
Video: Vance slams media over negative coverage of US military strikes on Iran
Vice President J.D. Vance slammed the news media on Wednesday for reporting on a 'low confidence' and 'incomplete' intelligence report leaked to the media that suggested President Donald Trump's military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities did not result in as much damage as the president claimed. Vance warned that while there is an 'interesting story' regarding the intelligence leaks, the media 'won't investigate' it.
Sharing a video of a press conference featuring the president, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressing the report that the strikes against Iran only did limited damage and only set the country's nuclear program back by a matter of months, Vance said, 'This is such a revealing clip.'
'The American media is full of the least curious, least insightful people in our country. To recap, an out of context, 'low confidence' and incomplete intelligence report was selectively leaked to the media,' Vance said. 'The media reported on the findings without any real effort to figure out whether they represent any part of (much less the full) truth.'
In his post, Vance explained that the media's report has been 'contradicted' by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Trump administration's political and defense leadership, by the Iranians, and by 'common sense.'
The vice president noted that no one has disputed that the '30,000-pound bunker busters' hit the nuclear facility targets in Iran, the 'destructive power' of the bombs, or the fact that Iran has been prevented from assembling a nuclear weapon when they 'could have easily' assembled on just a week ago.
READ MORE: Iran 'much farther away' from nuclear weapon, top Trump official says
Vance claimed that even if the media's 'dishonest framing' was accepted, the debate is only about how much the Iranians would have to rebuild their nuclear program to develop a nuclear weapon. The vice president suggested that despite the 'wildly successful military operation,' the media is 'trying to blame Donald Trump for the existence of facilities *that haven't even been built yet.*'
'There is actually an interesting story here, if the media was interested in telling it,' Vance said. 'Why are members of the intelligence community leaking incomplete reports against the elected leadership of the country? Why have the same reporters who have gotten so much wrong learned so little? What is the purpose of these leaks — who is behind them, and what are they trying to achieve? The media won't investigate that story, though it would be in the public interest to do so.'
'So pay attention to the reporters who are laundering talking points from junior careerists in the intelligence community,' Vance added. 'President Trump has obliterated the Iranian nuclear program. The American media seems destined to obliterate their own credibility on this fake story.'
BREAKING: @PeteHegseth and @POTUS just WENT OFF on the FAKE NEWS.
I would NOT recommend insulting the GREAT men and women of our military. pic.twitter.com/bvV063znIz — Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) June 25, 2025

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Donald Trump Makes Legal Threat To CNN And The New York Times Over Their Reporting On Iran Intel Assessment
Donald Trump has again threatened news outlets over coverage he dislikes, this time The New York Times and CNN over their reporting on a preliminary intelligence assessment that raised doubts that the U.S. strikes on Iran destroyed their nuclear program. The White House has been on the warpath against journalists over their reporting, even though the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has acknowledged the existence of the intelligence assessment. Trump and his allies have go so far as to accuse CNN and the Times of denigrating the members of the military who carried out the strikes, even though their reporting was not critical of how the mission was carried out. More from Deadline Bill Moyers Dies: Influential Public Media Journalist And Commentator And Former White House Press Secretary Was 91 Peter Bart: Barbara Walters Built A Career On Trust In A Bygone Era Far Removed From Today Pete Hegseth Chides Former Fox News Colleague Jennifer Griffin As "About The Worst" During Defense Secretary's Press-Bashing Briefing Trump has insisted that Iran's nuclear capabilities were 'obliterated.' Per the Times, Trump demanded a retraction and an apology, as his attorney, Alejandro Brito, described the reporting as 'false,' 'defamatory' and 'unpatriotic.' David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel for the Times, 'No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming.' McGraw wrote to Brito, 'While the Trump administration protests that the assessments were only preliminary — which, by the way, was the second word of our article — and that later assessments may come to different conclusions, no one in the administration disputes that the first assessments said exactly what the article said they did: the