Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy warned Thursday that the tone of political discourse and threats to judges are undermining the ability of the U.S. to serve as an example of freedom and democracy around the world.

Kennedy, a Reagan appointee who retired in 2018 during President Donald Trump’s first term, was speaking during a virtual forum about threats to the rule of law, as he defended the role of judges in a democracy and advocated for the need to protect them and their families from threats.

«Many in the rest of the world look to the United States to see what democracy is, to see what democracy ought to be,» Kennedy said during the «Speak Up for Justice» event, one day before the current Supreme Court justices are set to deliver their final rulings of the current term.

«If they see a hostile, fractious discourse, if they see a discourse that uses identity politics rather than to talk about issues, democracy is at risk. Freedom is at risk,» he continued.

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Kennedy did not mention Trump, even as other participants expressed concern about the barrage of threats and attacks against judges for blocking key parts of the president’s political agenda during his second term, including his immigration policies, firings of federal workers and his implementation of broad-based tariffs.

But Kennedy’s remarks appeared to be sparked, at least in part, by the Trump administration’s repeated attacks against judges who have ruled against him, including some whom he appointed during his first term.

In March, Trump criticized U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg as a «radical left lunatic» and called for his impeachment after he attempted to block the administration from removing alleged Venezuelan gang members from the U.S. under the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime presidential power Trump invoked.

Last month, Trump attacked «USA-hating» judges as «monsters who want our country to go to hell.»

Trump’s rhetoric has come alongside an uptick in threats against judges, according to POLITICO, although spokespeople for the administration have said the president is against any threats and that they would face prosecution from the Justice Department.

Kennedy, a Reagan appointee, defended the role of judges in a democracy and advocated for the need to protect them and their families from threats. (Getty Images)

Kennedy said «judges must have protection for themselves and their families» and that «judges are best protected when the public and our nation realize how central they are to our discourse.» 

«We should be concerned in this country about, as I’ve already indicated, the tone of our political discourse,» he said. «Identity politics are used so that a person is characterized by his or her partisan affiliation. That’s not what democracy and civil discourse is about.»

Other participants at the forum, which featured judges from the U.S. and other countries who warned about how attacks on courts can threaten democracies, also took aim at Trump’s statement denouncing the courts.

Without mentioning Trump by name, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas, whose son was killed by a disgruntled lawyer who went to her New Jersey home in 2020, said disinformation about judges was spreading «from the top down,» with jurists attacked as «rogue» and «corrupt.»

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Kennedy’s remarks appeared to be sparked, at least in part, by the Trump administration’s repeated attacks against judges who have ruled against him. (Getty Images)

«Judges are rogue. Sound familiar? Judges are corrupt. Sound familiar? Judges are monsters. … Judges hate America,» Salas said. «We are seeing the spreading of disinformation coming from the top down.»

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Salas warned that the number of threats recorded against judges this year was reaching historic heights in the U.S., noting that the U.S. Marshals Service has tracked more than 400 threats against judges since January, when Trump was inaugurated.

«We’re going to break records, people, and not in a good way,» she said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

La Casa Blanca afirmó este jueves que mantiene abierta la comunicación con Irán y que la relación bilateral continúa en “una vía diplomática”, en medio de tensiones provocadas por recientes bombardeos del ejército estadounidense contra instalaciones nucleares iraníes el pasado fin de semana. Así lo expresó la portavoz Karoline Leavitt durante una rueda de prensa, al referirse a los intentos de Washington de alcanzar acuerdos tras la ofensiva militar.

“El presidente Donald Trump quiere la paz, siempre la ha querido, y ahora mismo estamos en una vía diplomática con Irán. El presidente y su equipo, en particular el enviado especial para Oriente Medio, Steve Witkoff, siguen en comunicación con los iraníes”, afirmó Leavitt frente a periodistas.

El ataque del sábado por la noche tuvo como objetivo las plantas de enriquecimiento de uranio en Isfahan, Natanz y Fordow, según detalló la portavoz, quien subrayó que aunque existe disposición para dialogar, aún es temprano para definir una agenda concreta de contactos con Teherán.

Frente a las declaraciones del presidente estadounidense sobre eventuales acercamientos la próxima semana y la posibilidad de que un acuerdo ya no sea imprescindible tras los daños infligidos al programa atómico de Irán, Leavitt indicó que “acaban de realizar este ataque” y pidió paciencia antes de divulgar plazos oficiales.

Por su parte, el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores del régimen iraní, Abbas Araghchi, negó firmemente las especulaciones de que Irán se dispone a reanudar las negociaciones nucleares con Estados Unidos.

“Algunas especulaciones sobre la reanudación de las negociaciones no deben tomarse en serio”, dijo Araghchi en la televisión estatal. “Quiero dejar claro que no se ha llegado a ningún acuerdo, arreglo o conversación para iniciar nuevas negociaciones. Todavía no se ha establecido ningún plan para iniciar negociaciones”.

“No se ha llegado a ningún acuerdo o arreglo para reanudar las negociaciones. No se ha hecho ninguna promesa ni se ha mantenido ninguna discusión al respecto”, declaró Araghchi al canal estatal de noticias iraní IRINN.

