President Trump threatened to sue CNN and the New York Times over their reports about his government’s early assessment that U.S. bombing raids on Iran had set the regime’s nuclear program back by a few months – contrary to Trump’s claim that Iran’s capabilities were “totally obliterated.”
President Donald Trump, in an interview on Fox News aired Sunday, warned of efforts to hold reporters and Democratic figures accountable for allegedly leaking classified intelligence.
When host Maria Bartiromo pointed to Trump’s recent social media posts critizing media outlets that reported on an intelligence assessment that Iran’s nuclear program was not “obliterated” in recent U.S. strikes, Trump said, “They should be prosecuted.”
“Who specifically?” the anchor asked.
Trump outlined an assertive plan: “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.”
The president’s remarks generated backlash on social media, with journalists and attorneys raising concerns over his apparent plan to target reporters for their stories.
The U.S. Army is now rolling out a new policy that disproportionately impacts Black soldiers, and one officer is questioning the motivations behind the announcement.
Military.com reported Friday that the Army is now planning to prohibit shaving waivers, requiring all soldiers to adhere to strict new grooming standards. Previously, soldiers who suffered from the skin condition pseudofolliculitis barbae (PFB) were allowed to ask for a waiver to bypass requirements to stay clean-shaven, as PFB patients can often have painful bumps and scarring from the use of a razor.
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Under the new policy, which is slated to take effect in the coming weeks, Soldiers who request shaving waivers for more than 12 months over a two-year period could be kicked out of the Army.
According to the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, up to 60% of Black men suffer from PFB. And Military.com reported that Black Americans make up roughly one in four new Army recruits over the past several years even though they make up just 14% of the U.S. population.
“Of course, this is racially motivated,” an unnamed senior noncommissioned officer told Military.com anonymously out of fear of retaliation. “There’s no tactical reason; you can look professional with facial hair.”
Hegseth & Trump are both racist bigots — two of a kind — so this comes as no surprise.
The email came while James Harter was on vacation with his husband in Quebec City, Canada. He was checking his computer in their RV when he read the no-nonsense subject line: Certificate of Pardon.
He had no idea just how uncommon that email was ….
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have been erased under the new administration’s zeal to refocus the military on lethality. Thousands of transgender service members are being discharged and banned from serving. And the Pentagon is considering renaming ships, including the USNS Harvey Milk, named for the slain gay rights activist and veteran who was discharged over his sexuality, among other ships that don’t fit a “warrior” ethos.
While The War Horse had previously reported on the low number of pardon applications for LGBTQ+ veterans, records disclosed last month by the Office of the U.S. Pardon Attorney are the first to reveal just how few have been granted: two from the Navy, one from the Air Force, and one from the Army.
“Secretary of Defense (War!) Pete Hegseth, together with Military Representatives, will be holding a Major News Conference tomorrow morning at 8 A.M. EST at The Pentagon, in order to fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots,” the president wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday evening.
“These Patriots were very upset! After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly!
“Fortunately for them and, as usual, solely for the purpose of demeaning PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, the Fake News (Times and CNN) lied and totally misrepresented the Facts, none of which they had (because it was too soon, there were no Facts out there yet!). The News Conference will prove both interesting and irrefutable. Enjoy!”
That was the hype from Hegseth & his cronies. The mission really was a dud, one big ugly wasted effort, as multiple leaks have now confirmed.
Donald Trump and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have admitted to some doubt over the scale of the damage inflicted on Iran’s nuclear sites by the US bombing at the weekend, after a leaked Pentagon assessment said the Iranian programme had been set back by only a few months.
“The intelligence was very inconclusive,” Trump told journalists at a Nato summit in The Hague, introducing an element of uncertainty for the first time after several days of emphatic declarations that the destruction had been total.
“The intelligence says we don’t know. It could’ve been very severe. That’s what the intelligence suggests.”
The president then appeared to revert to his claim that “it was very severe. There was obliteration”. Later in the day, he claimed that was the conclusion from “collected intelligence”, and that the Iranian programme had been set back “decades”.
Trump also likened the US use of massive bunker-buster bombs on the Fordow and Natanz uranium enrichment sites to the impact of the US nuclear weapons dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the second world war, using the comparison specifically in reference to their impact in ending a conflict.
Over the course of the day, Trump’s claims became more far-reaching, even rejecting reports from the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), that Iran’s 400kg stock of 60% enriched uranium could no longer be accounted for, and appeared to have been moved.
The House Jewish Caucus called for answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the promotion of Kingsley Wilson, the Pentagon press secretary accused of repeatedly posting antisemitic rhetoric online.