destruction caused by the raid was not as significant as the president's remarks suggested.' He added that the 'American public has a right to know whether the attack on Iran — funded by the tax dollars and of enormous consequence to every citizen — was a success. We rely on our intelligence services to provide the kind of impartial assessment that we all need in a democracy to judge our country's foreign policy and the quality of our leaders' decisions. It would be irresponsible for a news organization to suppress that information and deny the public the right to hear it. And it would be even more irresponsible for a president to use the threat of libel litigation to try to silence a publication that dared to report that the trained, professional and patriotic intelligence experts employed by the U.S. government thought that the president may have gotten it wrong in his initial remarks to the country.' CNN also received a legal threat. A spokesperson said 'we can confirm we received a letter and responded to it, rejecting the claims in the letter.' Trump has called for reporters on the stories to be fired, but has singled out CNN's Natasha Bertrand. On Thursday, at the press briefing, Leavitt attacked Bertrand's past reporting. The network has said that they stand behind '100% behind' Bertrand and her work. The president's legal threat is not unusual. He has previously sued the Times and CNN, but the various lawsuits were dismissed. He sued CBS over the way that a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris was edited. The network has said that the lawsuit is meritless, as do a number of legal scholars, but its attorneys are in settlement talks with Trump's team. CBS parent Paramount Global is seeking administration approval for its merger with Skydance Media. Earlier on Thursday, Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, held a press conference in which he also bashed media outlets for reporting on the intelligence report. 'You cheer against Trump so hard, in your DNA and in your blood, cheer against Trump because you want him not to be successful so bad, you have to cheer against the efficacy of these strikes,' Hegseth said to the journalists at the Pentagon. He said that he was 'urging caution about premising an entire stories on biased leaks to biased publications to make something look bad. How about we take a beat, recognize first the success of our warriors, hold them up, tell their stories, celebrate that, wave an American flag, be proud of what we accomplished.' Best of Deadline 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Soundtrack: From Griff To Sabrina Carpenter 'The Buccaneers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out?


CNN
33 minutes ago
- CNN
Dem Sen Briefed On Iran: I Don't Think Trump 'Was Telling The Truth' - Erin Burnett OutFront - Podcast on CNN Podcasts
Dem Sen Briefed On Iran: I Don't Think Trump 'Was Telling The Truth' Erin Burnett OutFront 48 mins A democratic senator says Iran's nuclear program was not obliterated after receiving a closed door intelligence briefing. Republicans are coming to Trump's defense. Plus, Zoran Mamdami joins to discuss his stunning victory against Andrew Cuomo in New York City.

USA Today
43 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump's passport policy was lifted, but these Americans are still in the dark
It took nearly five months, a federal lawsuit, and the postponement of big international travel plans before Ashton Orr received the news he'd been waiting for: his passport finally arrived in the mail with the accurate gender marker on it. This moment felt like a "huge relief" to the West Virginia resident, who told USA TODAY in early March he wasn't sure he'd ever receive a passport matching his gender identity as a transgender man following the Trump administration's January policy acknowledging just the male and female sexes, assigned at birth. The LGBTQ+ advocate received his passport on June 12 as one of the seven plaintiffs in the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, and law firm Covington & Burling LLP's lawsuit Orr v. Trump, which was brought to the courts in February. The suit alleged that the policy violates the right to travel and privacy and discriminates against LGBTQ+ people. Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Julia Kobick in Boston expanded the preliminary injunction that blocked the policy, granting passports to the plaintiffs and any impacted Americans. Orr had applied on Jan. 16 to renew his passport with an updated gender marker for an upcoming trip to Ireland for a medical procedure to avoid any issues at airport security, which he'd experienced before since his driver's license still listed him as female. Days later, the U.S. State Department suspended the processing and issuing of all passports seeking a binary gender change or the "X" gender marker under Trump's policy. Thousands of transgender, intersex and nonbinary Americans were left in limbo, unable to travel internationally, and without a critical ID document to secure jobs, housing and other opportunities. To many