President Donald Trump said Monday that a leak of sensitive information about a downed U.S. fighter jet and a missing pilot may have endangered American personnel during an ongoing conflict involving Iran, as reported[1] by The Gateway Pundit.
Trump made the remarks while attending a White House briefing, where he provided updates on the situation, including what he described as the successful rescue of a missing pilot following the aircraft’s downing.
According to details shared during the briefing, an F-15E fighter jet was shot down over Iran last week. The aircraft went down in a remote region of the country on Friday.
Image Credit: White House
State of the Union Address
One crew member was rescued shortly after the incident, while the second crew member, identified as the weapon systems officer, remained missing.
The missing pilot was later recovered early Sunday morning local time. Officials described the rescue as a significant effort after the pilot reportedly evaded capture by moving through rugged terrain in southern Iran while injured.
Trump said that the initial handling of information about the incident was tightly controlled until details began to surface publicly.
“As you probably know, we didn’t talk about the first one for an hour, and then somebody leaked something, which we’ll hopefully find that leaker; we’re looking very hard to find that leaker, and talked about there’s somebody missing,” Trump said to reporters.
He continued, “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 stated that the disclosure of the information may have alerted individuals in Iran to the presence of a surviving pilot on the ground.
“There’s some things you can’t do. 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 said.
He also indicated that authorities are working to identify the source of the leak and may pursue action against those responsible.
“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.”
Trump added that the situation intensified after reports circulated publicly, noting that Iran had taken steps that could have complicated the rescue effort.
“Because a leaker leaked – because we have one – we rescued one, but there’s another one out there that we’re trying to get, actually, the country, Iran, put out.. offering a very big award for anybody that captures the pilot.”
“They put this mission, that man, at great risk, and hundreds of people looking for him!” he added.
“The person that did the story will go to jail if he doesn’t say!” Trump said.
Multiple media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Axios, Fox News, and Israel’s Channel 12, reported on the downed aircraft and missing pilot.
It was not immediately clear which specific report Trump was referencing in his comments.
The rescue operation concluded early Sunday, bringing the missing pilot to safety after several days in hostile territory.