In a letter sent Tuesday, the 21 Democratic representatives in the caucus aired their concerns over “a series of deeply troubling and offensive statements made by Kingsley Wilson.”
“These statements include promoting the antisemitic and racist ‘Great Replacement’ theory, praising far-right political movements using slogans tied to neo-Nazi groups, and repeating patently false statements commonly circulated in neo-Nazi circles about Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was lynched by an antisemitic mob in Georgia in 1915,” the letter read.
The letter, which was led by Rep. Laura Friedman, a California Democrat, said that Wilson’s statement’s “raised questions” about the Department of Defense’s “commitment to opposing extremism and antisemitism.” The letter was first reported by Jewish Insider.
Scrutiny of the former acting press secretary last month showed that in 2024 she had tweeted a neo-Nazi talking point about Frank, whose murder by a Georgia mob spurred the creation of the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL and the American Jewish Committee condemned her appointment.
She has also tweeted several times in support of the “Great Replacement” theory, whose original version contends that Jews are orchestrating immigration in order to undermine white-majority populations.
The caucus letter asked the DOD about steps it has taken to address antisemitism and whether Hegseth finds Wilson’s comments to be “acceptable language for an official representing the Department of Defense.”
It was co-signed by caucus co-chairs Rep. Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, and Brad Schneider, an Illinois Democrat, and 18 other House Democrats.
During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Jacky Rosen, a Nevada Democrat, also lambasted Hegseth over the appointment of Wilson as press secretary.
“Given the rise in antisemitic violence and hate crimes in our nation, and to show that the Trump Administration does have a zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism, will you dismiss Ms. Kingsley from her role as the U.S. military’s spokesperson today? Yes or no,” asked Rosen.
In his response, Hegseth defended Kingsley, saying that she “does a fantastic job” and that suggesting he, Wilson or others are “party to antisemitism is a mischaracterization attempting to win political points.”
“I’m going to assume that your lack of an answer confirms what we’ve known all along, that the Trump Administration is not serious,” replied Rosen. “You are not a serious person. You are not serious about rooting out antisemitism in the ranks of our DOD. It’s despicable. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
President Donald Trump apparently decided to bomb Iran and “get in on the action” Saturday after watching Fox News praise Israel for striking the country earlier this month, says New York Times reporter Helene Cooper, who cited Pentagon and Trump administration officials.
Cooper argued Monday on MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes that Trump previously prided himself on being a noninterventionist, and said he maintained an “America First” perspective even after Israel attacked Iran on June 13, but that a shift occurred the very next day.
“One official told me that it started as early as the next morning when President Trump woke up and watched Fox News and started to see how well Israel was being presented as doing,” Cooper, who also spoke with U.S. military and Pentagon officials, said Monday.
“Israel was hitting all of these Iranian sites, it was taking out military commanders, nuclear scientists, and that was being presented on Fox as this huge victory,” she continued.
“And he decided that he wanted a piece of it,” she said of Trump.
Cooper explained that the president then started taking credit for some of Israel’s operations, citing a June 17 social media post in which Trump said “We” have taken control of Iran’s airspace, and that a meeting with his national security advisers cemented the decision to enter the war.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/marcomargaritoff/trump-decision-bomb-iran-influenced-by-fox-news
As Donald Trump arrived in the Netherlands this week for an annual NATO summit, the American president reportedly hoped to take a victory lap of sorts, celebrating the success of the preemptive military strikes he approved targeting Iranian nuclear sites. As is often the case with the Republican, reality quickly got in the way.
On Tuesday, the world learned of a preliminary intelligence assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, which jolted the public and political debate. As NBC News confirmed, the initial assessment concluded that the U.S. airstrikes “were not as effective” as Trump claimed, and the mission set Iran’s nuclear program “back by only three to six months.”
Pressed on the efficacy of the mission and the accuracy of the intelligence, Trump said, “The intelligence was very inconclusive. The intelligence says we don’t know. It could have been very severe. That’s what the intelligence says. So I guess that’s correct. But I think we can take the ‘we don’t know.’ It was very severe. It was obliteration.”
Or put another way, according to the American president, U.S. intelligence officials don’t know, but he does know.
Donald Trump is sidestepping his own defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, while seeking advice on whether to launch a military strike against Iran, according to a report.
An unnamed U.S. official told The Washington Post that the president is instead turning to a couple of four-star generals for guidance on whether to join Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the head of the Pentagon being largely left out.
“Nobody is talking to Hegseth,” the official said. “There is no interface operationally between Hegseth and the White House at all.”
Seriously, did you actually expect four-star generals to take orders from a washed-out O-3?
