They should be prosecuted: Trump claims Democrats leaked US Intel on Iran
US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Democrats of leaking classified intelligence about US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, calling for those responsible to be prosecuted, despite no public evidence supporting the claim.In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: 'The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran. They should be prosecuted!'advertisementThe accusation follows the leak of a Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment earlier this week, which suggested that Iran's nuclear program had only been delayed by a few months, contradicting Trump's public claims of a complete destruction. The document was drafted shortly after the US strikes and leaked to the media on Tuesday.
The FBI is investigating the source of the leak. But as of now, no officials have identified a specific individual or provided clear evidence pointing to a political party. Trump's fights with the intelligence community were a running theme of his first term as he raged against an investigation into his campaign's alleged links to Russia.Now, a sequel is playing out as Trump battles to shape the public's understanding of his foreign policy gamble in Iran, the Associated Press reported.advertisementThe dispute is unlikely to fade anytime soon. Top administration officials are pressing Trump's case, with Hegseth scolding the media at a Pentagon briefing Thursday for 'breathlessly' focusing on an intelligence report he downplayed as preliminary. Briefings are also scheduled for lawmakers, though the White House plans to limit the sharing of classified information after the initial assessment leaked this week.Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said: 'It could have been someone in the intelligence community, or it could have been someone on Capitol Hill who had access to this document'. 'We don't know — but I believe the FBI is investigating to find out who that leaker was, because it's illegal and they should be held accountable,' Leavitt said.Still, neither Trump nor the White House has offered concrete proof that Democrats were behind the disclosure.When asked about Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's defiant message, the White House brushed off the comments. 'When you have a totalitarian regime, you have to save face,' Leavitt said. 'Any commonsense, open-minded person knows the truth about the precision strikes on Saturday night. They were wildly successful.'- EndsTune InMust Watch
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
41 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Elon Musk renews criticism of Trump's ‘big beautiful bill' as it faces key Senate vote
Elon Musk on Saturday (June 28, 2025) doubled down on his distaste for U.S. President Donald Trump's sprawling tax and spending cuts bill, arguing the legislation that Republican senators are scrambling to pass would kill jobs and bog down burgeoning industries. 'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,' Mr. Musk wrote on X on Saturday as the Senate was scheduled to call a vote to open debate on the nearly 1,000-page bill. 'It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.' The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, whose birthday is also Saturday, later posted that the bill would be 'political suicide for the Republican Party". The criticisms reopen a recent fiery conflict between the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency and the administration he recently left. They also represent yet another headache for Republican Senate leaders who have spent the weekend working overtime to get the legislation through their chamber so it can pass by Mr. Trump's Fourth of July deadline. Mr. Musk previously made his opinions about Mr. Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' clear. Days after he left the federal government last month with a laudatory celebration in the Oval Office, he blasted the bill as 'pork-filled' and a 'disgusting abomination". 'Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,' he wrote on X earlier this month. In another post, the wealthy GOP donor who recently forecasted that he'd step back from political donations threatened to fire lawmakers who 'betrayed the American people". When Mr. Trump clapped back to say he was disappointed with Mr. Musk, back-and-forth fighting erupted and quickly escalated. Mr. Musk suggested without evidence that Mr. Trump, who spent the first part of the year as one of his closest allies, was mentioned in files related to sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein. Mr. Musk ultimately tried to make nice with the administration, saying he regretted some of his posts that 'went too far". Mr. Trump responded in kind in an interview with The New York Post, saying, 'Things like that happen. I don't blame him for anything.' It's unclear how Mr. Musk's latest broadsides will influence the fragile peace he and the president had enjoyed in recent weeks. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr. Musk has spent recent weeks focused on his businesses, and his political influence has waned since he left the administration. Still, the wealthy businessman poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Mr. Trump's campaign in 2024, demonstrating the impact his money can have if he's passionate enough about an issue or candidate to restart his political spending.
