On Monday night, Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) Doug Collins shellacked longtime CNN correspondent Brian Todd over a report late last week claiming VA call centers were being automated, noting he ran the story despite Collins and his team offering facts countering this predictable spin from the Trump-hating network. Collins’s takedown came in the form of a thread on X, starting with a simple statement that surely got everyone’s attention: He then explained Todd reaches out “[e]very few days...asking for the department’s response to whatever fake controversy VA’s critics are pushing” and his current hobbyhorse “seems to be regurgitating pre-packaged opposition research VA critics prepare for him.” Collins then got to the heart of his claim about VA call centers, which veterans use for any number of reasons, including help understanding their benefits, tapping into the GI Bill, or to speak with someone at their local VA clinic: Late last week, Brian struck again, claiming to have a scoop about a proposal to “automate VA call centers.” In reality, no such plans exist. Brian’s scoop was based on false, deliberately leaked “information” from people who aren’t involved in our planning process. In other words, Brian was the target of a disinformation operation designed to generate fake news. The Secretary said his team “warned Brian that his allegations were not credible, but he ignored us & ran his false story anyway, while other outlets smartly steered clear of it.” Since this was CNN, their publication drew swift responses from the VA and outreach to Todd with requests to speak to his editor. Of course, Collins said Todd “refused to put us in touch with his editor” and “[w]e only got through to an editor after calling everyone we know at CNN to complain about Brian’s story.” That didn’t result in any changes as the “editor and another CNN senior executive refused to retract the fake story” and instead asked for another “statement responding to the story’s fake allegations.” Collins then went nuclear over the next two X posts: “What happened to the journalistic principle of verifying something is true before publication? With standards like these, it’s easy to see why a jury recently found CNN liable for defamation and ordered the network to pay $5 million in damages.” As of this blog’s publication, Todd has yet to respond to requests for comment from NewsBusters on reporting and the allegations from Collins. As many NewsBusters readers are likely aware, the case he referred to the CNN defamation case against Navy veteran Zachary Young that our Nick Fondacaro literally chronicled from start to finish. Collins ended the thread with another jab: “[Wolf Blitzer] – Please hold your employee, [Brian Todd], to a higher standard. Thank you.” Collins in particular has taken an aggressive stance against biased reporting. Along with his throwdown with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins last week, he tangled with a Military.com reporter on March 11 and even The Wall Street Journal three days later.