“Hemos tenido una experiencia engorrosa con los estadounidenses: que traicionaron las negociaciones en mitad del proceso. Esta experiencia afectará sin duda a nuestras decisiones futuras. Pero esa decisión se tomará en última instancia en función del bienestar del pueblo iraní, no de las emociones ni de ninguna consideración superficial o temporal”, añadió.

Leavitt también informó que ha mantenido conversación “extensa” con Steve Witkoff y aseguró que la diplomacia estadounidense se coordina no solo con las autoridades iraníes, sino también con intermediarios claves como Qatar. Describió a la administración qatarí como un “aliado y socio increíble durante todo este proceso” y recordó que el emirato ha desempeñado un rol central como mediador, junto con Estados Unidos, entre Irán e Israel para propiciar el diálogo y promover un alto el fuego alcanzado el lunes.

Washington mantiene contacto constante con aliados en la región del Golfo Pérsico y el mundo árabe, en línea con los esfuerzos por consolidar “un acuerdo con Irán sobre la alianza con el Estado de Israel”, explicó Leavitt. Aseguró que la relación entre Washington y Tel Aviv “nunca ha sido tan fuerte” y resaltó la expectativa de que más Estados árabes se sumen a los Acuerdos de Abraham, iniciativas de normalización de relaciones diplomáticas con Israel ya adoptadas por Emiratos Árabes Unidos, Sudán, Baréin y Marruecos.

Por otra parte, la portavoz de la Casa Blanca también criticó al líder supremo iraní, el ayatollah Ali Khamenei, porque consideró que ejecuta una estrategia para “salvar las apariencias”, tras sus declaraciones públicas en las que minimizó el impacto de los bombardeos estadounidenses sobre las instalaciones nucleares. “Vimos el video del ayatollah, y cuando se tiene un régimen totalitario, hay que salvar las apariencias”, afirmó Leavitt en referencia a la postura del líder iraní, quien sostuvo que el presidente Trump “exageró” el daño logrado por la ofensiva militar.

El gobierno estadounidense sostiene que, pese a la escalada militar, continúa priorizando el entendimiento diplomático con Teherán y sus aliados regionales, considerando la persistente inestabilidad en el Medio Oriente y la búsqueda de nuevas fórmulas de cooperación.

(Con información de AFP y EFE)

Those who leaked a preliminary assessment — rejected by the White House — on the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities will face justice for sharing the document, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

President Donald Trump and multiple leaders are saying that the strikes destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites.  

A leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, published by CNN and the New York Times, cast doubt on that though, saying that the strikes only set back Iran’s nuclear program by several months. CNN first reported the assessment’s findings, citing seven people who were briefed on the report. The outlet reported the findings were based on a battle damage assessment from U.S. Central Command. 

Leavitt pushed back on the early assessment’s credibility, claiming the report was «flat-out wrong.» 

«Everyone knows what happens when you drop 14 30,000-pound bombs perfectly on their targets: total obliteration,» Leavitt said in a Tuesday statement. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that the FBI is conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of the matter and who shared the document with the media. 

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Additionally, Leavitt told reporters that leaking classified information is a criminal offense and that those who fail to follow the law «need to be held accountable for that crime.» 

«This administration wants to ensure that classified intelligence is not ending up in irresponsible hands, and that people who have the privilege of viewing this top secret classified information are being responsible with it,» Leavitt told reporters Thursday. 

«Clearly, someone who had their hands on this and it was a very few people, very few number of people in our government who saw this report,» Leavitt said. «That person was irresponsible with it. And we need to get to the bottom of it. And we need to strengthen that process to protect our national security and protect the American public.» 

Meanwhile, the U.S., Israel and Iran’s Foreign Ministry have all said that the three nuclear sites U.S. forces struck have encountered massive damage. 

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U.S. struck three nuclear sites in Iran Saturday.  (Fox News)

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei told Al Jazeera Wednesday that the country’s nuclear facilities were «badly damaged,» and Israel’s Atomic Energy Commission said the U.S. strikes were «devastating.»

On Sunday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said that initial battle damage assessments suggest «all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.»

Trump issued a word of caution to Iran Wednesday, should it attempt to repair its nuclear program once more, and said the U.S. wouldn’t hesitate to launch another strike against Iran. 

Trump personally called for the firing of one of the reporters who authored the story about the initial assessment, claiming in a Wednesday Truth Social post that the reporter should be «IMMEDIATELY reprimanded, and then thrown out ‘like a dog.’»

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Trump lashes out at Israel and Iran with profanity for breaking ceasefire Tuesday.  (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Even so, CNN came to the defense of the reporter, Natasha Bertrand. 

«We stand 100% behind Natasha Bertrand’s journalism and specifically her and her colleagues’ reporting of the early intelligence assessment of the U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities,» CNN said in a Wednesday statement. «CNN’s reporting made clear that this was an initial finding that could change with additional intelligence. We have extensively covered President Trump’s own deep skepticism about it.»

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.