President Donald Trump issued an open threat Monday to journalists over their coverage of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, warning those who first reported on a missing U.S. pilot to reveal their sources or “go to jail.”
On Friday, Iran shot down two U.S. military planes, the pilots of which both survived. One pilot was rescued on Friday, whereas the second was rescued on Sunday, Trump announced over the weekend. He noted that the White House did not immediately make a statement about the missing pilots so as not to “jeopardize our second rescue operation.”
On Friday, however, unnamed U.S. officials disclosed details of the incident to news outlets, which subsequently reported that a second pilot remained missing. While the identities of those officials remain unknown, Trump vowed on Monday to hold them accountable.
“We didn't talk about the first one for an hour, then somebody leaked something, which we'll hopefully find that leaker, we're looking very hard,” Trump said.
“We think we'll be able to find it out because we're going to go to the media company that released it and we're going to say 'national security – give it up, or go to jail!' And you know who we're talking about.”
Trump did not refer to any media outlet by name, but added that reporting on the missing pilot had made rescue operations “much more difficult.”
“We have to find that leaker because that's a sick person," Trump continued. “The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn't say!”