President Donald Trump suggested tracking down and prosecuting the leakers of a preliminary intelligence assessment of the damage inflicted by the recent U.S. strike on Iran.
In an interview with Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo, Bartiromo brought up a Truth Social post from Trump saying Democrats had leaked intelligence around the Iran strike, to which the president interjected that they should be prosecuted. When asked who specifically, Trump suggested the administration would find out the specific leaker, possibly by questioning the reporters who obtained the information.
“We can find out. 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,” he said.
Trump has long taken issue with reporters’ source confidentiality regarding national security matters. During the 2024 campaign, he repeatedly threatened punitive action against reporters who divulged sensitive state matters.
EARLY IRAN BOMB DAMAGE SPIN FALLS APART
Trump’s ire for reporters covering national security matters was revived last week when CNN reported on a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that suggested the damage to Iran’s nuclear sites may not have been as prevalent as previously thought.
The Trump administration aggressively countered the assertion and was soon vindicated after further assessments indicated that the damage to Iran’s nuclear program was decisive.