US EditionKaroline Leavitt demands retraction of ABC News story claiming FBI warned Iran could attack California
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report omitted that the FBI alert was based on a single unverified tip and falsely alarmed the public, urging ABC to retract it.
- The FBI warned California police departments in February that Iran allegedly aspired to launch drone attacks from an unidentified vessel off the U.S. coast, according to reports surfacing Wednesday.
- White House officials on Thursday downplayed the memo, while Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt demanded a retraction, claiming the report was based on a single, "unverified" tip.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom stated Wednesday that the state remains "prepared for any emergency" while confirming officials are "not aware of any imminent threats at this time."
- Red Cat CEO Jeff Thompson noted that vertical-launch mechanisms off small boats would be "very easy to find and very easy to kill," though small FPV drones remain harder to detect.
- The alert emerges amid the 13-day-old conflict with Iran, though a Department of Homeland Security assessment determined Iran poses a threat while large-scale attacks remain unlikely.
95 Articles
95 Articles
Why an unverified Iran drone tip prompted FBI alerts to California law enforcement
An FBI advisory referencing an unverified tip about a potential Iranian drone concept off the California coast circulated to multiple California law enforcement agencies — only to be forcefully downplayed by the White House hours later. The advisory, distributed through federal security channels,…
White House Denies Iran Drone Threat to US Homeland
There is no threat from Iran to the U.S. homeland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday in response to a report by ABC that the FBI warned California police departments about the possibility of an Iranian drone threat. “This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people,” Leavitt wrote on social media. “They wrote this based on one email…
Karoline Leavitt demands retraction of ABC News story claiming FBI warned Iran could attack California
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt demands ABC News retract story claiming FBI warned Iran may attack California with drones, calling it false information.
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