White House Pushes To Unite Conservative Messaging Amid Iran Strikes
The White House is working to address a backlash from conservative commentators who are accusing the Trump administration of inconsistent messaging regarding its military operation against Iran.
On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a detailed statement defending the president against complaints that he and his advisers have been unclear and at times contradictory in justifying the conflict.
While she did not address whether Trump is seeking regime change in Iran, as he suggested in his remarks to the nation over the weekend, she did identify the destruction of Iran’s military and its terrorist proxies as key objectives.
“Killing terrorists is good for America,” Leavitt said in a sharp X post in response to conservative podcaster and analyst Matt Walsh.
“On Saturday, President Trump released a statement laying out clear objectives to the American people for Operation Epic Fury. Let me reiterate them: Destroy the Iranian regime’s missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. Annihilate the Iranian regime’s Navy. Ensure the regime’s terrorist proxies can no longer destabilize the region or the world and attack our forces. Stop them from making and using IEDs or roadside bombs, which have gravely wounded and killed thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans. Guarantee that Iran can NEVER obtain a nuclear weapon,” Leavitt declared.
“Preventing this radical regime and its terrorist leaders from threatening America and our core national security interests is a clear-eyed and necessary objective. Killing terrorists is good for America. 49 of the most senior Iranian regime leaders – including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – have already been wiped off the face of the Earth so far in the opening strikes of Operation Epic Fury,” she continued.
Leavitt added, “Finally, while Operation Midnight Hammer did obliterate Iran’s major nuclear sites, the regime was fully committed to rebuilding their nuclear program, and they REFUSED to make a deal, despite months of extensive talks and good faith efforts by President Trump’s top negotiators. Simply put, the terrorist Iranian regime would not say yes to peace.”
“For 47 years, the Iranian regime has actively and intentionally facilitated the killing of Americans while chanting ‘death to America’ and funding other bloodthirsty terrorists seeking to destroy the United States and all of Western Civilization. Prior American leaders were too weak and cowardly to do anything about it. Now, President Donald J. Trump is correcting decades of cowardice and holding those responsible for the deaths of Americans accountable. Their brutal attacks and threats will finally end under President Trump. America will win – the terrorists will be defeated,” Leavitt concluded.
Walsh also highlighted the conflicting statements from Trump and his advisers regarding whether the strikes were preemptive.
Trump referred to the Iranian threat as “imminent” on Saturday, although officials later revised that description.
Additionally, Walsh questioned why the administration cited the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program as a third objective, especially since officials declared that the country’s facilities had been “obliterated” last year.
“So far, we’ve heard that although we killed the whole Iranian regime, this was not a regime change war. And although we obliterated their nuclear program, we had to do this because of their nuclear program. And although Iran was not planning any attacks on the US, they also might have been, depending on who you ask,” Walsh said.
“The messaging on this thing is, to put it mildly, confused,” he added.
Walsh was echoed by Sean Davis, Saagar Enjeti, and other conservative commentators who spent the day criticizing the administration for its poor messaging regarding the conflict.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed his frustration on Monday while speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill. He clarified that the “clear objective” of the administration was to neutralize Iran’s navy and its short-range missile capabilities.
“I don’t understand what the confusion is,” Rubio said.
Top DHS Special Agent And His Wife Found Dead
A Department of Homeland Security special agent and his wife were found dead in their New Jersey home in what appears to be a murder-suicide, prosecutors said.
Police in Sayreville responded to the couple’s home on Glynn Court around 8 p.m. July 3 and found Kelly Latauro, 46, dead inside the residence, the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Her husband, 52-year-old Christopher Latauro, was discovered dead in the backyard.
Both appear to have been shot.
Authorities said Christopher is believed to be the shooter and the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide.
Police told residents to keep away from Glynn Court, from Deerfield Road to Scarlet Drive, briefly because of police activity.
The area was reopened about 40 minutes later, but police remained on scene.
According to NJ101.5, citing DHS records from 2019 and 2020, Christopher was a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security.
Authorities have not said what may have sparked the violence.
Kelly’s sister-in-law Robyn Perlman-Spencer confirmed her death in a Facebook post on July 7, remembering her in a heartbreaking tribute.
“As many of you may now know, my beautiful sister in law Kelly Iatauro was senselessly and suddenly taken from us on Friday. Kelly was a bright light- kind, thoughtful, hysterical, inappropriate, and just one of the most amazing people I’ve ever known. She left a lasting impression on anyone that was lucky enough to know her,” Robyn wrote in part.
Sayreville police confirmed officers responded to the Glynn Court residence on July 3 and found both people dead of gunshot wounds.
The incident is being treated as a murder-suicide, and Christopher is suspected to be the shooter, the spokesperson said.
The Department of Homeland Security and Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to additional requests for comment on the case.
What began as a heavy police response to a deadly scene left two people dead and the quiet Middlesex County neighborhood stunned.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened inside the home leading up to the gunfire.
Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made headlines last week with an election-related announcement.
Mullin on Friday said officials who don’t cooperate with the administration’s election security efforts may be slapped with fines — and potentially prison time.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections — and they chose not to — then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said during a press conference at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Mullin also promised DHS would work to “speed up our security enhancements” for states.
He vowed to hold up federal election security grants until state officials took steps the administration demanded, including running their voter registration lists through a system that checks for non-citizen voters on the rolls.
Mullin made his comments after President Donald Trump’s primetime address on election security Thursday night, when he repeated already known concerns about the security of voting systems, alleged Chinese efforts to get into voter rolls, and aired old gripes about the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
In his remarks on Friday, the DHS secretary focused on DHS’s work with states to secure election systems and scrub voter registration rolls for fraud and concerns about noncitizen voting.
The Justice Department also sent letters this month threatening prosecution to election officials across the country if they don’t remove noncitizens from their voter rolls.
On Friday, Mullin seemed to suggest that the agency was able to estimate the numbers using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and said 23 states are already working with DHS to analyze voter rolls.
And he criticized the legal challenges that are hindering the administration’s efforts: Last month, a judge blocked the Trump administration from creating a database of information about Americans, including Social Security numbers and citizenship status.
