The White House on Thursday accused ABC News of spreading false information after the network reported that the FBI had warned California police departments about a potential Iranian drone threat to the US West Coast.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report should be retracted, arguing that it was based on unverified information and had unnecessarily alarmed the public.
“This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people,” Leavitt wrote on X.
She said the report relied on a single email sent to local law enforcement in California about what she described as “a single, unverified tip.”
“The email even states the tip was based on unverified intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY?” she wrote.
“TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did,” Leavitt added.
ABC News reported on Wednesday that the FBI had warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for US attacks by launching drones toward the West Coast, citing an alert it said it had reviewed.
