White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a public demand Sunday for CNN to retract its coverage of congressional briefings regarding President Trump’s military action against Iran.
The controversy centers on CNN’s reporting about which congressional leaders received advance notification of Saturday’s strike operation against Iranian nuclear facilities.
President Trump authorized “Operation: Midnight Hammer” on Saturday, targeting three critical Iranian nuclear installations in what officials described as a surprise military action.
The White House confirmed the successful completion of the operation later that evening through an official announcement.
CNN’s initial report stated that Republican congressional leaders received advance briefings while their Democratic counterparts were left uninformed until after the strikes occurred.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune were briefed ahead of the military action, according to the network’s coverage.
The report claimed Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries only learned of the strikes immediately before the public announcement.
Leavitt responded forcefully to these characterizations on the social media platform X, labeling the coverage as inaccurate.
“This is Fake News. The White House made bipartisan courtesy calls to Congressional Leadership and spoke to @SenSchumer before the strike. @RepJeffries could not be reached until after, but he was briefed. @CNN please retract,” Leavitt wrote.
The press secretary’s statement directly contradicted CNN’s portrayal of the briefing timeline for Democratic leadership.
CNN’s reporting also indicated that key intelligence committee members were excluded from advance notification of the military operation.
The network reported that Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, both Democrats serving on their respective chambers’ intelligence committees, learned of the strikes only after they occurred.
Both Democratic leaders issued public statements over the weekend expressing opposition to Trump’s military action against Iran, Fox News reported.
Schumer and Jeffries criticized the president for proceeding without congressional authorization for the strikes.
Neither Democratic leader specifically claimed in their statements that they had been excluded from pre-strike briefings or notifications, however.
Schumer’s statement focused on calling for Senate Majority Leader Thune to invoke the War Powers Act in response to the military action.
“No president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy,” Schumer said.
Following Trump’s Saturday strike, former Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev declared that several countries stand prepared to provide Iran with nuclear warheads following President Trump’s recent military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“A number of countries are ready to directly supply Iran with their own nuclear warheads,” he declared.
Medvedev made these assertions in an extensive social media post on X early Sunday morning, suggesting the American attacks had produced consequences opposite to Trump’s intended objectives.
The former Russian leader, who held the presidency from 2008 to 2012, stated that US strikes targeting facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow had strengthened rather than weakened Iran’s position.
“Enrichment of nuclear material — and, now we can say it outright, the future production of nuclear weapons — will continue,” Medvedev claimed in his post.
He further asserted that “Iran’s political regime has survived — and in all likelihood, has come out even stronger” as a result of the American military action.
Iranian citizens are “rallying around the country’s spiritual leadership, including those who were previously indifferent or opposed to it,” according to Medvedev.
The post White House Demands CNN Retraction After False Claims About Iran Strike Briefings appeared first on Resist the Mainstream.
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Author: Jordyn M.
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