Trump Threatens to Jail Reporter Over Iran Rescue Mission ‘Leak’

President Donald Trump said Monday that his administration is on the hunt for an administration official who last week shared information with media outlets about a U.S. military airman who was stranded in Iran after his fighter jet went down over enemy airspace.

During a press conference at the White House, the president also threatened to jail the reporter who spoke with U.S. officials about the story.

“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,’” Trump said.

“The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say,” Trump added. “And that doesn’t last long. I think everybody would understand it.”

These kinds of investigations are typically handled by the DOJ’s National Security Division, the same one that prosecutes spies and mishandling of classified information. Although criminal investigations into news sources were once remarkably rare — with only three in the first half of the 20th century — the number began to climb after the vast expansion of the surveillance state following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The Obama administration continued the practice while requiring higher level approval at DOJ to authorize spying on journalists. At the start of the Biden administration, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland directed the DOJ to stop pressuring reporters to reveal their sources in a memo that vowed the federal government would not serve subpoenas that came with the threat of jail time.

However, Trump’s first attorney general, Pam Bondi, rescinded that Garland policy in April 2025 — sparking an outcry from Senate Judiciary Democrats who warned that the policy “threatens the ability of journalists to fully perform their critical jobs, as guaranteed by the First Amendment.”

The DOJ did not respond to questions from NOTUS on Monday afternoon about whether such investigations were already underway.

The Trump administration has already undertaken related action against Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, whose Virginia home was searched by the FBI in January. Days earlier, federal prosecutors in Maryland had criminally charged a former government contractor who stands accused of sharing “national security information” with a journalist. In that instance, Bondi said the DOJ was acting “at the request” of the Pentagon — showing the Trump administration’s willingness to employ the DOJ to crack down on military-related matters.

An F-15E Strike Eagle turns toward the Panamint range over Death Valley National Park in California. Ben Margot/AP

The incident in question began when an Air Force F-15E fighter jet with a two-person crew was shot down on Friday, as first reported by Iranian state-affiliated media. Other outlets, such as CBS, NBC and the Times of Israel, all reported on the downed aircraft and rescue mission within minutes of each other Saturday morning, citing anonymous U.S. officials.

This incident is the first known U.S. combat aircraft to go down in enemy territory since the war with Iran started in late February. The Iranian Military did strike a U.S. fighter jet in March, but it was able to make an emergency landing outside the country. On March 1, Kuwaiti air defenses mistakenly shot down three U.S. F-15 fighter jets, though Central Command deemed the incident “friendly fire.” The U.S. has also lost more than a dozen drones throughout the war.

The pilot of the fighter jet ejected over the gulf and was quickly rescued. However, the second crew member was injured and evaded capture in the mountains for more than a day until a rescue mission could be mounted.

“He was injured, and he did an amazing, amazing thing. He scaled cliff faces bleeding, rather profusely. Treated his own wounds and contacted American forces to transmit his location,” Trump said.

“We immediately mobilized a massive operation to retrieve him from the mountain hold out,” Trump continued. “He kept going higher and higher. The mountain kept getting rougher and rougher and really, very, very hard to find. The second rescue mission involved 155 aircrafts, including four bombers, 64 fighters, 48 refueling tankers, 13 rescue aircrafts and more.”

Trump said that the reporting of the stranded airman tipped off the Iranian military, which led them to offer a “very big reward for anybody that captures the pilot.” Trump said the U.S. military then spread out in several locations so as not to give away the stranded officer’s location.

Monday’s threats are not Trump’s first toward journalists since the war with Iran began earlier this year.

Last month, Trump posted on Truth Social that Iranian media was “feeding” false stories to news outlets and using artificial intelligence to perpetuate false narratives about U.S. losses as a result of the conflict.

“Those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!” Trump said in a March 15 post. “The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they ‘win’ are those that they create through AI, and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets.”