NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW – Trump Wants to Sue CNN and New York Times for Questioning Damage Done in Iran Strikes

President Donald Trump is lashing out at The New York Times and CNN for publishing reports that challenge the effectiveness of recent U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Trump has dismissed the outlets’ coverage as “fake news,” while defending his administration’s narrative that the strikes resulted in “total obliteration” of Iran’s nuclear capabilities. In doing so, he has also contradicted preliminary findings by his own intelligence analysts, who concluded the damage may only have set Iran’s nuclear program back by a few months.

According to The Associated Press, in a string of social media posts, Trump called CNN’s Natasha Bertrand a purveyor of “Fake News” and demanded that she be “thrown out like a dog.” He also labeled the Times reporters who worked on the story as “bad and sick people” for what he described as efforts to “demean the great works our B-2 pilots did.” Both CNN and The New York Times have strongly defended the accuracy of their reporting, emphasizing that the assessment they cited was an initial finding from the Defense Intelligence Agency.

According to the Times report, which featured six bylines, a preliminary U.S. intelligence analysis indicated the damage inflicted by the strikes would only delay Iran’s nuclear progress for a short period. That directly conflicts with Trump’s repeated assertions that the targeted sites were “completely destroyed.” CNN similarly reported on the assessment, acknowledging that findings could evolve with further intelligence but maintaining that the initial report was newsworthy and accurate.

The White House quickly responded to the media reports with a statement dismissing the intelligence findings as a “low-confidence” and “inconclusive” leak intended to undermine both Trump and the mission’s success. It doubled down on the president’s narrative by stating that “everyone knows what happens when you drop fourteen 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: Total Obliteration.” Trump’s defenders, including Sen. Markwayne Mullins of Oklahoma, accused journalists of creating division instead of celebrating a military victory.

In a follow-up interview on CNN, anchor Kaitlan Collins pushed back against the idea that reporters should act as cheerleaders, reminding the senator that it is the media’s responsibility to ask questions and seek clarity. Meanwhile, the Times’ spokesperson Charles Stadtlander noted the irony in Trump’s criticism, pointing out that the president himself confirmed the Defense Intelligence Agency produced the assessment he originally labeled as fake. “So their statement was fake, not the Times’s reporting,” Stadtlander said.

Adding to the controversy, Trump’s legal team, led by attorney Alejandro Brito, sent letters to both outlets accusing them of publishing false and defamatory stories on June 24. This marks a continuation of Trump’s strategy to legally challenge major media organizations, including CBS and others, as part of a broader attempt to intimidate newsrooms. Though Trump has a history of making legal threats that often don’t materialize into actual lawsuits, First Amendment advocates have raised alarms over how such tactics are being used to suppress press freedom.