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An investigation is “underway” to determine who leaked to the press that one of the two American airmen was still missing after their fighter jet was shot down in Iran on Good Friday, a White House official told Fox News Digital.
During a Monday afternoon press conference centered on the successful rescue mission, President Donald Trump said his administration is working “very hard” to determine who the leaker is, which he said put the missing pilot at greater risk.
“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.
“When they did that, all of a sudden the entire country of Iran knew that there was a pilot that was somewhere on their land that was fighting for his life. And it also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him.”
TRUMP CALLS RESCUE OF DOWNED AIR FORCE PILOT AN ‘EASTER MIRACLE’
The Military Times attributed an X post by Israel’s N12 News reporter Amit Segal as the first to break that one of the “crew members was successfully rescued,” citing a Western source around 11 a.m. on Friday.
But another Israel N12 News reporter, Barak Ravid, wrote an article for Axios that was published hours before Segal’s X post, which shared that one pilot was rescued and another was still missing. Ravid cited his sources as “an Israeli official and a second source with knowledge.”
“An American fighter jet was shot down by Iranian fire. A search is underway to locate the two crew members, according to a source familiar with the details. Read my article at @axios,” Ravid posted on X.
The New York Post reported that shortly after Ravid posted his story on X, Segal posted in his Telegram channel “Search operation in Iran — for two American crew members.”
While Segal shared in his Telegram channel Monday that he was the first to break the news of the missing airman, he walked back his statement to the New York Post.
“I’m not sure I was the first,” Segal said. “And anyway — I will protect my sources.”
MAURO COMPARES IRAN RESCUE OF MISSING COLONEL TO MADURO CAPTURE, CREDITS INTELLIGENCE PREPARATION
CBS News, the Washington Post and Reuters reported hours later on the missing airman but cited U.S. officials as their sources.
Trump called the “leaker” a “sick person,” claiming that they will face jail time.
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“They put this mission at great risk,” Trump said. “They put that man at great risk, and they put the hundreds of people that went in looking for him, because everyone now knows that we’re going in.”
Fox News Digital reached out to CBS News, the Washington Post, Reuters and Israel’s Channel 12 for comment. Axios declined to comment at this time.
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