The New York Times and CNN both immediately shut down President Donald Trump’s attempt on Thursday to intimidate them over their reporting on his strike against Iran.
An early assessment from the Department of Defense’s Defense Intelligence Agency has indicated that the Iran strikes have not completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear program, as Trump has repeatedly claimed. CNN and The New York Times, along with other news outlets—even Fox News—have reported on the issue.
Trump threatened to sue the Times and CNN for reporting the news on this issue. His personal lawyer sent a letter demanding that the media “retract and apologize for” their reporting. The letter also argued that accurately reporting on the agency’s findings was “false,” “defamatory,” and “unpatriotic.”
The letter, however, failed to get the result Trump wanted.
A spokesperson for CNN told Deadline, “We can confirm we received a letter and responded to it, rejecting the claims in the letter.”
The Times’ lawyer David McCraw responded to Trump in a letter writing, “No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming.”
McCraw further noted that the “American public has a right to know whether the attack on Iran—funded by the tax dollars and of enormous consequence to every citizen—was a success.”
Addressing Trump’s threat, the lawyer said it was “irresponsible” for Trump to threaten a libel suit for reporting “that the trained, professional and patriotic intelligence experts employed by the U.S. government thought that the president may have gotten it wrong in his initial remarks to the country.”
Since the strike, both Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have spent days complaining and attacking the media for reporting on this issue and not merely regurgitating the administration’s positive spin.
Trump said news outlets like CNN and MSNBC were “scum” for reporting the story. Hegseth told reporters “it’s in your DNA and your blood to cheer against Trump” in an unhinged rant at the Pentagon on Thursday.
Related | Hegseth is pissed you might read the news about Trump’s Iran bombings
Following a Pentagon briefing of senators on the strike on Thursday, the Trump version of events was called further into question.
“There’s no doubt there was damage done to the program. But the allegations that we have obliterated their program just don’t seem to stand up to reason,” Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters.
Trump and his team have a significant credibility problem. Trump has spent decades lying about issues big and small—from his loss in the 2020 election to his net worth.
The lawsuit threat has become a reliable weapon in his arsenal in response to factual reporting that makes him look bad. He is even suing an Iowa pollster and the Des Moines Register for publishing her findings because her poll showed Trump behind Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.
Outlets like ABC News have caved to Trump’s threats and Paramount, CBS News’ parent company, is reportedly considering paying off Trump for a frivolous lawsuit so their proposed merger receives federal support.
When he isn’t suing the media, Trump has been using his power within the federal government to try and defund news outlets like PBS and NPR that report negative news about him and other Republicans.
Those efforts are being opposed by public media, and in this instance, at least, CNN and the Times aren’t bowing to Trump’s dictatorial demands.