After CNN, The New York Times, and other legacy media outlets tried to torpedo the success of President Donald Trump’s strike on the Iranian nuclear facilities, quoting a leak claiming the strike only set Iran’s nuclear program back by months, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth slammed the leakers, calling them “professional stabbers” and revealing an investigation is already underway.

“The US military strikes on three of Iran’s nuclear facilities last weekend did not destroy the core components of the country’s nuclear program and likely only set it back by months, according to an early US intelligence assessment that was described by seven people briefed on it,” CNN declared. “Intel Report on Iran Upends Victory Lap Trump Was Hoping for at NATO,” the Times trumpeted.

Speaking while seated with Hegseth and President Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, Rubio began by attacking the leakers, saying, “First of all, all of this stuff about the intelligence: This is what a leaker is telling you the intelligence said. That’s the game these people play; they read it and then they go out and characterize it the way they want to characterize, and they’re leakers. This is the game they play. So that’s number one.”

He segued to the results of the attack: “ Number two: the conversion facility — which you can’t do a nuclear weapon without a conversion facility — we can’t even find where it is, where it used to be on the map. You can’t even find where it used to be because the whole thing is just blackened out. It’s gone.”

“It’s wiped out,” Trump interjected.

“It’s wiped out,” Rubio repeated. “Then we dropped 12 of the strongest bombs on the planet right down the hole in two places. Everything underneath that mountain is in bad shape. And I refer you to the statement of the IAEA, Mr. Grossi. You know what he said? He said there was Iran the way it looked the day before the attack, and what their nuclear program looks like now. Two very different things. They are way behind where they were just seven days ago.”

“Now, anything in the world can be rebuilt, but now we know where it is, and if they try to rebuild it, we’ll have options there as well,” Rubio asserted. “But all of this leaker stuff; these leakers are professional stabbers. That’s what they are. They go out and they read this stuff and then tell you what it says — against the law — but they characterize it for you in a way that’s absolutely false. There’s no way Iran comes to the table if somehow nothing had happened: This was complete and total obliteration. They’re in bad shape. They are way behind today compared to where they were just seven days ago because of what the president did.”

.@SecRubio sets the record straight for the Fake News: "These leakers are professional stabbers… There's no way Iran comes to the table if somehow nothing had happened. This was a complete and total obliteration… They are way behind today compared to where they were just 7… pic.twitter.com/V3wrIjic8F

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 25, 2025

“When you talk to people who built the bombs, understand what those bombs can do, and deliver those bombs, they landed precisely where they were supposed to,” Hegseth said. “It was a flawless mission. Right down where we knew they needed to enter. Given the 30,000 pounds of explosives, the capabilities of those munitions, it was devastation underneath Fordo. And the amount of munitions, six per location,  any assessment that tells you something otherwise is speculating with other motives. And we know that because when you actually look at the report — by the way, it was a top-secret report — it was preliminary; it was low-confidence, you make assessments based on what you know — ”

“And it said it could be very devastating, very serious —” Trump pointed out.

“Moderate to severe, and we believe far more likely severe and obliterated,” Hegseth echoed.

“Is there a leak investigation?” a reporter asked.

“Of course,” Hegseth replied. “We’re doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now, because this information is for internal purposes, battle-damage assessments. And CNN and others are trying to spin it to make the president look bad when this is an overwhelming success.”

🚨JUST IN: WATCH:?SecDef Pete Hegseth announces criminal investigation into the leaked bad intel to CNN and NYT that the strikes on Iran didn't destroy the nuclear program

"We're doing a leak investigation with the FBI right now." pic.twitter.com/46Uzfd6qUZ

— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) June 25, 2025

A leftwing group dedicated to dismantling “structural racism” in finance has raked in millions of dollars in federal grants. But now its federal funding and non-profit status could be in jeopardy, as the group discriminates against white internship applicants in violation of President Donald Trump’s executive order.

The North Carolina-based Croatan Institute touts its allegiance to the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda on its website, promising to tackle “structural racism in finance” even as it imposed race-based selection criteria on its paid internship program. The program appears to violate President Trump’s executive order barring DEI policies and discrimination among federal grant recipients.

Now, a legal expert tells The Daily Wire that the program jeopardizes the federal funds currently en route to the organization, as well as any future funds that the Croatan Institute might hope to garner.

The Croatan Institute boasts the BLAISE internship program, which stands for “BIPOC Leaders Advancing an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy.” The program seeks to increase the representation of specific demographic groups in the financial industry.

The internship program’s eligibility requirements detail the race-based selection process. “Priority given to students of color or first-generation students from underserved communities,” the site reads. The group attempts to justify its racial preferences by writing that “in the world of finance, there is a dearth of people of color.”

The program could land the Croatan Institute in hot water, Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow GianCarlo Canaparo told The Daily Wire.

“Any entity that receives federal funds is prohibited by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act from discriminating on the basis of race and other protected categories,” Canaparo explained. “Giving priority to certain races, as the BIPOC internship does, is textbook discrimination.” He added that the discrimination could be remedied by way of a federal lawsuit.

The Croatan Institute has garnered more than $4 million in federal grants since fiscal year 2022. Included in that sum is a $1.9 million grant from the Department of Agriculture for fiscal year 2025, of which just under $470,000 has already been paid out. The organization was also slated to receive $40,000 from the Department of Agriculture to host a “financial health workshop series for BIPOC farmers and landowners.”

“If Croatan continues to receive federal funds, those funds are absolutely in jeopardy,” Canaparo explained. “And if Croatan hopes to receive more federal funds in the future, it will have to terminate this discriminatory internship program or it’s likely to face False Claims Act liability in addition to all the other sorts of liability,” he added, highlighting yet another legal risk that the organization appears to have exposed itself to.

The organization appears to have held the internship program for several years as it was raking in the federal money. The Croatan Institute announced the internship’s pilot program in 2022 and stated even more blatantly that applicants “must identify as black, indigenous, Latinx, or person of color.”

The program could threaten more than just the organization’s federal funding, however. Canaparo pointed out that the discriminatory program “jeopardizes its nonprofit status,” adding that “the IRS can revoke the tax-exempt status of a nonprofit that engages in race discrimination.”

The organization’s internship program is part of a broader initiative, called “Racial Equity, Economics, Finance and Sustainability,” which seeks to “advance opportunities for greater representation of underserved communities.” The initiative includes one project, called the Financial Health Investment Project, which seeks to promote “the financial resilience and long-term success of Black and other minority farmers and landowners” by offering online financial coaching. The program was funded by Department of Agriculture to the tune of $731,000.

The Croatan Institute isn’t the only federal grant recipient that’s discriminated against whites as it’s pursued the DEI agenda. A music ensemble investigated by The Daily Wire received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and held a “BIPOC internship” that explicitly barred whites from participation on account of their race.

The group even posted the demographic breakdown of their intern classes, further proving that it had excluded white applicants. The organization froze its internship program in the wake of The Daily Wire investigation.

The Croatan Institute did not respond to a request for comment.