Donald Trump said he weighed forcing journalists who have published details disclosed from an American intelligence report evaluating the impact of the recent American military strikes on Iran to reveal their sources – and the president also said that his administration could continue journalists and sources if they do not comply.
In an interview on Sunday with Fox News host, Maria Bartiromo, Trump has doubled her assertion that the air strikes of June 21 aimed at certain Iranian installations successfully the Iranian nuclear program. He insisted that the attacks destroyed the main stocks of enriched uranium, despite the Iranian claims according to which the equipment was moved before the strikes.
Trump rejected the assessment of information disclosed in question – which suggested that the strikes only temporarily disrupted the nuclear development of Iran – as incomplete and biased. The report was disseminated among American legislators and intelligence managers, concluded that the damage inflicted was significantly lower than Trump’s administration had affirmed publicly.
The president attacked both democratic legislators and media members to share parts of classified analysis. He then threatened the legal consequences for those responsible.
During the interview, Bartiromo referred to a post that Trump had shared on social networks a few days earlier, in which He wrote: “Democrats are those who have disclosed information on perfect flight to nuclear sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted! ”
Trump then reiterated in the air that “they should be prosecuted”.
“Who specifically?” Bartiromo asked.
Trump replied: “You can find out – if they wanted it, they could find out easily.”
In recent days, Trump has targeted CNN and the New York Times for their strike reports. He condemned coverage as “non -patriotic” and even launched the possibility of legal action.
The two points of sale, as well as several others, reported that the preliminary conclusions of the American Defense Intelligence Agency said that strikes had only a limited success. The attacks delayed the nuclear ambitions of Iran by several months But has stopped destroying the program squarely, according to the evaluation.
Sunday, A social media account Belonging to the Iranian chief, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Trump of needing to “exaggerate to cover the truth and keep him secret” after the recent American military strikes “could do nothing”.
Trump, on the other hand, insisted on the fact that three nuclear installations were “erased”.
He explained how his administration could continue the sources of the flight.
“You go up and tell the journalist,” national security – who gave it? “,” Said Trump. “You have to do that. And I suspect that we will do things like that. ”
In the United States, the Constitution generally protects journalists against the obligations to reveal their sources – but there are limits to the privilege of this journalist, as he is familiarly known.
The president had threatened to continue CNN and the New York Times for having published articles on the preliminary intelligence report before his comments in Bartiromo.
In a letter to timeA Trump lawyer said that the article had damaged the President’s reputation and demanded that the point of sale “retracts and apologizes” the play, which the letter describes as “false”, “defamatory” and “non -patriotic”.