NDTV
an hour ago
- NDTV
"Let Bibi Go": Trump Defends Netanyahu Again Over Corruption Trial
Washington: US President Donald Trump on Sunday (IST) once again defended Benjamin Netanyahu and said his corruption trial was a "political witch hunt". In a post on Truth Social, he also said it was "terrible" what they are doing to Bibi, a nickname for the Israeli Prime Minister. Mr Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in Israel on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust - all of which he denies. His trial began in 2020 and involves three criminal cases. An Israeli court on Friday rejected his request to postpone giving testimony in his corruption trial, saying he had not provided adequate justification for his request. "It is terrible what they are doing in Israel to Bibi Netanyahu. He is a War Hero, and a Prime Minister who did a fabulous job working with the United States to bring Great Success in getting rid of the dangerous Nuclear threat in Iran," Mr Trump said, referring to the US strikes on three key Iranian strikes on June 22. "Importantly, he is right now in the process of negotiating a Deal with Hamas, which will include getting the Hostages back. How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING (Cigars, Bugs Bunny Doll, etc)," he wrote. Mr Trump called it a "political witch hunt" and said it was "very similar" to the one that he was "forced to endure". The 79-year-old was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records in May 2024 in a case related to hush money payments to adult actress Stormy Daniels. "This travesty of "Justice" will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations. In other words, it is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu," he said. "The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this," Mr Trump said. "We just had a Great Victory with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu at the helm - And this greatly tarnishes our Victory. LET BIBI GO, HE'S GOT A BIG JOB TO DO," he added. Trump's Second Post Defending Netanyahu It was Donald Trump's second post in three days defending Benjamin Netanyahu. On Thursday, he said he was "shocked" to hear that Israel, which is "strongly" led by Mr Netanyahu, is continuing its "ridiculous" witch hunt against their "great wartime" Prime Minister. "Bibi and I just went through HELL together, fighting a very tough and brilliant longtime enemy of Israel, Iran, and Bibi could not have been better, sharper, or stronger in his LOVE for the incredible Holy Land. Anybody else would have suffered losses, embarrassment, and chaos," he said. "Such a WITCH HUNT, for a man who has given so much, is unthinkable to me. He deserves much better than this, and so does the State of Israel," he said, adding that Mr Netanyahu's trial should be "cancelled immediately". "Perhaps there is no one that I know who could have worked in better harmony with the President of the United States, ME, than Bibi Netanyahu. It was the United States of America that saved Israel, and now it is going to be the United States of America that saves Bibi Netanyahu. THIS TRAVESTY OF "JUSTICE" CAN NOT BE ALLOWED," Mr Trump said while backing the Israeli PM, who has held office six times and is in power for nearly 16 years. Corruption Case Again Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are accused of accepting more than $2,60,000 worth of luxury goods such as cigars, jewellery and champagne from billionaires in exchange for political favours. Netanyahu is also accused of attempting to negotiate more favourable coverage from two Israeli media outlets. The 75-year-old became the only sitting Israeli prime minister to be indicted. He took the witness stand for the first time in December last year, and his cross-examination began earlier this month. Several hearings have been postponed amid the war in Gaza, which began in October when Hamas attacked Israeli towns.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
an hour ago
- First Post
IAEA chief warns Iran will likely go back to producing enriched uranium ‘in a matter of months'
Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, warned that Iran is likely to go back to producing enriched uranium needed for making bombs in a 'matter of months,' despite strikes from Israel and the US read more The United Nations nuclear watchdog boss, Rafael Grossi, warned that Iran will likely be able to begin producing enriched uranium 'in a matter of months", despite damage it suffered due to Israeli and American strikes. West Asia was rattled after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion , targeting Iran's nuclear and military facilities on June 13. At that time, the Israeli authorities argued that the strikes were necessary since Iran was just a few weeks away from developing nuclear weapons, an ambition the Islamic Republic has consistently denied. The US government subsequently bombed three key facilities used for Tehran's atomic program, with the country's President Donald Trump assuring that the sites were completely 'obliterated'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the extent of the damage to the nuclear sites is 'serious'. However, Iran has kept the details of destruction hidden. When asked how far Iran's nuclear ambitions have been pushed back, Trump said that Tehran's nuclear program had been set back 'decades'. Grossi issues a serious warning On Saturday, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned that some of Iran's nuclear infrastructure 'is still standing'. 'They can have, you know, in a matter of months, I would say, a few cascades of centrifuges spinning and producing enriched uranium, or less than that,' Grossi said in an interview with CBS News. Grossi maintained that another key question that emerges in the aftermath of the conflict is whether Iran was able to relocate some or all of its estimated 408.6kg (900lbs) stockpile of highly enriched uranium before the attacks. Before the strikes, it was found that Iran's uranium is enriched to 60 per cent above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade. If it is further refined, it would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs. 'We don't know where this material could be,' Grossi admitted. 'So some could have been destroyed as part of the attack, but some could have been moved. So there has to be, at some point, a clarification," he furthered. Trump administration thinks otherwise In the midst of all this, Iranian lawmakers have voted to suspend cooperation with the IAEA, rejecting Grossi's request for a visit to the damaged sites. 'We need to be in a position to ascertain, to confirm what is there, and where it is, and what happened,' Grossi said. In a separate interview with Fox News, US President Donald Trump said he did not think the stockpile had been moved from the nuclear facilities. 'It's a very hard thing to do, plus we didn't give much notice,' the US president said, according to excerpts of the interview. 'They didn't move anything.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated Washington's support for 'the IAEA's critical verification and monitoring efforts in Iran,' commending Grossi and his agency for their 'dedication and professionalism.'
