On June 26, 2025, President Trump said Democrats leaked a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency assessment of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites and should be prosecuted. He did not name anyone or cite evidence, and the White House said the FBI was investigating the leak.
President Trump accused Democrats on June 26, 2025, of leaking a classified intelligence assessment of the U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. “The Democrats are the ones who leaked the information on the PERFECT FLIGHT to the Nuclear Sites in Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They should be prosecuted!”
The post referred to a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) assessment, first reported by CNN on June 24 and later by other outlets, which estimated that the U.S. strikes had set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months. That contrasted with Trump’s statements that the sites had been “obliterated.”
Was any evidence presented?
- Trump did not say who he believed shared the information or cite any documents linking Democrats to the leak.
- White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the FBI was investigating who shared the assessment. “Leaking top secret, classified intelligence is a crime and people need to be held accountable for that crime,” she said. She also said, “Clearly, it was done to undermine the president.”
What the DIA assessment said
- Scope: an early analysis of the June 22 U.S. strikes, known as Operation Midnight Hammer, on the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan sites.
- Findings: according to media reports, it estimated the strikes had set Iran’s program back by months rather than destroying it, and that some enriched uranium may have been moved beforehand.
Administration response
- The White House called the assessment “flat-out wrong” and described the coverage by CNN, The New York Times and The Washington Post as fake news aimed at undermining the president.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine said at a Pentagon press conference that the DIA report was “low confidence.” Hegseth defended the strikes as a success and criticized media coverage. According to Reuters, he also said he was not aware of intelligence showing Iran had moved its uranium before the strikes.
- Trump threatened to sue The New York Times and CNN over their reports, and his lawyer demanded a retraction from the Times.
Senate briefing delayed
A classified Senate briefing on the strikes, originally planned for June 24, was postponed to June 26 after the leak. Leavitt said, “I don’t think this administration is going to get into the habit of sharing classified, top secret information.” Democrats criticized the delay as an obstacle to congressional oversight, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected the accusation that Democrats were behind the leak.
After the briefing, Democratic senators said they still had unanswered questions about how much damage the strikes had caused, while many Republican senators said the briefing confirmed the operation’s success.
Trump calls for prosecution
In a Fox News interview broadcast on June 29, Trump said he would like to see those involved in leaking the report prosecuted and suggested the government could press reporters to reveal their sources. “They could find out if they wanted. They could find out easily,” he said, according to Axios.
Why it matters
- The dispute highlights tension between the White House’s public messaging and early intelligence assessments.
- It has added to partisan conflict over classified information and congressional access to it.
- No Democratic official has been publicly linked to the leak, and the outcome of the FBI investigation had not been announced.
Source: Axios
