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White House Holds Press Briefing; Republican Budget Battle; Pentagon Touts Success of Iran Attack. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 26, 2025 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're following two developing stories out of the White House this afternoon. A press briefing is set to begin momentarily, as the administration focuses on the state of Iran's nuclear program following U.S. strikes, also the president's push to pass his sweeping domestic agenda, the so-called big, beautiful bill.

On Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth holding a fiery news conference this morning, emphasizing that U.S. strikes went as planned. The administration is providing some new details as lawmakers on Capitol Hill are set to receive a briefing. While it's an open question the state of Iran's nuclear program and its capabilities, we will, of course, discuss.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And here at home, the president's big, beautiful bill, it has a big problem that is not so beautiful for the president, and that is Republican holdouts.

Hours from now, President Trump will be hosting a White House event to try to sway those lawmakers who still do need some persuading to get on board with his prized agenda.

We have CNN's Jeff Zeleny and also Natasha Bertrand following all of the angles here.

Let's start with you, Jeff.

And the president is trying to bring out Americans to try to convince these lawmakers that they need to get on board.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, the president is going to turn his attention, as you said, back to his domestic policy agenda. But it's not just a matter of trying to persuade holdout Republicans. It's likely a matter of actually changing the bill.

There are very specific parts of the Senate bill that the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that simply cannot be in there. That's because of the arcane process in which this is going through called reconciliation. Too much detail, but the bottom line is, it cannot affect the overall budget, so back to the drawing board, but Medicaid is a big sticking point.

So, even as the president tries to urge Republicans to vote yes, Senator Josh Hawley, Republican in Missouri, and many other Republicans are concerned about the effect these Medicaid cuts would have to rural hospitals and other programs.

So, all of that is coming as the White House also is still very defensive over the actual assessment of the military strike on Sunday. So, the president clearly is back now in Washington from a quick trip to the NATO summit. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt will be taking questions in a short period of time here about both of these, but no doubt a split screen between the foreign policy challenge as well as the domestic policy challenge ahead.

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, please stand by.

Let's bring in Natasha Bertrand for more on what Pentagon officials are saying about Iran.

It got testy this morning, Natasha.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It was definitely a fiery presentation by Secretary Hegseth, which, of course, was largely aimed at an audience of one, President Donald Trump, who announced that this press conference was going to be taking place last night.

But he stood alongside General Dan Caine, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And they had different roles here. There was definitely a split screen.

Whereas Secretary Hegseth was fiercely defending the military operations, attacking the media, and saying that the information that had been reported about this Defense Intelligence Agency assessment was incomplete and it was not representative of their actual understanding of the military operation, he kind of stayed at a 30,000-foot level, whereas Dan Caine kind of gave a more granular look at the operation itself and all of the planning that went into it.

And he focused very specifically on Fordow, the nuclear facility in Iran that is buried deep underground, about 250 to 300 feet underground, and all of the planning over 15-plus years that had to go into a military operation like this, and, of course, the bombs that were used as part of this operation. He gave a demo and showed on the screen a test that the Department of Defense had done in recent years of these massive ordnance penetrating bombs and just what it would take, essentially, to penetrate those underground layers of this very heavily fortified facility.

Now, according to General Caine, he has confidence that the bombs did and the military did exactly what they had to do as part of this operation,that the bombs hit exactly their intended targets at the correct angles, they went down the ventilation shafts of Fordow nuclear facility, and, therefore, it is -- he has confidence at this point that they were able to impact those underground structures.

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But we didn't get a lot by way of new actual intelligence when it comes to a battle damage assessment. The thing that has been on everyone's minds over the last several days is, how much does this actually now set back Iran's nuclear program?

That is still unclear because the DIA assessment that we reported on earlier this week was preliminary. But it did say that, based on their initial findings, it appears that the operation only set the program back by several months at most.

