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The president Donald Trump threatened on Monday to send the journalist to jail who published classified information about the existence of a second American pilot still unrecovered in Iranian territory, during a press conference held at the White House alongside senior military officials.
According to Trump, the leak alerted Iranian forces that there was still a military personnel hidden in their territory, jeopardizing both the colonel and the rescue teams operating in the area.
"Someone leaked something, and I hope we find the source who said there was a missing person (...). We're going to the media and we're going to tell them: 'national security: either you talk or you go to jail,'" said Trump.
"We know who we are talking about, and you know who we are talking about," he insisted, referring to the information published on Sunday about the missing military officer, which cited "a source familiar with some operational details." The person who wrote the note "will go to jail if they don't speak up, and we won't take long," he added.
The Republican claims that the dissemination of the news "put this mission in great danger."
"They put that man in great danger and also put the hundreds of people who went in to look for him at risk because everyone knew we were coming," he clarified.
"Suddenly, they knew there was someone there and saw all those planes coming in... It was a very difficult operation because the source leaked that we had one, that we had rescued one, but that there was another one out there that we were trying to recover," he concluded.
Trump , and warned that whoever revealed the information will go to jail if they don't speak up, and that won't take long. The president was direct in his threat: "We are going to go to the company that published it and we're going to say: 'Who was it? This is national security. Hand it over or go to jail'."
The rescue of the pilot, which Trump had previously described as a historic success, calling it an Easter miracle, took place under conditions of utmost secrecy. However, the release of information about the second aviator may have jeopardized the second phase of the operation.
According to reports, the CIA played a central role in the rescue, while the material cost of the operation exceeded 200 million dollars, including the loss of several aircraft during the operation.
The threat from Trump against the press reignites the debate about the legal boundaries of prosecuting journalists in national security cases. Experts point out that the direct application against journalists has been legally controversial within the U.S. legal system, where the First Amendment provides broad protections for the press.
The incident occurs in a context of heightened tension with Iran, following the ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz issued by the U.S. administration in recent days.
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