President Donald Trump has threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN over its reporting on the amount of destruction caused by U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. bombed three nuclear sites in Iran at the weekend over what it said was to stop the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump did a victory lap afterwards, claiming the strikes “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
On Tuesday, CNN, followed by theTimes, published the findings of a preliminary report that suggested the bombings only set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months, contradictory to Trump’s boasting.
Despite his administration confirming the American intelligence assessment on the effectiveness of last weekend’s airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities is indeed real, the president took to his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon and demanded CNN terminate the reporter who broke the story.
Trump targeted the two media outlets on social media, referring to them as the “Failing New York Times” and “Fake News CNN,” and calling their reporters “BAD AND SICK PEOPLE.”
And now, the Times is reporting Trump’s lawyer, Alejandro Brito, has threatened to sue the publication, claiming it damaged the president’s reputation.
The Times cited a letter written by Brito and sent to the publication on Wednesday, in which he asserted that the Iran bombings were a “historic and resounding military success” and that the Times reporting about the preliminary report “undermined the credibility and integrity of President Trump in the eyes of the public and the professional community.”
Brito demanded that the Times “retract and apologize for” its reporting, which he called “defamatory” and “unpatriotic.”
The Times said its lawyer, David McCraw, wrote a letter in response, which stated, “No retraction is needed.”
McCraw said the publication would not apologize, adding, “We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.”
A CNN spokeswoman told the Times that it had responded to a similar legal threat from Trump’s team.
On Wednesday, CNN released a statement that read, in part, “We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism and specifically her and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
Bertrand, one of the authors of CNN’s reporting on the preliminary report, was called out directly by Trump, who said on social media that she should be fired and “thrown out ‘like a dog.’”
When CNN released the findings of the preliminary report, it included a statement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, which read, in part, “This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong.”
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday that the preliminary report did exist. During a press conference Thursday morning, Hegeth lashed out against the press, saying, “You cheer against Trump so hard.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced what they said were new findings Wednesday revealing apparent further damage to Iran’s nuclear program.
Ratcliffe said in a statement Iran’s nuclear program had been “severely damaged” and that it “would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.”
Gabbard also said it “would likely take years” for Iran to rebuild the bombed nuclear sites in an X post.
