{"id":47226,"date":"2026-03-17T11:20:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47226"},"modified":"2026-03-17T11:20:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T18:20:42","slug":"trump-floats-charges-for-treason-against-media-outlets-over-iran-war-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/trump-floats-charges-for-treason-against-media-outlets-over-iran-war-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Floats \u2018Charges for Treason\u2019 Against Media Outlets Over Iran War Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"US<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on March 15, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Nathan Howard\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Sen. Ed Markey warned that the Trump administration is engaged in a \u201cblatant attempt to muzzle the free press.\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mar 16, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US President Donald Trump<\/a> late Sunday floated \u201ctreason\u201d charges against media outlets that he accused of reporting false information about the Iran war as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continued to mount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a tirade<\/a> posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that media outlets he accused of circulating \u201cfake news\u201d should \u201cbe brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information.\u201d The maximum penalty<\/a> for treason in the US is death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FCC<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s FCC Chair Threatens to Pull Broadcast Licenses Over Negative Iran War Coverage<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"US-POLITICS-CONGRESS-DEMOCRATS\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As Trump Marches US Toward Iran War, Critics Ask: Where\u2019s the \u2018Pushback\u2019 From Dems and Media?<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trump specifically called out the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street<\/a> Journal for reporting<\/a> over the weekend that \u201cfive US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia<\/a>.\u201d Citing two unnamed US officials, the Journal noted that \u201cthe tankers were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base,\u201d and that the planes were \u201cdamaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US president called the story \u201cfalse reporting\u201d without substantively refuting its content. Trump wrote that four of the refueling planes are \u201cin service\u201d and one \u201cwill soon be flying the skies\u201d\u2014none of which is inconsistent with the Journal\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, who regularly<\/a> uses his social media<\/a> platform to circulate AI-generated videos and photos, also complained about an AI video purportedly showing the USS Abraham Lincoln on fire. The president claimed the video was \u201cdistributed by Corrupt Media Outlets,\u201d without offering any examples. AFP published a fact-check<\/a> of the video last week, deeming it \u201cfabricated footage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s latest attack on the US media came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened<\/a> Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of \u201crunning hoaxes and news distortions.\u201d Carr did not provide specific examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US president said Sunday that he was \u201cthrilled to see\u201d Carr\u2019s threat, railing against \u201cCorrupt and Highly Unpatriotic\u201d news organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump and other administration officials, including Pentagon<\/a> Secretary Pete Hegseth, have openly whined<\/a> in recent days about what they\u2019ve deemed negative coverage of the Iran assault, now in its third week with no end in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump attacked<\/a> a reporter as \u201ca very obnoxious person\u201d after she asked the president why he\u2019s sending<\/a> 5,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Sen. Ed Markey<\/a> (D-Mass.) warned in a letter<\/a> to Carr on Sunday that the Trump administration<\/a> is engaged in a \u201cblatant attempt to muzzle the free press\u201d if outlets don\u2019t align their coverage of the Iran war \u201cwith Trump\u2019s preferred narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour Saturday post follows that same logic but extends it to the coverage of an active military conflict, where the chilling effect on journalists and the damage to the public\u2019s right to know are most severe,\u201d Markey wrote to Carr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One on March 15, 2026. \u00a0(Photo by Nathan Howard\/Getty Images) US Sen. Ed Markey warned that the Trump administration is engaged in a \u201cblatant attempt to muzzle the free press.\u201d Jake Johnson Mar 16, 2026 (CommonDreams.org)… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47226"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47226"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47227,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47226\/revisions\/47227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}