Now, importantly, Dan Caine, as well as Secretary Hegseth, they did not elaborate on the operation the two other nuclear facilities inside Iran that were part of this military strike, Natanz and Isfahan, where Iran does keep a lot of its core nuclear program. And so it's unclear what the impact was on those and how successful the military finds the operation against those facilities.

This really focused narrowly on Fordow, which is a very important facility, to be sure. And General Caine did say that he is confident that there was damage done to that facility, Brianna.

KEILAR: And, Natasha, there was so much animosity between the defense secretary and the media. Again, he was singling out reporters during this press availability.

BERTRAND: Yes, that's right.

And he said again that he wanted to reiterate that, no matter what you want to call it, no matter what word you want to use to describe the damage that was done to these facilities, he would describe them as obliterated and destroyed. But here's a little bit of what he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: There's been a lot of discussion about what happened and what didn't happen. Step back for a second. Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating, choose your word, obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Look, General Caine wouldn't go that far. He said BDA, that is the job of the intelligence community. He just is here to provide the details about the military operation.

Of course, on the one hand, Secretary Hegseth is saying that the DIA assessment that everyone reported on earlier this week was early and that more information has to be gleaned about this operation, but, on the other hand, he's saying these sites were completely destroyed, decimated, the program was obliterated.

And so it seems like they're kind of trying to have it both ways a bit, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: And, Natasha, notably, there were other parts of the administration gathering intelligence on their end.

We had CIA Director John Ratcliffe coming out and basically saying that there was credible evidence citing new intelligence that Iran's nuclear program is severely damaged. Talk to us about the process of compiling all of these different avenues of information together into one conclusion as to exactly how damaged Iran's nuclear capabilities are.

BERTRAND: Yes, absolutely.

So, importantly, part of the DIA assessment that we reported on earlier this week that is so significant is that it said plainly, according to our sources, that this was not done in conjunction with the entire intelligence community. This was one agency's assessment based on intelligence that had been gathered across the intel community, but it is not an overall I.C.-wide assessment.

And so the agencies, now they are conducting their own intelligence gathering efforts. And the CIA, according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe, is also taking part in that. He released a statement yesterday, and he said that the CIA has collected intelligence that they deem to be reliable and that they have confidence in that. And so we will have to wait and see a couple of days, if not weeks...

SANCHEZ: Natasha, please stand by. Sorry to interrupt.

Let's take you live to the White House and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

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KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The world is a much safer place.

After decades in which past presidents coddled and enabled the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, President Trump finally ended the immediate threat of a nuclear Iranian regime. Following President Trump's command, the most powerful military in the history of the world executed massive precision strikes on three of the Iranian regime's key nuclear facilities.

The objective of Operation Midnight Hammer was to destroy the regime's nuclear enrichment capacity and stop the grave nuclear threat posed to the United States, Israel, and the rest of the free world. The mission, which will go down in the history books, was an overwhelming success.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan "Razin" Caine, covered the operation in great detail at their briefing this morning at the Pentagon, and I encourage every American to watch it. As President Trump has said repeatedly, the United States of America has the greatest, fiercest, and bravest armed forces ever to stride the face of this Earth. [13:10:02]

And we couldn't be more grateful and proud of our nation's warriors. The Iranian regime was weeks away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon that would threaten the entire world before President Trump took this decisive action on Saturday night to obliterate their nuclear capabilities.

The contrast in leadership could not be more clear. Barack Obama and Joe Biden sent pallets of cash, American taxpayer dollars, in a failed attempt to buy the Iranian regime's compliance with a weak and ineffective deal. President Trump sent a fleet of American warplanes to destroy Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon.

The United States and the entire world are safer because of this president's decisiveness. Despite agenda-driven leaks by the fake news media aimed at undermining this incredible accomplishment achieved by President Trump and our brave fighter pilots, there is broad consensus emerging already that Iran's nuclear capabilities were indeed destroyed.

The United States, Israel, the United Nations, and even Iran all agree they can no longer build a nuclear weapon. So what did the president -- I mean, why did the president immediately turn to obliterating after the Iranian nuclear threat? Securing peace.

