the first bridge as leverage to show he's serious. MANN: He is indeed doing war crimes to show that he's serious. I mean, every part of the country contributes to national power, but that, you know, that's a very slippery slope. That's schools, universities, right? That's why possibly we see Israel blowing up universities because they say, oh, that trains nuclear scientists who build Iran's nuclear program. Yes, it contributes to the government, but it doesn't make it legal, and it doesn't make it right to attack those. CORNISH: Well, one of the things that's interesting is seeing this conversation happen with Democrats as well on - and on the left, which is, how do you spend your time if you want to stop a war, right? Do you do a war powers resolution? Do you have all of this talk about war crimes? Like, what's a useful way for people who were against this to protest it, those who are in political office? MANN: So, one really easy way, if we're talking about Congress, is to stop paying for the war. So, the Trump administration multiple times now has floated first 50 billion, then 200 billion, then 100 billion supplemental funding bills to pay for the cost of this war. And by the way, it is definitely going to reach 100 billion. When we talk about the many costs on the American people. But beyond that, I would say, honestly, if you are blindly funding the Pentagon budget and you know that's going to go towards a war that you don't want, what are you doing, right? Congress figured out they should stop funding DHS because they didn't like what ICE was doing. They need to think about using the same pressure about the Pentagon. CORNISH: I'm glad you're here as a man, as a guy, former military, and as somebody who is anti-war, because that is a Venn diagram that's been a circle, frankly, in this conversation when people are saying they don't like what the president is doing. And the president has basically tried to draw some lines between high profile critics in conservative media and others. (...) 6:57:29 AM Eastern SUSAN PAGE: You know, you talked about the shrinking MAGA tent before. And I think the reason you see this disparate treatment of Joe Rogan is because he is part of that bigger MAGA tent. And if you have any hopes of having a bigger MAGA tent, say, in the midterms, Joe Rogan could be part of that. CORNISH: I feel like they're trying to protect their lifeline to dudes who look and sound like you. Like a military dude. Independent thinking, anti-war. Like, it feels like they would have lost that person. MANN: So, I think even though Trump's MAGA base is still behind him on the war, there's aspects of it that are inherently unpopular with dudes who look and sound like me. Y'all already touched on the inflation, the economic cost. We haven't even gotten into how groceries are going to get much more expensive because fertilizer also goes through the Strait of Hormuz. But then there's another aspect that's very unpopular with all Americans, especially young men, especially Trump's base, and that's the perception of fighting a war on behalf of Israel, which the Trump administration has repeatedly stepped on a rake and reinforced. CORNISH: Yes. And we've talked about on this show the horseshoe politics of that on the left and on the right, how they are wrangling with their most marquee voices, specifically on Israel. MANN: Yes. And so, you know, as long as that continues and even - actually, Trump did a Truth Social post I think this weekend where he said, whether you like Israel or not, which is unusual for him, acknowledging that he knows a lot of people do not like Israel, and that's a very unpopular part of this war. And so, I think he's finally woken up to the fact that this is a really unpopular war, and it threatens at least a small segment of his normal supporters. (...) Nicholas Spinnato Mon, 04/20/2026 - 20:59 Marketing Timing Regular Search Engine Title CNN’s Audie Cornish Features Harrison Mann on Iran, Skips Zeteo Ties and Context CNS Commentary Off