Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins took CNN apart in a lengthy X thread on Monday, ripping into the network over what he said was a fake story that the network ran with despite his repeated assertions that there was no truth to it. Collins laid out what happened in a series of posts, saying that Brian Todd — a regular correspondent for “The Situation Room” — had reached out to him several times for comments on stories that were based on ‘false, deliberately leaked ‘information,”” and had published a story even after he was told that there was no truth to the “scoop” he thought he had. “True stories about the fake news: @CNN edition,” Collins began his thread. True stories about the fake news: @CNN edition. ? — VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) April 1, 2025 “Every few days, a guy named @BrianToddCNN reaches out to us, asking for the department’s response to whatever fake controversy VA’s critics are pushing. I’m not sure what his actual beat is, but his specialty seems to be regurgitating pre-packaged opposition research VA critics prepare for him,” Collins said. 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… — VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) April 1, 2025 “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,” Collins continued. “In other words, Brian was the target of a disinformation operation designed to generate fake news.” Collins went on to say that even though officials at the VA had made it clear to Todd that “his allegations were not credible,” their warnings had gone unheeded and CNN ran the story anyway. Efforts to get Todd to connect the VA to his editor were also ignored, but they eventually were able to get through. That editor and another CNN senior executive refused to retract the fake story. Instead, they insisted everything would be OK if we just gave them a statement responding to the story’s fake allegations. What happened to the journalistic principle of verifying something is true… — VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) April 1, 2025 “That editor and another CNN senior executive refused to retract the fake story. Instead, they insisted everything would be OK if we just gave them a statement responding to the story’s fake allegations,” Collins added. “What happened to the journalistic principle of verifying something is true before publication?” Collins concluded with a jab at the network over the recent defamation case that cost them millions, saying, “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.” .@wolfblitzer – Please hold your employee, @BrianToddCNN, to a higher standard. Thank you (7/7) — VA Secretary Doug Collins (@SecVetAffairs) April 1, 2025 “@wolfblitzer – Please hold your employee,@BrianToddCNN, to a higher standard. Thank you,” Collins said.