President Trump is threatening to sue the New York Times and CNN for reports that opposed his claim that the latest US air strikes on Iran “destroyed” the country’s nuclear skills.
The president’s legal team says both exits slandered him by reporting a preliminary assessment of intelligence that concluded that the strikes had only returned Iran’s nuclear skills for several months, according to a Times article earlier this week.
The report, citing Defense Intelligence Agency’s estimates, came after Trump said the American bunker bombs had “destroyed” Iran’s nuclear facility in Fordaw.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Mrs. Gray left, Trump’s personal lawyer, Alejandro Brito, accused the letter of slander and demanded a withdrawal and apology.
The letter described the story of Times as “false”, “slanderous” and “nonpatriotic”. He claimed the letter had damaged Trump’s reputation.
Brito called the military operation a “extraordinary and extraordinary military success” that “unequivocally eliminated Iran’s nuclear skills and brought peace to the region.”
In response, Times’ lawyer David McCraw strongly dismissed the request.
“No attraction is needed,” he wrote. “No pardon will come. We told the truth to the maximum of our ability. We will continue to do so.”
McCraw added that the article reported exactly what the intelligence assessment stated: “US intelligence services issued a preliminary assessment concluding that attacks delayed Iran’s nuclear program with only a few months. This is what we reported.”
A CNN spokesman confirmed to the post on Friday that the network had received a similar legal threat and was also staying close to his reporting.
Legal threats came after Trump broke out on social media appearances, calling for journalists in both organizations to be fired.
He also accused them of trying to “demon” the American military personnel. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth echoed Trump’s complaints at a press television conference on Thursday, criticizing the media, but not opposing the existence of the intelligence report.
The post has requested comment from the White House and British.
A Times spokesman refused to comment.
While Trump has often stood out to journalists, his latest threats are part of a wider and increasingly aggressive legal strategy aimed at the main media institutions.
These efforts often revolve around the claims of slander or consumer fraud, and they reflect his long attempt to throw the press as a political enemy.
Trump has launched or threatened numerous lawsuits against news organizations in recent years. Among the highest profiles is a continuous $ 20 billion lawsuit against CBS News and its parent company, Paramount Global.
In that case, Trump accused CBS of deceitful editing of a “60 minutes” interview with the then president of Deputy Kamala Harris to portray him in a negative light. Trump’s legal team claims that the segment deceived viewers in violation of consumer protection laws in Texas.
CBS has denied wrongdoing and is demanding that the matter be fired under the protection of the first change, but the solution talks are reported to be developing.
A mediator has proposed a $ 20 million resolution, though Trump has not accepted the deal, according to Wall Street Journal.
Last December, Disney’s ABC News laid a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump after anchor George Stephanopoulos stated that Trump was found responsible for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll.
In reality, Trump was found responsible for sexual abuse, not rape. ABC agreed to pay $ 15m for the next Trump presidential Foundation and $ 1 million in legal fees. The network also issued an apology.
Brito represented Trump in that case, as well as a 2022 lawsuit against CNN, who claimed the network compared it to Adolf Hitler. This lawsuit was fired by a federal judge in 2023 and is currently on appeal.
Trump has also sued the register of des Moines and survey J. Ann Selzer, claiming a 2024 Iowa survey indicating that Harris leading it was manipulated. This issue was rejected for lack of attitude and evidence.
While traditional defamation claims are difficult to gain due to strong first change defenses, Trump’s legal team is increasingly based on consumer protection statutes, incorporating the misleading media content as a form of public fraud.
Critics argue that the approach was created to calm the freedom of the press and to link the media to expensive litigation.
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