{"id":188053,"date":"2026-04-07T08:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/188053\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T08:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T08:04:23","slug":"trump-vows-to-catch-leaker-who-revealed-us-could-not-initially-reach-f-15-pilot-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/188053\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump vows to catch &#8216;leaker&#8217; who revealed US could not initially reach F-15 pilot in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>President Trump vowed Monday to catch the \u201cleaker\u201d who revealed that US forces were not immediately able to rescue the second F-15 pilot shot down over Iran \u2014 as he told again of the wounded airman\u2019s dramatic weekend rescue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re looking very hard to find that leaker,\u201d Trump said in the White House briefing room. \u201cThey basically said that we have one and there\u2019s somebody missing. Well, [Iran] didn\u2019t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u00a0explained that the leak could have endangered the missing pilot\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe 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\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39005710\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/cia-director-john-ratcliffe-james-125117878.jpg\" alt=\"President Donald Trump speaks at a podium in the White House briefing room, accompanied by CIA Director John Ratcliffe.\" class=\"wp-image-39005710\"  \/>President Trump holds a press conference accompanied by CIA Director John Ratcliffe in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC. REUTERS<\/p>\n<p>Intense speculation and debate circulated online about which outlet might be in Trump\u2019s crosshairs \u2014 though any publication that reported with first-hand original sourcing could find themselves ensnared in the leak probe, which could include the seizure of digital records.<\/p>\n<p>Israel\u2019s Channel 12\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2026\/04\/03\/us-forces-rescue-downed-fighter-pilot-in-iran-search-for-second-continues\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">was credited by Military Times<\/a>\u00a0with being the first to report that a second American pilot was missing in a broadcast.<\/p>\n<p>The Post was unable to find a clip from the live broadcast, but\u00a0Channel 12 reporters Amit Segal and Barak Ravid \u2014 who also works for Axios \u2014 were among the earliest to post the information to Telegram and X, respectively.<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AmitSegal\/status\/2040086910735929658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn 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\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/axios\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">@axios<\/a>,\u201d\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BarakRavid\/status\/2040050304075370504\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Ravid wrote at 8:54 a.m. EST on Friday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.33333333;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"39008382\" width=\"787\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2269897720_a2d843.jpg\" alt=\"Wreckage is seen from what Iranian authorities say is a U.S. military helicopter that crashed during a mission to rescue the missing American pilot of an F-15E that was downed earlier this week, in a handout image provided on April 5, 2026 in an location in Iran.\" class=\"wp-image-39008382\"  \/>Wreckage is seen from what Iranian authorities say is a U.S. military helicopter that crashed during a mission to rescue the missing American pilot of an F-15E that was downed earlier this week, in a handout image provided on April 5, 2026 in an location in Iran. Handout via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSearch operation in Iran \u2014 for two American crew members,\u201d Segal posted to his Telegram channel three minutes later.<\/p>\n<p>Segal later broke news of the first pilot\u2019s rescue<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AmitSegal\/status\/2040086910735929658\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u00a0in a post to X<\/a>\u00a0at 11:19 a.m., citing a \u201cwestern source.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ravid did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment, and a representative for Axios declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p>Segal exclusively told The Post on Monday that he was unaware if he was the first to report the news, but pledged not to disclose who tipped him off.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not sure I was the first,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd anyway \u2014 I will protect my sources.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other outlets \u2014 including the Washington Post, Reuters, CBS News \u2014 also ran stories quoting US\u00a0and Israeli officials and sources familiar shortly after the Channel 12 reporter\u2019s tweet.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the press conference, Trump\u00a0said he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>A senior administration official declined to name the suspected reporter.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration in January\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/14\/us-news\/fbi-searches-washington-post-reporters-home-in-classified-documents-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">raided<\/a>\u00a0Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson\u2019s home in Virginia, with the FBI seizing her phone, laptops and other devices as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of leaking classified information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Trump vowed Monday to catch the \u201cleaker\u201d who revealed that US forces were not immediately able to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,14670,19809,9,11,10,62206,87,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-188053","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-journalists","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-operation-epic-fury","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}