Latest news with #AlejandroBrito
The Independent
2 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump attacks New York Times and CNN over Iran reporting
Donald Trump 's administration conducted military strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, with Trump asserting the action 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear program. The New York Times and CNN published reports based on a preliminary assessment indicating the strikes only set Iran's nuclear program back by a few months. Trump responded by threatening to sue both media outlets, demanding a reporter's termination, and accusing them of undermining his credibility. Trump 's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, sent a letter to The New York Times threatening legal action, claiming the reporting was 'defamatory' and 'unpatriotic' and demanding a retraction. Both The New York Times and CNN refused to retract their stories, while later, the Secretary of Defense confirmed the preliminary report's existence, and other officials presented new findings claiming severe damage to Iran's program.
CNN
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Trump threatens CNN and New York Times with lawsuits over Iran reports
President Trump has ratcheted up his rhetorical battle over recent US airstrikes in Iran by having an attorney send legal letters to CNN and The New York Times demanding retractions of accurate reports. On Thursday evening a CNN spokesperson confirmed that the network responded to the letter by rejecting the claims in it. The Times publicized its response, which said in part, 'No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.' Trump has a long history of litigation in his business career, and an even longer history of threatening to sue and not following through. In the past year, Trump has stepped up a legal campaign against major media outlets including CBS, leading some First Amendment experts to decry his use of legal threats and lawsuits to tie up and intimidate newsrooms. This week's legal letter from Alejandro Brito, one of Trump's personal attorneys, alleged that June 24 stories by CNN and The Times were false and defamatory. The stories described an early US intelligence assessment of the strikes that was at odds with Trump's insistence that Iran's nuclear enrichment sites were 'completely and totally obliterated.' Administration officials confirmed the existence of the intel but claimed the assessment was of low confidence and asserted that it was leaked to undercut the president. Several officials have vowed to conduct leak investigations, and Trump has said any the leakers 'should be prosecuted.' Trump also responded by attacking CNN and The Times in highly personal terms. On Wednesday, when he called for one of three CNN reporters who broke the initial story to be fired, CNN said 'we stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand's journalism and specifically her and her colleagues' reporting' about the intelligence assessment. CNN noted that its coverage of the matter accurately characterized the findings, 'which are in the public interest.' The Times' lead newsroom lawyer, David E. McCraw, made some similar points in his response to Brito on Thursday. 'The American public has a right to know whether the attack on Iran — funded by taxpayer dollars and of enormous consequence to every citizen — was a success,' McCraw wrote. '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.' Therefore, he wrote, '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
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Trump threatens CNN and New York Times with lawsuits over Iran reports
President Trump has ratcheted up his rhetorical battle over recent US airstrikes in Iran by having an attorney send legal letters to CNN and The New York Times demanding retractions of accurate reports. On Thursday evening a CNN spokesperson confirmed that the network responded to the letter by rejecting the claims in it. The Times publicized its response, which said in part, 'No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.' Trump has a long history of litigation in his business career, and an even longer history of threatening to sue and not following through. In the past year, Trump has stepped up a legal campaign against major media outlets including CBS, leading some First Amendment experts to decry his use of legal threats and lawsuits to tie up and intimidate newsrooms. This week's legal letter from Alejandro Brito, one of Trump's personal attorneys, alleged that June 24 stories by CNN and The Times were false and defamatory. The stories described an early US intelligence assessment of the strikes that was at odds with Trump's insistence that Iran's nuclear enrichment sites were 'completely and totally obliterated.' Administration officials confirmed the existence of the intel but claimed the assessment was of low confidence and asserted that it was leaked to undercut the president. Several officials have vowed to conduct leak investigations, and Trump has said any the leakers 'should be prosecuted.' Trump also responded by attacking CNN and The Times in highly personal terms. On Wednesday, when he called for one of three CNN reporters who broke the initial story to be fired, CNN said 'we stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand's journalism and specifically her and her colleagues' reporting' about the intelligence assessment. CNN noted that its coverage of the matter accurately characterized the findings, 'which are in the public interest.' The Times' lead newsroom lawyer, David E. McCraw, made some similar points in his response to Brito on Thursday. 'The American public has a right to know whether the attack on Iran — funded by taxpayer dollars and of enormous consequence to every citizen — was a success,' McCraw wrote. '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.' Therefore, he wrote, '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.'
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump threatens to sue New York Times and CNN over Iran bomb strike reporting
President Donald Trump has threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN over its reporting on the amount of destruction caused by U.S. military strikes on Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. bombed three nuclear sites in Iran at the weekend over what it said was to stop the country from obtaining nuclear weapons. Trump did a victory lap afterwards, claiming the strikes 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear program. On Tuesday, CNN, followed by the Times, published the findings of a preliminary report that suggested the bombings only set Iran's nuclear program back by a few months, contradictory to Trump's boasting. Despite his administration confirming the American intelligence assessment on the effectiveness of last weekend's airstrikes on three key Iranian nuclear facilities is indeed real, the president took to his social media platform on Wednesday afternoon and demanded CNN terminate the reporter who broke the story. Trump targeted the two media outlets on social media, referring to them as the 'Failing New York Times' and 'Fake News CNN,' and calling their reporters 'BAD AND SICK PEOPLE.' And now, the Times is reporting Trump's lawyer, Alejandro Brito, has threatened to sue the publication, claiming it damaged the president's reputation. The Times cited a letter written by Brito and sent to the publication on Wednesday, in which he asserted that the Iran bombings were a 'historic and resounding military success' and that the Time s reporting about the preliminary report 'undermined the credibility and integrity of President Trump in the eyes of the public and the professional community.' Brito demanded that the Times 'retract and apologize for' its reporting, which he called 'defamatory' and 'unpatriotic.' The Times said its lawyer, David McCraw, wrote a letter in response, which stated, 'No retraction is needed.' McCraw said the publication would not apologize, adding, 'We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so.' A CNN spokeswoman told the Times that it had responded to a similar legal threat from Trump's team. On Wednesday, CNN released a statement that read, in part, 'We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand's journalism and specifically her and her colleagues' reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.' Bertrand, one of the authors of CNN's reporting on the preliminary report, was called out directly by Trump, who said on social media that she should be fired and 'thrown out 'like a dog.'' When CNN released the findings of the preliminary report, it included a statement from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, which read, in part, 'This alleged assessment is flat-out wrong.' Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth revealed Wednesday that the preliminary report did exist. During a press conference Thursday morning, Hegeth lashed out against the press, saying, 'You cheer against Trump so hard.' CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced what they said were new findings Wednesday revealing apparent further damage to Iran's nuclear program. Ratcliffe said in a statement Iran's nuclear program had been 'severely damaged' and that it 'would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.' Gabbard also said it 'would likely take years' for Iran to rebuild the bombed nuclear sites in an X post.
