Trump Threatens the Media to Turn Over “Leaker(s)” Information on a Missing U.S. Military Pilot: Either Hand Over the Message Source, or Go to Prison

Drawing on reports from multiple U.S. media outlets, including The Hill and Politico, President Trump, at a news briefing held at the White House on June 6 local time, vowed to find the “leaker.” According to reports, Trump said the person told the media about news that after U.S. military aircraft were shot down inside Iran, the U.S. pilots were missing—making Iran aware that an American pilot was “somewhere on their territory.” At the June 6 news briefing, Trump told reporters, “Basically, they’re saying, we have (found) one (pilot), and there’s another person who’s missing.” He added that the media had not originally known that a pilot was missing until the unidentified leaker released that information. Trump said that media coverage of the matter made it harder for the U.S. military to carry out efforts to rescue the missing pilot. “We’re going to go after the media company that published the story and tell them this is a national security issue: either turn over (the source) or you’ll go to jail. We know who it is, and you know who we’re talking about, because some things can’t be done—then all of a sudden, the whole of Iran knows that there’s a pilot somewhere on their territory.” (Global Times)