CNN Threatened With Lawsuit by President Trump Over Iranian Strikes Reporting
CNN is once again in the president’s crosshairs. This time, the issue stems from its reporting on the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities by the U.S. military.
On Thursday, the network received a letter from President Donald Trump’s attorney threatening a lawsuit as a result of its reporting on the preliminary assessment of the effectiveness of the recent strikes.
CNN confirmed to TVNewser on Monday that it received a letter, with the spokesperson saying the network rejected the letter’s claims, which were not disclosed.
The network was one of the first to report on Tuesday that an early assessment by U.S. intelligence found that the strikes did not destroy the core components of Iran’s nuclear program, setting back the country’s capabilities by only a few months.
The New York Times and other news outlets confirmed CNN’s reporting, but the president has singled out CNN and The New York Times, taking to social media to criticize the two news organizations.
On Thursday, The New York Times reported that, like CNN, it received a letter from President Trump’s personal lawyer threatening to sue it for publishing articles about the initial assessments from the military strikes.
According to the Times, Trump’s attorney said the articles had “damaged” the president’s reputation and called for the news organization to “retract and apologize for” what it had published, adding that the piece was “false,” “defamatory,” and “unpatriotic.”
In addition, Trump has singled out CNN’s Natasha Bertrand on Truth Social, saying that she should be fired and “thrown out like a dog.” He added, “She should not be allowed to work at Fake News CNN.”
CNN has stood by its reporter, stating in a social media post that it supports her and explained that its reporting made “clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence.”
The network went on to say that it does not believe the criticism its reporters are receiving is warranted because they reported accurately “the existence of the assessment” and accurately characterized its findings, “which are in the public interest.”
In November 2020, a federal judge dismissed a libel lawsuit filed by Trump’s team against CNN.