\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump<\/a> threatened to jail a journalist \u2013 or journalists \u2013 who reported that a second US airman was missing after being shot down by Iran<\/a> on Friday in an effort to identify their source.<\/p>\n The badly injured airman hid in a mountain crevice to avoid capture before being rescued by a US recovery team that received heavy fire. The US president announced on Sunday that the service member had been recovered.<\/p>\n During a press conference at the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump told reporters that his government was aggressively pursuing the \u201cleaker\u201d who revealed information about the missing airman to the media. He claimed that the news report put Iran<\/a> on notice and put the airman in danger.<\/p>\n \u201cThey basically said that \u2018we have one and there\u2019s somebody missing.\u2019 Well, they didn\u2019t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information,\u201d Trump said. \u201cSo whoever it was, we think we\u2019ll be able to find it out because we\u2019re going to go to the media company that released it, and we\u2019re going to say, \u2018national security, give it up or go to jail.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we know who \u2013 and you know who \u2013 we\u2019re talking about. Because some things you can\u2019t do, because 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump did not name the outlet, or the reporter, he was threatening.<\/p>\n During his second administration, Trump has ratcheted up his efforts to target media companies that have published reporting he dislikes, regularly threatening lawsuits and restricting access. In January, a Washington Post reporter\u2019s home was raided by the FBI<\/a>. The reporter, Hannah Natanson, had aggressively covered Trump\u2019s oversight of federal agencies, generating more than 1,000 anonymous government sources<\/a> that contributed to her reporting. The case is still playing out in a Virginia court.<\/p>\n The White House did not immediately respond to a request for specifics about the media company Trump was referring to. A White House official later said an investigation was under way.<\/p>\n Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said: \u201cJournalists don\u2019t work for the government and their right to publish government leaks is protected by the first amendment which, despite Trump\u2019s efforts, remains the law of the land, and does not disappear whenever the words \u2018national security\u2019 are uttered. To the extent that the government is allowed to withhold information, it\u2019s up to the government to keep its secrets, not journalists.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n