Trump Threatens To Jail Journalist Who First Reported an American Airman Was Missing in Iran

Federal officials have opened an official investigation into the report of an American airman being stranded in Iran over the weekend, the New York Sun has learned. The president argues that the report that only one of two airmen had been rescued after being shot down on Friday inspired the manhunt for the remaining servicemember, who was rescued on Saturday night. During a press conference from the White House briefing room on Monday, Mr. Trump touted the successful rescue of two American servicemembers who had been shot down over Iran last week. He says the first report saying one servicemember was still missing inside Iran was derived from classified information. “We had millions of people trying to get an award,” Mr. Trump said in apparent reference to Iran’s offer of a reward for help in capturing the missing airman. “We have to find that leaker because that’s a sick person [who] probably didn’t realize the extent of how bad it was.”“We’re gonna find out. It’s national security, and the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say [who the source was] and that doesn’t last long, and I think everybody would understand it,” the president declared.A White House official confirmed to the Sun on Monday that an investigation had been opened into the leak, though the official did not disclose which department or agency would be leading that probe.It is unclear to whom the president was referring, given that several press outlets reported on Friday that the military had rescued only one of the two airmen aboard the downed jet fighter. The first outlet to report the fact in America was Reuters, though it attributed the information to “Israeli media.” Neither the Justice Department nor the White House responded to questions about the identity of the journalist to whom the president was referring and whether an official investigation has been opened. After the press conference on Monday, the New York Post reported that a journalist for the Israeli outlet Channel 12, Amit Segal, was likely first to report that an American servicemember was still missing. Mr. Segal told the Post that he would not disclose his source for that report. If the Justice Department does move forward with some kind of investigation, it could kick off a lengthy legal battle between the federal government and the reporter or reporters involved. The most recent case of a journalist losing a court battle to force his testimony was that of James Risen, who in 2014 was required by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to testify in a criminal case against a former CIA employee who had leaked information to Mr. Risen. The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the Fourth Circuit’s ruling, though Mr. Risen ultimately was not required to testify during Sterling’s trial. Federal courts have a history of favoring the government in cases where it has tried to force reporters to disclose sources. The landmark Supreme Court case Branzburg v. Hayes has been cited by judges in many cases to find that reporters must comply with subpoenas to testify about the leaking of classified or highly sensitive government information.

Trump Threatens To Jail Journalist Who First Reported an American Airman Was Missing in Iran

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