The Wall Street Journal on Monday said it received grand jury subpoenas from the Department of Justice (DOJ) for reporters’ records over media leaks connected to the U. S.-Israeli conflict in Iran.
The Journal received those subpoenas on March 4, which referred to reporting published on Feb. 23 that said that Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other Pentagon officials had warned President Trump about the risks of carrying out a military campaign on Iran.
Trump launched the joint military offensive with Israel five days later.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday said the Trump administration has prioritized “prosecuting leakers who share our nation’s secrets with reporters, in turn risking our national security and the lives of our soldiers.”
“Any witness, whether a reporter or otherwise, who has information about these criminals should not be surprised if they receive a subpoena about the illegal leaking of classified material,” he wrote on the social platform X.
Dow Jones, which owns the Journal, told the outlet in a statement that the subpoenas “represent an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering.”
“We will vigorously oppose this effort to stifle and intimidate essential reporting,” Dow Jones chief communications officer Ashok Sinha said in the statement.
Since President Trump returned to the White House last year, the administration has ramped up efforts to find and possibly punish journalists who have received classified information from confidential sources. The targeting of the use of confidential sources has stirred debate over the First Amendment and press freedom.
The Journal’s reporting comes one week after a judge barred the DOJ from searching a Washington Post reporter’s devices. U. S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga condemned the seizure of the devices belonging to reporter Hannah Natanson.
Trenga said she was shielded by the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, which blocks government officials from searching or seizing a journalist’s “work product” or “documentary materials” in connection with a criminal investigation. Natanson was in contact with Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones before he was arrested and indicted on charges of unlawfully obtaining and sharing classified materials.
In April, Trump said his administration was looking for the “leaker” who shared information to the media about the operation to rescue a pilot after his fighter jet was shot down outside of Iran.
“But we have to find that leaker because that’s a sick person,” Trump told reporters at the White House last month. “Probably didn’t realize the extent of how bad it was … but we’re going to find out it’s national security and the person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say. They put this mission at great risk.”
Trump has also praised the jailing of reporters, including calling the arrest of former CNN anchor Don Lemon in January “the best thing that could have happened to him.”
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