Trump hints at forcing reporters to reveal sources on Iran strike intel leak: 'They should be prosecuted'
WASHINGTON, DC: It looks like Donald Trump is going after journalists and their sources in Congress who leaked an intelligence assessment on US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites.
In an interview on 'Sunday Morning Futures' with Maria Bartiromo, the president doubled down on his claim that last weekend’s airstrikes on Iran were a total success — and then took aim at the media and Democrats for saying otherwise.
The strikes, according to Trump, “obliterated" the Iranian government’s entire (or a majority) of its supply of enriched uranium, and supposedly crushed their nuclear weapons development program.
Trump wants leakers exposed, sources 'prosecuted'
The controversy began after some outlets published pieces of an intelligence assessment that didn’t exactly match the White House's narrative. According to the leaked findings, the strikes didn’t quite get the job done and may have only delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions by a couple of months.
The reports sparked backlash from Trump, who accused Democrats of leaking the info and warned that legal action was on the table.
“The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!” he posted on social media Thursday.
In his interview with Bartiromo — which was taped Friday and aired Sunday — Trump didn’t back down from that threat, Mediaite reported.
“They should be prosecuted,” he reiterated.
When Bartiromo asked, “Who specifically?” Trump responded, “You can find out. If they wanted, they could find out easily.”
He then laid out how he'd go about catching the leakers. “You go up and tell the reporter, ‘National security, who gave it?’ You have to do that. And I suspect we’ll be doing things like that," Trump said.
Congress might be in trouble too over Iran intel leak
That said, the Trump camp is also reportedly working on cutting back how much intelligence they share with Congress — especially after this leak.
NBC News reported that a senior White House official revealed plans to scale back intel briefings to lawmakers, especially those on the Intelligence Committees and the so-called “Gang of Eight.”
While Congress technically has the power to push back — especially when it comes to demanding testimony from government officials — don’t expect much fire from Trump’s side of the aisle.
House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed to NBC News that he backs Trump’s claim that someone in Congress gave journalists access to part of the Iran strike assessment. In Johnson’s view, the leaker should be held accountable, too.
The pushback isn't surprising. The leaked assessment undercuts Trump’s victory parade and says that instead of wiping out Iran’s nuclear progress, the US strikes actually failed to destroy core components of the program — including that precious enriched uranium stockpile. The assessment suggests the attacks only set Iran back a few months.
Pete Hegseth slams press for fawning over 'low confidence' reports
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, had plenty to say. On Thursday, Hegseth blasted major outlets like CNN and the New York Times for what he called “breathlessly” reporting on a Pentagon assessment that the strikes weren’t as effective as claimed.
He said those early reports were based on flimsy data, calling it a “low confidence” finding from the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA report said Iran could get its nuclear program back online in as little as one to two months, but that wasn’t final.
“Whether it’s fake news CNN, MSNBC, or the New York Times, there’s been fawning of a preliminary assessment,” Hegseth vented to the Pentagon press corps.
He added that “it requires weeks to accumulate the necessary data to make such an assessment,” and said the early intel hadn’t even been cross-checked with the broader US intelligence community and were "low confidence" assessments.
“It says in the report there are gaps in the information; it says in the report ‘multiple linchpin assumptions,'” Hegseth went on. “If you’re wrong, everything else is wrong, and yet, still, this report acknowledges it’s likely severe damage.”
Hegseth noted that both the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission and the UN’s nuclear watchdog agreed that the US strikes had delivered serious blows to Iran’s nuke sites.
“Have any of these quotes made their way into the New York Times or the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN?” he asked. “In hunting for scandals all the time, in trying to find wedges and spin stories, this press corps and the press corps miss historic moments," he concluded.
