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“Who gave it?”: Trump threatens journalists, Democrats over Iran leaks

The president said he would find the source of an intelligence report by putting the squeeze on reporters

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US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

 

Donald Trump is still upset about a leaked intelligence report that claimed U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities weren’t entirely effective.

Speaking on Fox News‘ “Sunday Morning Futures,” the president said he would exert pressure on journalists to find the source of the leak and continued to claim that all parties involved in the story “should be prosecuted.”

“Will you be able to find out [who did it]?” host Maria Bartiromo asked.

“We can find out. If they want to they can find out easily,” he said. “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’s comments come after he called for CNN reporter Natasha Bertrand to be fired over the network’s scoop.

“Natasha Bertrand should be FIRED from CNN! I watched her for three days doing Fake News,” Trump wrote on Wednesday. “It’s people like her who destroyed the reputation of a once great Network.”

The anti-media mood has permeated the Trump admin, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt both taking shots at the press over the Iran reports. Hegseth lobbed a personal attack at a Fox News reporter, calling her “about the worst” and saying she intentionally misrepresents the administration. Leavitt called the leaker a “low-level loser.”


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In spite of recent reports claiming that Iran was able to remove significant amounts of enriched uranium from the facilities, Trump maintains that Iran’s nuclear program was “completely obliterated” by the strikes. On Sunday, Trump continued to push the idea that the country’s uranium stockpiles were destroyed.

‘They didn’t move anything,” he said. “You know what they moved? Themselves. They were all trying to live.”

Watch the interview below:

 

By Alex Galbraith

Alex Galbraith is a writer and editor based in New Orleans.


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