Networks Skip VILE Iranian Regime Threatening Barron Trump’s Life

Over the weekend, Iranian-state media aired a galling video that, as per the New York Post, “fantasiz[ed] about killing Barron Trump in a disturbing escalation against President Trump and his family” and “claimed he is ‘fully monitored’ and showing depictions of the dorms” where he attends college. However, none of this was of interest to the “Big Three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC on their flagship morning or evening newscasts.

The Post said the video also “stated that it uncovered Barron’s accounts for Xbox, FIFA video games, and Discord, as well as those of his classmates, naming two of them” and the threats reportedly included a $10 million bounty.

While there’s a balance to be made between overhyping them and ignoring them, the public has a right to at least a passing mention to underscore the danger, given the threat environment and the country being at war with the genocidal, Islamist regime.

All told, a Media Research Center analysis of Nexis transcripts and Snapstream closed captioning found cable and streaming mentions of the video on CNN, Newsmax, Newsmax 2, One America News, and Real America’s Voice.

CBS and NBC kept it off their leading newscasts, but they instead gave it nods on their free, ad-supported (FAST) streaming platforms, CBS News 24/7 and NBC News NOW.

In NBC News NOW’s case, they’ve covered the Iranian threats at least five times this week.

One such mention was particularly glaring as Tuesday’s Top Story spent nearly two minutes on it with chief White House correspondent Garrett Haake, a near-daily presence on Today and NBC Nightly News. And the host of Top Story? Nightly News anchor Tom Llamas.

“Now to a new threat from Iran, this one not against the President, but his youngest son. The Secret Service confirming it’s aware of a disturbing video broadcast on Iranian state television which appears to threaten to kill Barron Trump,” Llamas declared.

Haake explained the video had “an alarming degree of specifics about Barron Trump’s life” and was even more galling because it was leveled against someone who’s “not what I would call a real public figure,” “doesn’t speak publicly,” and “not” been “out in the public eye often.”

He further stated that “the general security posture around the President has been and remains quite high” – including the now-revealed decoy plane in Turkey following the NATO summit – “and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

CBS similarly omitted it from CBS Mornings and the CBS Evening News, but still found time for it on its streaming platform with reports from a leading correspondent.

CBS News 24/7 mentioned it twice on Wednesday, including in this report in the 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour from Homeland Security and Justice correspondent Nicole Sganga.

“The Secret Service actually confirmed that it'’ aware of that video and is investigating it. The roughly three-minute clip was broadcast by Iranian state television…The video claimed Barron was being monitored, references his locations and alleges that a $10-million bounty has been offered for his killing, essentially,” Sganda said.

“Still, [Secret Service is] making clear that it's aware of this video and it's treating the threat seriously…[T]his also comes against a broader backdrop of repeated Iranian threats against President Trump and members of his family,” she added.

Pivoting back to cable, CNN covered it a minimum of six times on Tuesday and, in multiple instances, beginning the top of an hour with the plot.

CNN Headline Express host Brad Smith emphasized in his brief that, while “[t]his isn't the first time the President and his family have been threatened following the assassination of Iran's former supreme leader…this appears to be the first time that Barron Trump has been singled out.”

The weekday morning version of CNN News Central led off its first and second hours with the sickening turn. Here was how the first hour began, which you can watch in the clip above (click “expand”):

SARA SIDNER: Breaking overnight, Iran is threatening the life of the President's youngest child. A video aired by Iranian state TV appears to place a $10 million bounty on Barron Trump, showing locations where he's known to spend time, including Trump Tower. The Secret Service says in a statement that it is, “aware of the video and investigates anything that can be perceived as a threat towards our protectees. Out of concern for operational security, we do not discuss matters of protective intelligence.” Now, a federal law enforcement source, though, tells CNN the video is part of a broader Iranian campaign to target the Trump family, the threat one of many, especially after the U.S.-Israel strikes, killing Iran's supreme leader and other senior members of leadership. CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House this morning. What are you learning about this latest threat, one that we have not seen Iran make against Barron Trump specifically?

ALAYNA TREENE: No, that's right, Sara. We've seen hard-line Iranian state media and others really from the hard-liners in the Iranian regime repeatedly make threats against President Donald Trump's life and those of his family members. As you mentioned, specifically an uptick in those threats after the killing of the former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and many of his family members at the outset of the war. We've seen other threats in the past as well against people like the First Lady, Melania Trump. But as you point out, we've not yet seen a specific threat to Barron Trump's life, the President and Melania Trump's youngest son. Now, you mentioned and you read that a statement from Secret Service that says they are aware of this, there were concerns about this, and they're investigating it. We've also reached out to the White House, but have not yet received comment. I do want to walk you through what exactly this video threatening Barron Trump's life showed. The nearly three-minute video began with an English language graphic that read, where to kill Barron Trump, and also featured stylized graphics showing locations where Barron Trump is known to frequent, places like Trump Tower. I remind you Barron Trump is 20 years old, and he is currently a student at the Stern Business School at NYU. He spends a lot of time in New York. But unlike a lot of the President's other older children, the President and Melania Trump have both really worked hard to shield Barron Trump from public view, and he lives a very private life. So, part of this, I think, is extra concerning if when you consider all of that context. Now, we know that the video was broadcast over the weekend by Iranian broadcaster IRIB. That is a state media outlet considered to be aligned with the hard-line Iranian regime. And, again, a lot of questions about the credibility of such a threat. A federal law enforcement source told CNN the video is part of this broader campaign to threaten the President and his family. So, I think a lot of work looking into all of this, and I'd remind you just how serious some of these threats have been. You know, just back in July, the President, when he was leaving the NATO summit, had that whole switching of the planes, took a third plane because of a threat of a shoulder-fired missile on the President. So, a lot of this has reached the level of incredibly concerning in the past, so a lot of investigation into the credibility of this specific one.

Our friends at Newsmax and Newsmax2 combined to have mentioned it over two dozen times. Check out a few of the hits below:

NewsNation was also all over it, including on Elizabeth Vargas Reports, Katie Pavlich Tonight, and Morning in America:

Finally, One America News Network and Real America’s Voice called it out, such as this news brief below from our friends Alicia Summers on OANN and Grant Stinchfield at RAV: