Trump: Leak Risked Rescue Mission of F-15 Crewman in Iran

President Donald Trump said Monday his administration is hunting a leaker and warned of possible prosecution after information about a downed U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle crewman surfaced during a sensitive rescue mission.

The pilot of the fighter jet was found shortly after the plane was shot down Friday by a shoulder-fired missile.

His wounded crewman, a weapons systems officer, hid in mountainous terrain until the U.S. military located his position and pulled him out Sunday morning.

Trump said at a White House news conference, which aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform, that the administration released only information about the pilot being rescued, not about the missing crewman.

'We're looking very hard to find that leaker and talked about ... somebody missing," he said.

"They basically said that we have one and there's somebody missing. Well, they didn't know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information."

Trump said that if the media organization that first reported the information does not reveal its source, it could face criminal prosecution.

"So whoever it is, 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,'" he said.

"And we know who and you know who we're talking about, because some things you can't 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."

Trump did not name the media organization involved. Asked for clarification, a White House spokesperson told Newsmax, "An investigation is underway," but offered no further details.

The Military Times reported that Israel's Channel 12 was the first to report on the missing crewman, but it linked only to an X post by reporter Amit Segal that stated: "Western source: One of the American crew members was successfully rescued."

Segal told the New York Post on Monday that he was unsure if he was the first to report the news but pledged not to disclose who tipped him off.

Several U.S. media outlets, including Axios and The Washington Post, quickly published stories following Segal's post, quoting U.S. and Israeli officials and sources familiar with the matter.

Trump said the leaker and the media organization jeopardized the rescue operation, putting "this mission" and "that man" at great risk, as well as "the hundreds of people that went in looking for them, because everyone now knows that we're going in.

"It also made it much more difficult for the pilots and for the people going in to search for him.

"All of a sudden, they know that there's somebody out there. They see all these planes coming in.

"It became a much more difficult operation, because a leaker leaked that we rescued one but there's another one out there that we're trying to get."

He said it did not help that Iran offered a reward of approximately $60,000 to any Iranian who found the crewman and turned him over to authorities.

"So actually, the country, Iran put out a major notice," Trump said.

"You all saw it, offering a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot. So in addition to a hostile, very talented, very good, very evil military, we had millions of people trying to get an award," he continued.

"So when you add that to it ... but we have to find that leaker, because that's a sick person, probably didn't realize the extent of how bad it was. I can't imagine that the person did.

"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, and that doesn't last long, and I think everybody would understand it."

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