Within 48 hours of the devastating strike, President Trump and his team brokered a historic cease-fire between Israel and Iran and officially ended the 12-day war. The Middle East is now shifting away from chaos and bloodshed and moving toward the beginning stages of a new era of peace and stability that President Trump has long called on them to achieve.

This was unthinkable at this time last week, and this is what peace through strength looks like. Under President Trump, America will relentlessly advance our interests without being dragged into endless wars. His fearless leadership guarantees America is once again respected across the world.

Just look at what he was able to accomplish at the NATO summit in the Netherlands. Many of you were there. Our allies agreed to invest 5 percent of their GDP annually in defense because President Trump demanded it. This will be the most significant reinforcement of NATO's collective defense in the history of the NATO alliance.

And, as a result, the United States of America will carry less of the burden and our NATO allies will be stronger than ever before. As NATO Secretary-General Rutte put it, for too long, one ally, the United States, and our taxpayers, I may add, carried too much of the burden of that commitment. And that changes today.

President Trump made this change possible. We will produce trillions more for our common defense to make us stronger and fairer by equalizing spending between America and our allies. This is the Trump effect. This is what the president meant when he declared that America is back. Now, back here at home, Americans are paying much cheaper prices for

gasoline this summer, as both "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" pointed out today.

Here's how "The Wall Street Journal" put it: "Hitting the road this summer won't bring as much of a big hit to your wallet. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is about 23 cents cheaper than this time last year. Analysts say plentiful supply is expected to keep prices down in the coming months."

These are the cheapest gas prices at this point of the summer since 2021. And despite all the doomcasting from liberal pundits, oil prices on Tuesday were lower than before the Israel-Iran conflict began. As President Trump continues to unleash American energy, our country will have even more efficient, reliable and affordable energy to protect our national security and fuel our people.

Later this afternoon here at the White House, the president will host a one big, beautiful event in the East Room to rally Republicans to get the one big, beautiful bill across the finish line. At that event, he will be joined by everyday Americans from across the country who will massively benefit from the commonsense policies and provisions within this bill.

This is the largest tax cut for working and middle-class Americans in history, and it's going to put more money into the pockets of hardworking Americans. Families will see an average increase in take- home pay of more than $10,000 per year. Americans earning between $30,000 and $80,000 per year will see a 15 percent tax cut.

Overtime and tipped workers will save thousands of dollars annually, and our amazing seniors will receive historic financial relief by reducing the tax burden on their Social Security benefits. Simply put, this bill is going to unlock the age, the golden age of America, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Senate and the House to see this bill on the president's desk for signature by Independence Day.

Here in our new media seat today, we have Collin Anderson with "The Washington Free Beacon," who will kick off our question and answer.

Collin, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

We reported yesterday on a briefing from the Israeli defense minister in which he said the U.S. and Israel are working together to monitor any attempts from Iran to rebuild their nuclear program, and also that, if Iran was to do so, the U.S. and Israel would work together to once again destroy that nuclear program. Is that aligned with the president's thinking?

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LEAVITT: Look, the president, as I said in those opening remarks, Collin, and thanks for being with us today, views the Middle East on its way to peace and prosperity.

And the president used strength on Saturday night. The whole world saw that the United States is indeed the most lethal fighting force in the world with those precision strikes on Saturday evening. But the president wants peace. He always has. And right now we're on a diplomatic path with Iran. The president and his team, namely Special Envoy Witkoff, continue to be in communication with the Iranians and especially our Gulf and Arab partners in the region to come to an agreement with Iran.

As for our alliance with the state of Israel and that friendship and that partnership between the United States and the state of Israel, I would argue it has never been stronger. And we see a new era in which perhaps some of these Gulf and Arab states can sign on to the Abraham Accords.

That was one of the president's most signature accomplishments in his first term, and he'd like to see more of those countries sign on in this second term. And so we look forward to sustaining a long and durable peace in the region. And the president wants to do that through a diplomatic solution.

