White House moves to limit sharing of some classified info with Congress after Iran leak
The move is prompting Democratic pushback from those who argue it would be unwise to restrict congressional access based on suspicion.
A White House official confirmed the decision, which was first reported by Axios. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced earlier Wednesday that the Pentagon was launching an investigation into the leak of the assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency.
'I am told by the FBI the leak already is being investigated, and it absolutely should be because this was a top secret intelligence analysis that very few people in the United States government had access to see,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Wednesday.
The U.S. last Saturday carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Despite assertions from the administration that the strikes set the country's nuclear capabilities back by years, an initial intelligence assessment obtained by some media outlets suggested the damage was more limited, setting the program back only by a few months.
According to Axios, the information was shared shortly after it was posted on CAPNET, a system used to share information with Congress.
Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the administration's plans.
'The leak of classified information is unacceptable and should be fully investigated and those responsible held accountable. It's also unacceptable for the Administration to use unsubstantiated speculation about the source of a leak to justify cutting off Congress from classified intelligence reporting, particularly when over a million people within the Executive Branch have clearance to access classified top-secret reporting,' he said.
'The law requires the congressional intelligence committees to be kept fully and currently informed, and I expect the Intelligence Community to comply with the law,' he continued.
Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), the chair of the intelligence panel, didn't directly criticize the decision for Congress but lamented the result stemming from the leak.
'I am furious with the repeated, blatant disregard for the very simple, proper handling of classified information. When leakers leverage their access to highly sensitive information to push a political or personal agenda it is to the detriment of U.S. national security and incredibly disrespectful to those who put their lives on the line for our country collecting intelligence and supporting our mission on the ground. Access to classified information is a privilege and with that comes the utmost responsibility to safeguard that information with the highest level of caution and care,' he said in a statement.
'I will continue to work with the Administration to ensure information to keep Congress fully and currently informed is shared via the appropriate Committees with appropriate oversight responsibilities. This reckless and dangerous behavior must end–full stop.'
Lawmakers were set to receive classified briefings on Tuesday about the Trump administration's strikes against Iran, but they were postponed until later this week.
The Senate briefing will now take place on Thursday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced the House briefing would be Friday.
Administration officials have aggressively pushed back on reporting about an early internal assessment that found the U.S. strikes delayed Iran's nuclear program by only a few months. Trump and others have referred to the sites as 'obliterated' and argued they all but eliminated Iran's ability to pursue a nuclear weapon.
President Trump also cited an assessment from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission about the success of the U.S. strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities, which, together with Israeli strikes, set back Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon 'by many years.'
Updated at 8:36 p.m. EDT.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
19 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump says he's considering 'taking away' Rosie O'Donnell's US citizenship
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he is considering 'taking away' the U.S. citizenship of a longtime rival, actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell, despite a decades-old Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits such an action by the government. 'Because of the fact that Rosie O'Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,' Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday. He added that O'Donnell, who moved to Ireland in January, should stay in Ireland 'if they want her.' The two have criticized each other publicly for years, an often bitter back-and-forth that predates Trump's involvement in politics. In recent days, O'Donnell on social media denounced Trump and recent moves by his administration, including the signing of a massive GOP-backed tax breaks and spending cuts plan. It's just the latest threat by Trump to revoke the citizenship of people with whom he has publicly disagreed, most recently his former adviser and one-time ally, Elon Musk. But O'Donnell's situation is notably different from Musk, who was born in South Africa. O'Donnell was born in the United States and has a constitutional right to U.S. citizenship. The U.S. State Department notes on its website that U.S. citizens by birth or naturalization may relinquish U.S. nationality by taking certain steps – but only if the act is performed voluntary and with the intention of relinquishing U.S. citizenship. Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, noted the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the Fourteen Amendment of the Constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship. 'The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born U.S. citizen," Frost said in an email Saturday. 'In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.' Responding to Trump Saturday, O'Donnell wrote on social media that she had upset the president and 'add me to the list of people who oppose him at every turn.'
