Mark Levin isn’t buying the latest anonymous-source blockbuster — and he wants federal investigators to find out who is.
The conservative radio host and longtime defender of Israel exploded Monday after details of a supposedly private conversation between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found their way into the media.
The report, published by Axios and attributed to unnamed sources, painted a dramatic picture of Trump allegedly unloading on Netanyahu over escalating tensions in Lebanon at a time when the administration is trying to keep broader regional negotiations from going completely off the rails.
According to the report, Trump was furious after Israeli military action in Lebanon threatened to complicate already fragile diplomacy involving Iran. The story claimed the president accused Netanyahu of acting recklessly and warned him against further escalation.
The most eye-catching allegation was the claim that Trump told Netanyahu: “You’re f–king crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this. What the f-ck are you doing?”
Maybe that happened. Maybe it didn’t. What we know for certain is that somebody with access to a private conversation between two world leaders decided to run to the press. And that’s the part Levin finds far more alarming. The radio host responded with the subtlety of a flamethrower.
“THE LEAK IN AXIOS WAS A VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW AND PROVIDED SUPPORT TO THE IRANIAN REGIME AND ITS HEZBOLLAH PROXY,” Levin wrote in a blistering social media post. “Whoever leaked that story to Barack Ravid at Axios did a grave disservice to our country, to our president, to Israel, and to Israel’s prime minister.”
Levin argued that the leak handed America’s adversaries exactly what they wanted: the appearance of division, confusion and weakness at a moment when the Middle East remains dangerously unstable.In his view, Tehran isn’t reading the story as a juicy piece of Washington gossip. It’s reading it as intelligence. “The Iranian regime will benefit from that leak, viewing us as weak and desperate for a deal — even coming to Hezbollah’s defense,” Levin warned.
He also argued that the leak damages both American and Israeli interests by exposing sensitive communications and creating political turbulence where none is needed. “The Israeli people will also be furious. The missiles are aimed at them, not Washington,” he wrote.
Levin ultimately called for an FBI investigation to identify whoever leaked the contents of the conversation. And honestly, he’s asking a question Washington never seems eager to answer. How many times are supposedly confidential conversations involving presidents, prime ministers and national security issues going to magically appear in the press before somebody starts asking who keeps leaking them?
Because no matter what anyone thinks about Trump, Netanyahu, Israel, Iran or the latest diplomatic drama, one thing is becoming painfully familiar. Every time there is a sensitive conversation at the highest levels of government, somebody talks.
The media treat the leak as the story.
The leaker walks away untouched.
And Washington wonders why nobody trusts the system anymore.
