White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed ABC News over a story claiming that the FBI had warned police stations in California about the possibility that Iran could launch drone strikes from a boat near the West Coast.
In a social media publication, Leavitt noted that the article was written was "on one email that was sent to local law enforcement in California about a single, unverified tip."
This post and story should be immediately retracted by ABC News for providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people.
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) March 12, 2026
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
"The email even states the tip was based on *unverified* intelligence. Yet ABC News left out this critical fact in their story! WHY? TO BE CLEAR: No such threat from Iran to our homeland exists, and it never did," she added.
As a result, Leavitt demanded that the outlet "immediately retract" the piece for "providing false information to intentionally alarm the American people."
The article in question detailed the alert was distributed in late February, right when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran for the first time. It did not specify targets or timing.
"We recently acquired information that as of early February 2026, Iran allegedly aspired to conduct a surprise attack using unmanned aerial vehicles from an unidentified vessel off the coast of the United State Homeland, specifically against unspecified targets in California, in the event that the US conducted strikes against Iran," reads a passage of the document cited by the outlet.
John Cohen, a contributor for the outlet and former head of intelligence for the Department of Homeland Security, said in the piece that he is concerned about drone warfare both from the pacific and Mexico.
"We know Iran has an extensive presence in Mexico and South America, they have relationships, they have the drones and now they have the incentive to conduct attacks," he said.
The outlet also reported on Tuesday that the U.S. intercepted encrypted communications believed to be coming from Iran, and could potentially be activating sleeper cells around the world.
A different federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies detailed that the communications could be serving as an "operational trigger" for "sleeper assets." The messages can be deciphered by "clandestine recipients" with the encryption key and without the need for internet or cellphones.
The communications began being issued shortly after the U.S. and Israel conducted the first strikes against the Tehran regime, which ended up killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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