President Donald Trump complained to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about leaks to the press about the Iran war — and then a subpoena was promptly sent to the Wall Street Journal.
According to the Journal, "Blanche vowed to secure subpoenas specifically targeting the records of reporters who have worked on sensitive national security stories, one official said. In one meeting, Trump passed a stack of news articles he and other senior officials thought threatened national security to Blanche with a sticky note on it that said 'treason,' another administration official said. Senior Justice Department officials have met with counterparts from the Pentagon to discuss the investigations, according to officials familiar with the meetings."
Per the report, Trump "has focused his ire on articles that provided details on how he arrived at his decision to launch the war, and what his advisers had told him as he deliberated."
The subpoena issued to the Journal "related to a Feb. 23 article that reported that Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others at the Pentagon warned the president about the risks of an extended military campaign against Iran," said the report. "Other news outlets, including Axios and the Washington Post, published similar stories that day. Trump launched the war five days later, on Feb. 28."
This is not the first time the Trump administration has been accused of overstepping in investigations of journalists.
FBI Director Kash Patel has similarly faced allegations he used bureau resources to investigate reports into his behavior, including stories about his problematic drinking.