Trump launches new threat to journalists in late night outburst

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U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One to depart from London Stansted Airport, in Stansted near London, Britain September 18, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

US President Donald Trump late Sunday floated “treason” charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.

In a tirade posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating “fake news” should “be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information.” The maximum penalty for treason in the US is death.

Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal for reporting over the weekend that “five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia.” Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that “the tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base,” and that the planes were “damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired.”

The US president called the story “false reporting” without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are “in service” and one “will soon be flying the skies”—none of which is inconsistent with the Journal’s reporting.

Trump, who regularly uses his social media platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was “distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets,” without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check of the video last week, deeming it “fabricated footage.”

Trump’s latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions.” Carr did not provide specific examples.

The US president said Sunday that he was “thrilled to see” Carr’s threat, railing against “Corrupt and Highly Unpatriotic” news organizations.

Trump and other administration officials, including Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth, have openly whined in recent days about what they’ve deemed negative coverage of the Iran assault, now in its third week with no end in sight.

Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump attacked a reporter as “a very obnoxious person” after she asked the president why he’s sending 5,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East.

US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) warned in a letter to Carr on Sunday that the Trump administration is engaged in a “blatant attempt to muzzle the free press” if outlets don’t align their coverage of the Iran war “with Trump’s preferred narrative.”

“Your Saturday post follows that same logic but extends it to the coverage of an active military conflict, where the chilling effect on journalists and the damage to the public’s right to know are most severe,” Markey wrote to Carr.

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