The media pounced this week on what they believed were contradictory statements from President Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard about the current status of Iran's alleged efforts to manufacture nuclear weapons.

Trump, who believes Iran is "very close" to acquiring such weapons, appeared to be dismissive of Gabbard's prior testimony to Congress in March that Iran was not currently building nuclear weapons when asked on Monday, according to Fox News.

Yet, while the media scrambled to highlight the apparent disparity, the Trump White House and Gabbard herself were insistent that everyone was "saying the same thing" and on the "same page" concerning Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Gabbard said Iran was not building nuclear weapons in March

In March, DNI Gabbard testified before the House Intelligence Committee to deliver the U.S. Intelligence Community's Annual Threat Assessment, within which there was certainly a discussion of the varied threats posed by the Islamic Republic of Iran, including its regional influence, ballistic missiles program, cyber attacks, and support for terrorists and proxy groups, among other things.

"The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khomeini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003," Gabbard said at the time. "We continue to monitor closely if Tehran decides to reauthorize its nuclear weapons program."

"In the past year, we've seen an erosion of a decades-long taboo in Iran on discussing nuclear weapons in public, likely emboldening nuclear weapons advocates within Iran's decision-making apparatus," she added. "Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons."

"I don't care what she said"

Fast-forward to Monday and an impromptu press conference on board Air Force One as President Trump returned early from a G7 summit in Canada to more closely monitor the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran that erupted on Friday with Israel's coordinated and preemptive surprise attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and military infrastructure.

Trump told reporters that he believed Iran was "very close" to producing nuclear weapons, only to be confronted about what his chief intelligence advisor had said in her testimony months earlier.

"I don't care what she said," Trump said. "I think they were very close to having one."

"Everyone is saying the same thing"

The media and the president's critics hit the ground running with what they thought was a glaring disparity on the topic of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program between Trump and a senior Cabinet official, only to be met with swift pushback that downplayed the purported gap on the issue.

An unnamed White House official told Fox News that Trump and Gabbard were "closely aligned" on Iran and that Gabbard had simply testified that Iran wasn't believed to be building nuclear weapons at that moment, though they certainly had the capability and resources to do so at any time.

Likewise, an anonymous senior intelligence official told the outlet there was "no daylight" between the president and the national intelligence director, not to mention the International Atomic Energy Agency, on the status of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, and that "Everyone is saying the same thing."

Similarly, an unnamed senior intelligence official -- perhaps the same one -- told Axios that Trump's statement and Gabbard's testimony did not conflict with each other, and explained of Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions, "There's a distinction. Just because they don't have one does not mean that they don't want to build one."

Then there is Gabbard herself, who told a CNN reporter that she and Trump were "on the same page" regarding Iran's nuclear program, and said, "Pres Trump was saying the same thing that I said in my annual threat assessment back in March. Unfortunately, too many people in the media don't care to actually read what I said."