Leavitt Debunks ‘Completely False’ Report That Top Dems Not Given Advanced Notice Of Iran Strikes

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt set the record straight after CNN reported over the weekend that the Trump administration did not provide advanced notice of the United States’s strike on three Iranian nuclear sites to Democrat leaders in Congress.

On Fox News, Leavitt said there was, in fact, outreach to both Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), and the White House had the receipts to prove it.

“The White House made calls to congressional leadership. They were bipartisan calls. In fact, Hakeem Jeffries couldn’t be reached. We tried him before the strike and he didn’t pick up the phone,” Leavitt said during a “Fox & Friends” interview.

.@PressSec: “The White House made calls to congressional leadership. They were bipartisan calls. In fact, @RepJeffries couldn’t be reached. We tried him before the strike and he didn’t pick up the phone.” pic.twitter.com/9NLotvijX7

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 23, 2025

Leavitt added that Jeffries was ultimately briefed after the strike, while Schumer was advised beforehand.

“This notion that CNN ran with that the White House did not give a heads up to Democrats is just completely false,” Leavitt said. “In fact, both Sen. Schumer’s office and CNN had to retract that story last night because it was a blatant lie and we showed them the timestamps from those phone calls.”

CNN did initially report that no top Democrats were told of Trump’s plans until after the attack, but later updated its headline and issued a correction to note that Schumer did receive a call prior to the strike after Leavitt initially called out the news outlet on X.

Its revised story said that a source “conceded” Schumer had been called a little less than an hour before the attack “with little detail” and no mention of which country in which the action was taking place. NBC News reporter Julie Tsirkin cited a Schumer aide who called the notification “perfunctory.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended Trump’s strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and contended that top members of the legislature were notified.

“The President made the right call, and did what he needed to do. Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act,” Johnson said on X.

He added: “The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ simply could not be allowed the opportunity to obtain and use nuclear weapons. The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”