President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to prosecute a journalist who reported that U.S. forces rescued an airman downed by Iran and were searching for a second, saying the reporter must identify an anonymous source or “go to jail.”
Trump did not name the journalist or news outlet; a White House official told TheWrap an investigation is underway and the administration is seeking to compel the outlet to reveal the source on national security grounds.
Speaking at a press briefing, Trump said “God was watching” the Easter weekend operation that rescued the second airman under a CIA deception campaign, and blamed an alleged leaker for disclosing to an unnamed outlet that a second pilot was missing after the first rescue. “We didn’t talk about the first one for an hour, then somebody leaked something,” he said, adding investigators are “looking very hard” to find the leaker.
Press freedom and civil liberties advocates pushed back. Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said the threat raises “serious press freedom concerns” because journalists’ ability to protect sources is central to newsgathering and public-interest reporting.
National Press Club president Mark Schoeff condemned Trump’s comments as “a direct threat to the First Amendment,” warning that calls to jail reporters who refuse to reveal confidential sources risk chilling constitutionally protected reporting and undermining press freedom.