President Donald Trump is suggesting his administration will pressure reporters into giving up sources on their recent stories on the impact of the military strike on Iran — and then potentially prosecuting those sources.
In an interview on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, anchor Maria Bartiromo asked Trump about a social media post on Thursday in which he wrote: “The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!”
“They should be prosecuted,” Trump said again — in the Fox News interview which was taped on Friday and aired on Sunday.
“Who specifically?” Bartiromo asked.
“You can find out,” Trump said. “If they wanted, they could find out easily.”
The president has repeatedly come down on CNN and The New York Times in recent days for breaking stories on the impact of last Saturday’s attack on Iran — even threatening to sue them over reporting he has called “unpatriotic.” Both outlets reported on preliminary intelligence assessments which found that the damage of the strikes were far less than the president claimed.
Trump has repeatedly insisted three Iranian nuclear sites were “obliterated.” The preliminary intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency said the bombings only set Iran’s nuclear program back a few months.
Trump went on to explain how he would go about finding out the leakers.
“You go up and tell the reporter, ‘national security, who gave it?’” Trump said. “You have to do that. And I suspect we’ll be doing things like that.”
Mediaite: WATCH: Trump Suggests He’ll Pressure CNN/NYT Reporters to Give Up Their Sources On Iran Strike Stories — And Then Prosecute the Leakers
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