UPI
31 minutes ago
- UPI
State Department cutting 1,353 jobs amid downsizing
The State Department on Friday notified more than 1,300 workers they were being fired as part of downsizing planned by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo July 12 (UPI) -- The State Department on Friday began notifying 1,353 affected workers of their pending job losses as the department reduces its workforce by 15%. The people losing their jobs amid the downsizing work in positions that are being eliminated or consolidated, a State Department official told media on Thursday, NBC News reported. "This is the most complicated personnel reorganization that the federal government has ever undertaken," the official told reporters during a briefing. "It was done so in order to be very focused on looking at the functions that we want to eliminate or consolidate, rather than looking at individuals." The State Department notified 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service workers of their pending job losses, CBS News reported. The department plans to eliminate nearly 3,400 positions, including many who have already accepted voluntary departure offers this year. The State Department also will close or consolidate many U.S.-based offices as part of the reduction in force that is being done in accordance with a reorganization plan, which members of Congress received in March. The Trump administration says the downsizing is needed to eliminate redundancy and better enable the State Department to focus on its primary responsibilities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio created the downsizing plan, which he said is needed due to the department being too costly, ideologically driven and cumbersome, The New York Times reported. The downsizing isn't going unchallenged on Capitol Hill. All Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Friday opposed the downsizing in a letter sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "During a time of increasingly complex and widespread challenges to U.S. national security, this administration should be strengthening our diplomatic corps -- an irreplaceable instrument of U.S. power and leadership -- not weakening it," the Democratic Party senators said. "However, [downsizing] would severely undermine the department's ability to achieve U.S. foreign policy interests, putting our nation's security, strength and prosperity at risk." The Senate Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee include Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Chris Coons of Delaware, Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Tim Kaine of Virginia. The Senate committee's other Democratic Party members are Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Jacky Rosen of Nevada.
USA Today
35 minutes ago
- USA Today
ICE arrests more than double throughout the country, including California
Recent federal immigration enforcement activity in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on July 7 and the raids of two agricultural facilities in Carpinteria and Camarillo on July 10 have shown that the Trump administration's immigration crackdown has not been all talk, and a recent New York Times article has numbers to back it. The New York Times recently analyzed the different arrest numbers reported and compiled them by state, showing that numbers have more than doubled in 38 states. President Trump has directed the Department of Homeland Security to increase immigration arrests. The Freedom of Information Act data from the University of California, Berkeley, has shown that ICE has averaged around 666 daily arrests since January. Arrests have doubled in at least 38 states, and in a state like Idaho, which does not have as many immigrants, a 924% increase was reported. How many ICE arrests have there been in California? California is one of the states with the state with the largest population of illegal immigrants. The Pew Research Center estimated about 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S as of 2022. California had the highest number of unauthorized immigrants at 1.8 million, followed closely by Texas with 1.6 million and Florida with 1.2 million. The Times' reporting showed that the Golden State's arrests numbers have increased by 123% since 2024. There have been an estimated in 5,860 arrests in the state since the beginning of the year. The states with the greatest increase in states are: Which states have the most ICE arrests? Texas tops the list with the most reported ICE arrests this year at 20,150 arrests, more than the runner-up. The five states with the most ICE arrests in 2025, so far: More arrests may not mean more immediate departures While the arrests have jumped, the deportation numbers are not yet on pace to reach a million a year, but it isn't impossible, according to Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute policy analyst. "If you think about each step along the way, there can be increases in particular steps, but still obstacles that are not under the control, at least the immediate control of the agencies for a variety of reasons," she said, citing the ability to send people back to their countries as an example. She says two tools could be major factors in ramping up deportations. The first is the 287(g) agreement, in which local law enforcement works with ICE. In those cases, particularly Republican states' cooperation could create what she called a "criminal justice to deportation pipeline." The second tool is expedited removal, which can happen in hours but was historically used at the border. As of June, 15% of those detained were processed through expedited removal, without the opportunity to defend themselves in court, up from 5% at the end of 2024, the New York Times reported. If, for example, someone is being detained but cannot be deported to their country of origin, the previous standard was to release them with check-in mandates. "This administration is trying to keep everyone it can detained," she said. Funding allocated by the recent tax bill could also contribute to expedited removals and 287(g) agreements, according to Bush-Joseph. Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@ USA TODAY contributed to this report.
