In his press conference on the miraculous rescue missions, President Trump decried the report that disclosed our rescue of the F-15E Strike Eagle pilot — the guy flying DUDE 44. President Trump said the report was based on a leak that endangered and complicated the mission to rescue the weapons systems officer. He pledged to track down the leaker via the unidentified outlet that reported the story. “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,’” he said.
It appears that he was talking about CBS News and its story “American fighter jet shot down over Iran, 1 crew member rescued, U.S. officials say.” The story cites “U.S. officials” who confirmed the report. The story runs under the byline of Eleanor Watson, James LaPorta, Tucker Reals.
The president wants to punish the “U.S. officials” who leaked the information. He must contemplate a criminal investigation with the promulgation of a grand jury subpoena to CBS News and the named reporters. New York Times reporter Judy Miller spent 85-days in a rat-infested prison when Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald sought her source for a leak identifying Valerie Plame in the investigation of a farcical scandal. You have to read Judy’s memoir The Story for the rest of the story. It’s a story with an O. Henry ending.
CBS News was apparently not the first to report the rescue of the pilot. While fingers have pointed at Israeli reporter Amit Segal, in his It’s Noon In Israel newsletter this morning Segal says that it ain’t him, babe:
While I appreciate the attention, I fear it’s undeserved. I was not the first journalist to report that the pilot was missing, nor that he was injured….The Guardian and two Israeli channels broke the story before I did. I imagine “Israeli Journalist Endangers American Pilot” makes a better headline.
More to come.
