President Trump called a press conference this afternoon in advance of the deadline he has set for reaching some kind of agreement with whoever is running the show in Iran. The press conference addressed the rescue missions that extracted the pilot and weapons service officer of the downed F-15E Strike Eagle that, we learned, bore the call sign DUDE 44. The success of both rescue missions seems miraculous. However, Trump focused on the rescue of the injured weaopns service officer hidden high on a mountain ridge. That is one for the books.
I have posted White House video of the press conference below and cued it to begin with Trump’s opening, He was followed by CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine. They told a complicated story. Stephen Losey of Air & Space Forces Magazine has knit their statements into a coherent narrative in “The Rescue of DUDE 44: Inside the Massive Operation to Save Two Downed Airmen In Iran.”
Trump decried the report that disclosed our rescue of the pilot. He said it endangered and complicated the mission to rescue the weapons service officer. He attributed the report to a leak. He pledged to track down the leaker as well as the unidentified outlet that reported it. “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. Offhand, I’m not sure what provisions of criminal law may be implicated. RCP has posted the video clip and transcript of that portion of the press conference here.
