By Courtney Subramanian and Hadriana Lowenkron President Donald Trump threatened to jail journalists who published details of a daring US military raid to rescue two airmen whose aircraft was shot down over Iran, accusing them of jeopardizing the mission.
Trump on Monday called a press conference to reveal fresh details of what he called the “historic” effort, which salvaged what was one of the most perilous moments for the US in the month-long conflict.
The comments, however, amounted to his latest bid to target the news media for its coverage of his administration.
Without naming specific outlets, Trump said that reports that mentioned that only one of the two pilots had initially been rescued threatened the attempt to rescue the other by tipping off the Iranians.
Trump said the administration would search for the person who disclosed information to the news media and also detain journalists if they didn’t disclose the source of the leak.
“We have to find that leaker, because that’s a sick person,” Trump told reporters.
“The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say.
And I think everybody would understand they put this mission at great risk.” Trump described in detail the search-and-rescue mission that occurred over the weekend, saying it involved 21 planes to rescue one pilot and some 155 aircraft to get the other.
He said US military personnel conducted a complicated deception operation to rescue the second airman, who was stranded deep in Iranian territory.
At one point, Trump asked Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine if he could say how many US military personnel were involved in the mission.
The general said he’d “love to keep that a secret,” but the president followed by saying “I’ll keep it a secret, but it was hundreds.” “In a breathtaking show of skill and precision, lethality and force, America’s military descended on the area,....
