CNN anchor Jake Tapper repeatedly insisted that President Donald Trump had openly called for “genocide” in Iran, prompting a quick response from his Sunday morning guest, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
Stefanik joined the longtime host of “State of the Union” to discuss her book, “Poisoned Ivies” — where she confronts the “academic and moral rot” that have taken over America’s elite educational institutions — and Tapper used her criticisms of the recent pro-Hamas protests to lay a rhetorical trap for her.
Stefanik shared a clip from Sunday morning’s interview along with her own caption that read, “@jaketapper falsely compares President Trump to the radical pro-Hamas antisemites who physically assaulted, spit on American students faces, drew swastikas on their doors, and rioted and destroyed university property. President Trump has targeted the Iranian terrorist regime to save the Iranian people and the world from the largest state sponsor of terror that has slaughtered their own people.”
WATCH:
And here it is 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥from @cnn @CNNSOTU @jaketapper falsely compares President Trump to the radical pro-Hamas antisemites who physically assaulted, spit on American students faces, drew swastikas on their doors, and rioted and destroyed university property.
President… pic.twitter.com/dXO68D98DW
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) April 19, 2026
Tapper began by noting that Stefanik had called out the anti-semitic protests at the time, saying, “You were praised by many in the Jewish community when you criticized the college presidents who refused to condemn students for chanting ‘From the river to the sea,’ which many Jews interpret to be, and you agreed — you characterized it as a genocide, a call for genocide, to wipe out all the Jews in Israel, ‘From the river to the sea.'”
But then he pivoted: “So just to be clear, you believe that wiping out an entire civilization is genocidal and nobody should make a call to do such a thing?”
Stefanik said yes, genocide is always bad.
“That’s why the question I asked, which was, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate your university’s code of conduct, yes or no? I worded it because it was a very simple straightforward question. It was not a political one. And the world heard as these universities equivocated saying it depends on the context or it’s a context-dependent decision. It is not,” she said.
Tapper dropped the other shoe then, referencing Trump’s blustery Truth Social posted threatening the Iranian regime and asking, “What did you think when President Trump threatened to obliterate the entire Iranian civilization?”
Stefanik pushed back immediately, noting that Trump had been speaking directly to the Iranian regime in an attempt to verbally strong-arm them to the negotiating table.
“And what did it do? It brought the Iranians to the table. It led to the ceasefire. We know that President Trump has very strong statements when it comes to his tweets, but it has been targeted towards the Iranian terrorist regime,” she said.
“He said the entire civilization will die,” Tapper insisted.
“He was focused on the Iranian terrorist regime. And Jake, isn’t it true that it brought the Iranians to the table to a cease-fire agreement?” Stefanik continued.
“I don’t know,” Tapper replied.
“It did, because they had a ceasefire agreement going on for days. And President Trump is correct to call out the Iranian terrorist regime, which has financed Hamas and Hezbollah, which I believe has led to some of the financing of the skyrocketing antisemitism,” Stefanik said.
“Yes, but I’m not talking about the regime,” Tapper protested.
“Jake, you can ask this question, but the reality is it was targeted towards the Iranian terrorist regime. It was an effective tool to bring them to the table. They have no cards,” Stefanik added.
Tapper continued to insist that he was not talking about the regime, and that what Trump had said was clearly a call for genocide — but Stefanik was not convinced.
“I just have to say it’s interesting that a 20-year-old college kid on a campus yelling ‘From the river to the sea,’ that’s worthy of condemnation, but a President of the United States who actually has—” Tapper began.
“You don’t think it’s worthy of condemnation? Jake, you don’t think it’s worthy of condemnation of students that are targeting Jewish students, that are physically assaulting them, that are spitting in their face, that are drawing swastikas on their doors, these students who have to hire security?”
“I don’t need a lesson on what it’s like to be a Jewish student,” Tapper replied.
“But you’re equivocating, like those university presidents,” Stefanik declared.
The two went on in that same vein for several minutes as Tapper tried unsuccessfully to end the interview.
“President Trump was not calling for genocide. Shame on CNN for saying that,” Stefanik jabbed as they wrapped the segment.
“I read the quote. Thank you so much,” was Tapper’s reply.
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