Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told reporters who receive classified information about Department of Justice investigations that they could face legal consequences, The Hill reported on Tuesday.
The subpoena warning comes as alarm has heightened over the White House's efforts to target news organizations that have criticized the Trump administration. According to recent reports from CNN and The Wall Street Journal, Trump has been pressuring the DOJ to pursue subpoenas connected to Iran war operation leaks in an effort to identify their sources.
"To the media asking about DOJ investigating the leaking of classified information: Prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers, is a priority for this administration," Blanche wrote in a post on X early Tuesday.
"Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material," Blanche wrote.
Blanche's aggressive move raised questions among media experts who reacted to the DOJ leader's announcement.
"If you report the truth about the Iran war, Trump is coming for you," Jennifer Schulze, a former local television news executive at WGN, NBC and ABC stations with more than 40,000 followers, wrote on Bluesky.
"Just a totally chill torching of the First Amendment because why not, none of these people ever had any interest in the Constitution in the first place outside election-year rhetoric," NYT-bestselling author, columnist and lawyer Seth Abramson, who has more than 373,000 followers, wrote in a post on Threads.
"Todd Blanche publicly warned reporters to expect subpoenas after Trump handed him a stack of news articles labeled 'treason,' targeting journalists who reported Pentagon warnings about the Iran war risks before Trump launched it five days later," Thomas Wellborn, political commentator and data engineer who has more than 22,000 followers, wrote on Bluesky.