White House Request on CNN Report Following Iran Strikes

Caroline Leavitt, the press secretary for the White House, has asked CNN to retract a story claiming that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were not informed ahead of President Donald Trump’s military action against Iran.

On Saturday, Trump initiated Operation: Midnight Hammer, targeting three key nuclear sites in Iran in a surprise attack. The White House later confirmed the mission’s success that same evening.

CNN’s report indicated that House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, both Republicans, informed Schumer and Jeffries—who are Democrats—only after the attack, and just before the article went live.

Leavitt labeled the CNN report as “fake news,” asserting that the White House had maintained a tradition of bipartisan communication with Congressional leaders, noting that Schumer had been consulted prior to the strike.

Fox News Digital reached out to both Schumer and Jeffries for their responses.

In the wake of the strikes, both Schumer and Jeffries issued statements condemning Trump’s actions but, interestingly, did not directly criticize him for bypassing Congressional approval. They claimed they had not received prior notifications before the military action.

In his statement, Schumer urged Thune to uphold the War Powers Act, emphasizing that the president shouldn’t divert the country unilaterally into potentially serious conflicts without clear threats and strategies in place.