in the transgender community, the policy also felt like another attack by the current administration to erase them from public spaces and deny their existence. "When your basic right to move freely is denied, it's a message: 'You don't belong here.' It's bigger than bureaucracy. It's systemic erasure," transgender drag artist and RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 10 contestant Aja previously told USA TODAY. Her passport renewal was rejected despite her current passport and other documents matching her gender identity. While the judge's latest motion offers some relief, the battle is far from over. Many of those affected are still caught in a holding pattern, trying to figure out how to receive their passports, while others have conflicting emotions as the policy's impact went far deeper than just not having a passport. "I think the first time in years, I really felt like the legal system actually saw us, you know, as trans, nonbinary, intersex people as real and as deserving of dignity," Orr said about the judge's action. 'I am exactly who God made': Why travel is a battleground for drag and trans performers Can transgender, intersex and nonbinary Americans get their passports? Legally, yes. As of June 17, the State Department is obligated to process passports requesting the "X" gender marker or a binary change and is taking immediate steps to implement the court order, said a State Department spokesperson. However, many Americans have yet to receive accurate passports and are left in limbo. "We're waiting on the State Department to tell us – and to tell everyone publicly – how they're planning on processing all of these passports that need to be processed," said Aditi Fruitwala, an ACLU senior staff attorney on the lawsuit. The ACLU has received numerous inquiries from people who need to travel internationally urgently but don't know if they need to resubmit a new application or fill out a form for an error correction. "From what we can tell, there are class members who are still unable to update the sex designation on their passport, which indicates that they have not implemented the court order," she said. Although temporary, the judge's ruling is optimistic, according to Fruitwala. "That was sort of exciting to see, that none of (the government's) arguments really carried any water," she said. The State Department told USA TODAY it does not comment on ongoing litigation. Mixed emotions for the trans community Despite the positive direction, the continued reality of not having a passport isn't lost on those impacted. Patrick, who is identified by his first name only out of safety and privacy concerns, is one of those Americans stuck in uncertainty. At the end of 2024, he applied for a passport renewal as a transgender man so he and his wife could go on a long-awaited honeymoon. In March, he received his passport with his gender listed as female on it, rendering it nearly unusable. "That's six months with a passport that I don't know that I'll ever be able to use, and it puts me in danger," he said. Not only does Patrick feel stuck in case he needs to seek asylum, but his home state of Texas recently passed a bill that bans gender marker changes on medical documents unless due to a clerical error, so any accurate ID documents are vital. He also doesn't feel comfortable sending in his medical documents, knowing they can't be replaced if unreturned. He also isn't in a place to pay the fees again. "With Texas doing what Texas is doing, it's making it to where I won't have any accurate IDs," he said. "You know, if Texas reverts my driver's license, will I ever be able to get a passport that reflects my gender identity? Because then it'll say F on there." Knowing so many others in his community are experiencing what Patrick is going through, Orr said he feels conflicted between guilt and gratitude. "I am very eager and just very thankful that I have this privilege to be able to finally leave and get the medical care that I need, when there are still so many that, you know, are navigating the system and this latest order," he said. His trip to Ireland is back on and coming up soon. After everything, Orr admits he's worried about returning to the U.S. borders. "I don't think anybody wants to make a plan for what if I'm detained, what if I'm denied entry into a country where I'm a citizen?" he said. "No one wants to have to make those plans. But again, that is the unfortunate reality of trans travelers right now." Fruitwala said it's a reasonable fear and common question for the transgender, nonbinary, and intersex community since the policy went into effect, even though valid passports are technically usable. Although it would be considered harassment to be denied entry back into the U.S., it's a good idea for travelers to write down the names of civil rights advocates and attorneys, plus to educate themselves on their rights at the border. "Again, I'm refusing to allow this country to continue to dictate my operations," he said. "You know, I am a citizen. I have rights just as everyone else, and I'm going to travel."