Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on April 30, 2026, President Trump accused The New York Times of being “seditious” over its coverage of the Iran war and attacked CNN in the same breath. “And yet I read in The New York Times, I see it on that stupid CNN, which I only watch because you have to watch a little bit of the enemy,” he said, as transcribed by HuffPost. “And if you see CNN, you'd think they're winning the war. If you read The New York Times, it's actually seditious in my opinion. You read The New York Times, you actually think they're winning the war.” He insisted Iran had been “militarily decapitated” and complained that “every week, every three days, they put in a thing that the war should stop.”
The remarks came the same day the Times editorial board published “The U.S. Military Was Losing Its Edge. After Iran, Everyone Knows It,” which argued that the U.S. military was “ineffective against cheaper, mass-produced weapons” such as Iran's drones and that “the United States has left itself unprepared for modern war.” HuffPost reported that Trump lashed out after the editorial ran; Trump himself did not name a specific article. HuffPost also noted it was unclear which CNN report he meant.
Seditious conspiracy is a federal felony under 18 U.S.C. § 2384, which requires a conspiracy “to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States.” As HuffPost noted, the last people convicted of it were leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, who received clemency from Trump on his first day back in office. As HuffPost put it, the Times did not “conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States.” See also The FCC Orders Early License Reviews of All Disney TV Stations Days After Trump Demanded Kimmel Be Fired for a Melania Joke, The FCC Chair Threatens to Revoke Broadcasters' Licenses Over Iran War Coverage, and Trump Endorses the Threats, Patel's FBI Investigated a NYT Reporter for Writing About His Girlfriend's SWAT Escorts, Then Recommended Stalking Charges and Trump Told a New York Times Reporter on Air Force One That His Iran War Reporting Was 'Sort of Treasonous'.
Correction (October 2, 2026): The entry said Trump made the accusation at 10:26 PM ET; that was HuffPost's publication time, and Trump spoke earlier in the Oval Office, so the time has been removed. It called the Times piece an op-ed; it was an editorial by the paper's editorial board, and Trump did not cite it by name, so the title now describes his attack as aimed at the paper's Iran coverage. Trump's words are now quoted from full transcriptions rather than a condensed social media version. Claims that neither outlet had reported Iran was winning, that the editorial disputed Trump's “decapitated” claim, a comparison to the Sedition Act of 1798, and a list of other press actions were removed because the cited sources do not support them; related entries are linked instead.