President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of leaking classified information on US airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities and has threatened to prosecute those responsible. The White House claims the leak was done for political gain, while the intelligence community works to prevent further unauthorized disclosures.
The Pentagon struck three of Tehran’s nuclear facilities last week, building on Israeli attacks earlier this month. While the administration maintains that the targets were ‘obliterated,’ preliminary intelligence assessments suggest only moderate damage, despite the use of bunker buster bombs. Trump has accused media outlets of spreading ‘fake news’ about the operation’s success, while intelligence officials are working to tighten processes and reduce sharing with Congress.
According to Axios, the White House believes the document produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency approximately 24 hours after the airstrikes was leaked by individuals in Congress. The administration had shared the assessment with lawmakers late Monday using a secure system known as CAPNET, sources said. ‘Go figure: Almost as soon as we put the information on CAPNET, it leaks,’ an administration source told Axios.
Senior White House officials have stated that the intelligence community is focusing on tightening processes to prevent ‘Deep State’ actors from leaking parts of intel analysis with ‘low confidence’ to the media. The White House reportedly intends to reduce intelligence-sharing with the legislative branch. Several Democratic lawmakers have criticized Trump for failing to notify them about the operation in advance. The White House postponed a classified after-action Congress briefing originally set for Tuesday. The session was held Thursday, led by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Public comments afterward reflected partisan divisions. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said ‘obliteration’ was a fair description of the strikes. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy said Trump was ‘misleading the public.’