But as he proved on Saturday night, he's not willing -- he's not afraid to use strength if we need to do it.

Gabe.

QUESTION: Thanks, Karoline.

The president mentioned in a TRUTH Social post that no enriched uranium was moved from Fordow. What about the other two sites, Isfahan and Natanz? And how can the president be so sure that no uranium was moved?

LEAVITT: Well, what I can assure you is that the United States and our intelligence agencies and Director Ratcliffe and the president's entire national security team were obviously watching these sites very closely in the weeks and the days leading up to the attack on Saturday, which I will add was one of the most secretive and successful operations in United States history.

I think many of you in this room would agree with that because none of you in this room knew about the strike on Saturday until it took place. So we were watching closely, and there was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strike.

QUESTION: From any of the sites?

LEAVITT: Correct. Yes. Right.

QUESTION: And then one more thing, Karoline. Next week, the president mentioned that there would be talks with Iran. He didn't mention any details, and Iran has not confirmed them. Can you share any details about any potential talks next week? LEAVITT: We don't have anything scheduled as of now, but I spoke to

our special envoy, Witkoff, at length this morning, and I can assure all of you we continue to be in close communication with the Iranians and through our intermediaries as well, namely the Qataris, who have been an incredible ally and partner throughout this entire effort.

And, as I said, this administration is always focused on diplomacy and peace. And we want to ensure we can get to a place where Iran agrees to a non-enrichment civil nuclear program. And there are many other requests that the United States has. Those details continue to really -- they're just starting. Of course, the operation was just on Saturday night, but we are in touch.

And if there is a meeting, we will let, as we always do.

Brian.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline. There's two, one on trade.

On the July deadline that's coming up for the trade deals, is that deadline still hard and fast for the president? Or is he now considering even coming to trade deals after that deadline? And where is he on that going forward?

LEAVITT: I think the president has been asked this quite a few times by many of you in the media. I have heard him answer it at press conferences and at gaggles. He just spoke about it on Air Force One. The deadline is not critical.

The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline. And that means the president can pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States and for the American worker. And he will continue to do that.

But as for the deals, our United States trade ambassador, Jamieson Greer, I speak to him frequently. He's working very hard. And he has had very good and productive discussions with many of our key trading partners.

QUESTION: And on the one big, beautiful bill, there's conversations on the Hill right now about the Medicaid cuts. I'm curious. If the final bill that the president has been talking about comes to him and it has Medicaid cuts in it, will he sign it? Or would he rather just Congress do away with those cuts?

LEAVITT: I think our friends in both the Senate and the House know exactly where the president stands on Medicaid. He wants to get rid of the waste, fraud and abuse. And they are working to do that in the Senate right now.

Jennifer.

QUESTION: A follow-up on that, on the big, beautiful bill. Is there enough time for Congress to work through the issues it needs to work through? I'm saying, does the president need to move back his deadline a little bit?

LEAVITT: We expect that bill to be on the president's desk for signature by July 4. I know that there was a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian this morning.

Look, this is part of the process. This is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate. But the president is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) on Israel, is there a date set for the prime minister to visit the White House yet? Is he coming in a couple weeks?

[13:20:02]

LEAVITT: There isn't a date, but the prime minister has expressed interest in coming to the White House to meet with the president and come to Washington. The president is obviously very open to that, but we don't have a date. When we do, we will let you all know.

Kate.

QUESTION: The president suggested he was open to sending more Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine. Is that going to happen, and were there any other assurances that he made directly to Zelenskyy when they met?

LEAVITT: I will let the president speak on that. That was a private conversation between he and President Zelenskyy, but the meeting was a good meeting, and it was a meeting towards progress. And the president, as he said, repeatedly wants to see this war come to an end, but I will let him speak on that specific point.

QUESTION: And Witkoff yesterday suggested that there would be more countries signing onto the Abraham Accords. Is there -- what's the timeline on that, and which country specifically is the administration looking to have sign on?

