White House Says It's Eyeing Prosecution of CNN for False Reporting
The Department of Homeland Security "is working with" DOJ on a potential prosecution of CNN for the cable network's reporting, President Donald Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday. At an event in Florida, Noem said CNN's reporting about an app used for crowdsourcing the location of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents "is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities operations, and we're going to actually go after them and prosecute them."
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DHS wrote on X that "baseless attacks and demonization of our law enforcement from FAKE NEWS CNN is contributing to our brave ICE officers now facing a 500% increase in assaults." Noem "has been clear: If you obstruct or assault our law enforcement, we will hunt you down and you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
CNN said it reported about an app "that is publicly available to any iPhone user who wants to download it. There is nothing illegal about reporting the existence of this or any other app, nor does such reporting constitute promotion or other endorsement of the app by CNN."
Trump, also in Florida, said CNN could face prosecution for its reporting on the June 22 U.S. military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities as well. "They were giving totally false reports," he said. Iranian nuclear capabilities were "totally obliterated, and our people have to be celebrated, not come home and say, 'What do you mean we didn't hit the target? We hit the target.'"
Last week, Trump called for CNN and New York Times journalists to be fired over their reporting on the U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear program (see 2506260056).