President Donald Trump has lashed out at leakers in his own administration after a series of behind-the-scenes reports on the Iran war. As the conflict Trump claimed would be over in six weeks drags into its seventh month, insiders have repeatedly claimed the president was warned against taking action by his own advisors. “Keep on leaking you dirty dogs!
When we find you, you will pay a big price!!!” declared on his Truth Social Thursday night. The president was responding to an editorial in The Washington Post addressing the war in Iran and a Wall Street Journal report last month revealing that his then-director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, advised him against launching Operation Epic Fury on February 28.Click here for the latest on the war. President Donald Trump has lashed out leakers within his own administration, calling them ‘dirty dogs’ and threatening repercussions (Reuters) Marc Thiessen’s piece condemned the “self-serving leaks” and said they had ultimately only served to demonstrate “what a courageous decision Trump made” when choosing to stop the nuclear threat posed by Tehran while “surrounded by naysayers” and “doves.”The journalist argued the “most tragic mistake that world leaders made over the past century was the failure to take the words of the monsters of history seriously” – naming Vladimir Lenin, Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden. He claimed Trump had bucked the trend and made “the bravest foreign policy decision any president has done in my lifetime.”“Even if it hurts him politically in November, he will be rewarded by history,” Thiessen concluded.The president hailed his article as “very interesting” and “a must read,” which counts as rare praise for a newspaper he has regularly derided and which he attempted to sue for defamation in 2023, only for the $3.8 billion lawsuit to be thrown out in July.The war has proved domestically unpopular for Trump just as the country heads to the midterms, with Reuters / Ipsos polling last month suggesting just 31 percent of Americans support the conflict. Previous reports have suggested Trump was persuaded to unleash war on Iran by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite skepticism from his inner circle. JD Vance reportedly advised against going to war with Iran (Getty) Vice President JD Vance was the most vocal in his opposition, according to a New York Times report in April, with CIA Director Jim Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Gen. Dan Caine said to have claimed Netanyahu “oversold” the president. Since then, the cost of the war has spiralled to an estimated $33 billion, sent gas prices soaring and all but closed the key shipping route the Strait of Hormuz. Trump previously lashed out at leakers in August after it was reported he had had an argument with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David over a reported shortfall on U.S. missile stockpiles as a result of the war. “The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down,” the president fumed. “Long term jail sentences will be sought!”Similarly, he has previously warned his enemies they will “pay a big price,” doing so in July when ranting about the “vandals” and “sleazebags” he insisted had sabotaged his restoration of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.This article originally appeared on The Independent at https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-leakers-threat-truth-social-b3052336.html