Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly thanked news organizations for withholding advance reports on a U.S. military strike in Venezuela that led to the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, marking a rare expression of gratitude from the Trump administration toward the media.
Rubio, speaking on ABC's "This Week," praised outlets that learned of the operation beforehand but delayed publication to protect operational security and American lives.
"Frankly, a number of media outlets had gotten leaks that this was coming and held it for that very reason," he said. "And we thank them for doing that or lives could have been lost. American lives."
The AP reports the acknowledgment stands in contrast to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's restrictive Pentagon press policies, which cite distrust of journalists handling sensitive information. Those rules have prompted most mainstream outlets to vacate Pentagon posts rather than comply, with The New York Times filing a lawsuit to challenge them.
Reports indicate The New York Times and The Washington Post obtained advance details but chose not to report them to avoid endangering U.S. personnel, according to sources cited by Semafor.
Representatives for both papers declined comment. National security journalists describe such withholdings as standard practice when lives or missions are at risk, often involving consultations with government officials.