In a real eyebrow raiser of a segment on Fox News, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff accused the several anonymous CNN sources behind its recent leak of a US intelligence assessment of the Iranian strikes of “treason” for leaking that classified report, something that could mean seriously ramped up charges agains them.
Witkoff’s comments came on Tuesday, June 24, when he spoke to FNC personality Laura Ingraham on her “The Ingraham Angle” program. When he accused the CNN sources of treason, Witkoff was referencing CNN’s stunning report on Operation Midnight Hammer, the bombing of Iran’s alleged nuclear facilities. In the report, which relied on the leaked intelligence assessment, CNN claimed that the attack had merely set back Iranian nuclear progress by a few months, not indefinitely.
Ingraham, introducing the report and the intelligence leak behind it, said, “This leaked intel assessment, it’s an early look at what was actually accomplished on the ground. But it was leaked. Somebody decided to leak this from the DIA and it’s being used in the media, and it’s all over today, that, ‘Aha, Trump said it obliterated, but it’s not obliterated. It’s set back months, but it’s not over.’”
Replying, Witkoff immediately told her that the intelligence leak was “treasonous.” Doing so, he told Ingraham and FNC viewers, “Well, it goes without saying that leaking that type of information, whatever the information, whatever site it comes out on, is outrageous. It’s treasonous.”
Adding to that, Witkoff argued that the leak must be investigated and prosecuted with all due vigor, as this sort of disallowed release of classified information cannot be tolerated. He said, “So it ought to be investigated, and whoever did it, whoever’s responsible for it should be held accountable.”
Concluding his point on that, Witkoff noted that such leaks can’t be tolerated for multiple reasons, most important of which is that leaking classified information can lead to harmed intelligence assets, with even lives being placed at risk. He said, “It could hurt lives in the future. This leaking is a completely unacceptable thing.”
Watch Mr. Witkoff sound off on CNN here:
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President Trump has sounded off on the CNN leak as well. For example, in a furious post on Truth Social, he said, “FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY. THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED! BOTH THE TIMES AND CNN ARE GETTING SLAMMED BY THE PUBLIC!”
Similarly, speaking in an event at The Hague, the president noted that both the NYT and CNN are flailing and failing organizations that published an incorrect story about the results of the Operation Midnight Hammer strike, saying that in reality the attack was a major success. He said, “We had a tremendous success, and this is the New York Times, I call it the failing New York Times. It’s going to hell. And CNN, which, as you know, very few people are watching.”
Featured image credit: base image from the embedded video