The White House pushed back on an “unverified” ABC News report that Iran threatened the West Coast of the United States with drones.
ABC News referenced an email sent in February to police departments in California warning that Iran could retaliate over the U.S. military strikes.
The email was not intended to be released to the public.
At the top of the email, the FBI wrote in all caps:
But ABC News reported the email as facts.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back, saying “no such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did.”
“This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people,” Leavitt wrote in a post on the social media platform X.com.
“They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about 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.
This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people.
They wrote this based on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip. The email even… https://t.co/jKey9ahsNk
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 12, 2026
