Trump's threat to charge media outlets with 'treason' takes a strange new turn
President Donald Trump's recent call to charge media outlets with "treason" for covering the war in Iran negatively took a strange new turn on Monday night.
Over the weekend, Trump posted on Truth Social that media outlets that covered a story about Iran striking the USS Abraham Air Craft Carrier should be charged with "treason" for disseminating false information. Analysts were shocked by the threat initially, but new details that emerged on Monday night cast Trump's statement in an entirely new light.
CNN Senior Reporter Daniel Dale posted on X that he asked the White House for examples of the news coverage Trump referred to in the post. In response, Dale said he received three examples, and none of them were from American news outlets.
"The White House got back to me with three examples of media outlets that quoted Iran’s claim that it struck the USS Lincoln…but none of the outlets is American. One is Israeli, one Saudi, one Turkish," Dale posted on X.
Dale added that none of the stories included the AI videos Trump referred to in the post.
"The president had strongly suggested he was talking about US media when he said outlets that spread the Lincoln story should be charged with 'TREASON,'" Dale wrote.