LEAVITT: Well, the president is certainly hopeful that more countries in the region will sign onto the Abraham Accords. Again, we want to see a long, withstanding, and durable peace in the Middle East, and that's the way to do it.

And when the president met with the new president of Syria, that was one of the requests that he made, for Syria to sign onto the Abraham Accords. I don't have a timeline for you, but this administration wants to see that happen, and our partners in the region should know that.

Rachel.

QUESTION: Thanks so much.

Just to follow back up on the meeting that the president mentioned about wanting to have this meeting with the Iranians next week, clearly, there's a willingness here from the administration to want to meet with Iranian officials. What is the holdup here in trying to schedule it? Are you experiencing any resistance from the Iranians?

LEAVITT: No. Have some patience. We just had this strike on Saturday night. The president secured a cease-fire. A lot has happened in the last week. He was just in the Netherlands. Now he's back home to have a big event this afternoon on the one big, beautiful bill and get our domestic priorities across the finish line.

So we will get there. And like I said, we're in constant communication.

QUESTION: And just one more, the goal of the meeting. The president mentioned yesterday that it may not be necessary to have an agreement with the Iranians. Is -- what is the purpose, what would be the goal of this meeting?

LEAVITT: Again, to continue moving forward towards a longstanding peace in the Middle East.

Jordan.

QUESTION: Yes, Karoline, thank you.

So the president had some harsh words for both Israel and Iran on Tuesday as he was departed for the NATO summit after they both violated the cease-fire, he said. What's your response to Americans who are worried the peace isn't going to last and think that Israel is trying to plunge us into another endless war on their behalf?

LEAVITT: I think the fact that the president was able to successfully negotiate a cease-fire when nobody thought that was possible, it was a surprise to everyone in this room, it was a surprise to the world, but the president got it done, because he wants to see peace in this world.

He does not want the United States to be dragged into these conflicts. Again, he's not afraid to use strength if he has to, but the president has already proven he can put America first and deliver on peace at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive goals.

QUESTION: And then one more. You know, after Kari Lake, she testified in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the waste, fraud and abuse and the rot, really, in Voice of America and USAGM, the president called for Congress to kill it.

What does that look like? And is the president willing to sign an executive order?

LEAVITT: Well, I believe that would -- that action would have to be legislative through Congress, and the president directed Congress to get that done in his TRUTH Social post yesterday.

If there is any executive action that can be taken to cut some of the waste, fraud and abuse or do away with the program entirely, I'm sure our great deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, is already looking into it. And if it can be done, it will be done here at the White House. But Congress should act as well. To the back. Go ahead. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: To the back, and then, Carrie (ph), I will come to you.

QUESTION: The administration said that the DIA report was low confidence intel. Can you share what other assessments are currently under way to get to the bottom of just how effective these strikes were?

LEAVITT: Yes, well, I can assure you what the CIA director said, that when we look at the entirety of the intelligence that we have to this date, it concludes that these strikes on Iranians -- the Iranian nuclear facilities were absolutely successful. It was a total obliteration, as the president said.

And not only does our own intelligence say that, but also the Iranian foreign minister has said that. We saw Israel conclude the same thing based on their own intelligence. We also had the United Nations say that as well. So I think the only other time the United Nations, Israel, Iran and the United States has agreed on something is that the sky is blue. But they all agree that Iran's nuclear facilities were completely demolished.

And I would just like to reemphasize. You mentioned this was a low- confidence preliminary intelligence assessment. And the entirety of that assessment was not leaked to the media. Only tidbits of that assessment were leaked to CNN. And we have seen this playbook run before, where you have people in the intelligence community or perhaps on Capitol Hill.

We don't know, but I believe the FBI is investigating to find out who that leaker was because it's illegal. And they should be held accountable for that. Leaked bits and pieces of an intel assessment to push a false narrative. And it's to the same reporter, I will add, Natasha Bertrand of CNN, who has done this in the past.

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In 2020, it was Natasha Bertrand who had 51 intelligence analysts falsely lied to her, but she still put it on paper for some reason, that the Hunter Biden laptop story was Russian disinformation. We all know that's not true, right? We can all agree on that now. That was a lie from the intelligence community.

Also, in 2020, this same reporter, Natasha Bertrand, wrote that a top intel agency ruled out the manmade lab leak theory of the coronavirus origins. Again, the president was right about that. This reporter wrote a lie from the intelligence community to seek a narrative she wanted to prove. And guess what? We now know that's the truth.

Also in 2024, Bertrand pushed the suckers and losers hoax. She also pushed the fine people hoax, which was taking the president's words purposely out of context. And then, last October, and I believe this is notable, Natasha Bertrand published an article in Politico from the intelligence agency.

She said that John Ratcliffe was speaking without any evidence when he said Iran was attempting to undermine President Trump's presidential campaign. And then we, of course, found out that was absolutely true. In fact, the Biden administration declassed an intel report which said they had high confidence that Iran had done exactly what Ratcliffe alleged. They did run an influence campaign to hurt President Trump's candidacy.

In fact, we know the Iranians tried to take President Trump's life. And so this is a reporter who has been unfortunately used by people who dislike Donald Trump in this government to push fake and false narratives. She should be ashamed of herself. And that's not what reporting is. Journalism is trying to find the facts and the truth.

And, this week, we saw this same reporter being used to push a fake narrative to try to undermine the president of the United States and, more importantly, the brave fighter pilots who conducted one of the most successful operations in United States history. And I think the American people fully know that this operation was a complete and total success.

Elizabeth.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

"The Miami Herald" recently published a story saying the Trump administration was targeting migrant foster children. The Trump administration has denounced this as false. Could you clarify the Trump administration's position on protecting migrant children, particularly the 300,000 lost under the Biden administration?

LEAVITT: Yes, I saw that "Miami Herald" article yesterday, and I was aghast at the headline. It's egregious to accuse this administration of trying to target foster children.

That is not at all what is happening at the Department of Homeland Security. And I learned that the Department of Homeland Security actually tried to work in good faith with this reporter to get this story right, to explain that this administration is trying to protect foster children. We are trying to keep children out of harm's way,even if that means their parents are not law-abiding citizens.

We want to protect children, unlike the previous administration, which allowed children to be trafficked and raped and in some cases killed because of the open border policies. Unfortunately "The Miami Herald" just completely degraded themselves with this report, despite having a full list of facts from the Department of Homeland Security.

It's another example of fake news. And the May border numbers speak for themselves. Not a single illegal alien was allowed into this country because of this administration's border policies in the month of May. That means not a single child was allowed into this country, possibly with human smugglers or human traffickers.

And we know that was happening at the rate of thousands and thousands of children every single month in the previous administration for four years. And you didn't see any reporting of that from "The Miami Herald," but now they're trying to accuse this administration. And we tried to give them the facts and they refused to report them. So thank you for bringing that report to light.

Aishah.

QUESTION: Good to see you again.

LEAVITT: You too.

QUESTION: I know you're looking for...

LEAVITT: You're usually on the Hill.

QUESTION: I know. I'm here today.

I know you're looking for this leaker. Is it your belief -- I know you said earlier you're not sure if it's on Capitol Hill or at the Pentagon, but is it your belief that it might be at -- in Capitol Hill and how confident are you that you will find this leaker?

LEAVITT: Well, I'm not personally looking for the leaker. The FBI is looking for the leaker. So you will have to ask them in the Department of Justice in terms of this investigation.

But leaking, top secret classified intelligence is a crime. And people need to be held accountable for that crime.

QUESTION: Can I just ask you about how you're going to be limiting intel to Congress? What would you say to lawmakers who say they have oversight privileges, they need this information?

LEAVITT: This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence is not ending up in irresponsible hands and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it.

And, unfortunately, clearly, someone who had their hands on this -- and it was a very few people -- a very few number of people in our government who saw this report. That person was irresponsible with it, and we need to get to the bottom of it, and we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public.