Posted on 08/01/2026 12:11:34 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects the government’s expanding campaign to investigate leaks of secrets.
A freelance reporter has been fighting a subpoena from the Trump administration seeking to force him to reveal his sources for a New York Times article about a failed top secret mission in North Korea, according to people familiar with the matter.
The subpoena, which has not been previously disclosed, reflects the administration’s intensifying campaign to investigate leaks of government secrets by pressuring reporters to divulge their sources. Until President Trump began his second term, federal subpoenas to reporters were exceedingly rare.
In February, F.B.I. agents showed up at the New York home of the reporter, Matthew Cole, to deliver the grand jury subpoena, which was issued by prosecutors in Newport News, Va., according to the people familiar with the matter, who described the private conversations on the condition of anonymity.
The investigators are seeking his testimony about two years’ worth of information about Mr. Cole’s contacts and conversations, as they try to identify his sources for the article about the operation in North Korea, the people familiar with the matter said. It is unclear if the administration has also sought Mr. Cole’s phone and email data, as it has done in other cases.
Mr. Cole’s lawyer, David A. O’Neil, who has also represented The Times in a separate fight with the administration over subpoenas about its coverage of Air Force One, said in a statement that Mr. Cole “has dedicated his professional life to bringing official misconduct to light and informing the public about the workings of its government.” His client, he added, “will not be intimidated from continuing that important work. He will defend press freedom and the First Amendment from this...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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What is Operation Mockingbird?
Why subpoena ? Why not just the James O’Keefe treament from the Ashley Biden diary case? This guy’s a “free lancer,” how does that outrank “independent journalist “ on NYT pearlclutching scale for erosion of freedom of the press?
This mission sounded like so many SEAL missions during Vietnam.
“federal subpoenas to reporters were exceedingly rare” because the media had a kiss-ass relationship with the swamp. cmon NYT. Finish the thought.
That’s exactly how I’d do it. These people are so proud of their anti-Americanism and such braggarts about their activities that all you’d need to do is study them, find out their relational preferences, and send in someone accordingly to extract the information.
We’ve seen time and time again that these people just can’t keep their mouth shut. So why force a subpoena on them and tip them off when you know you can very freely get the information for just a little bit of work?
Apparently, Red Squadron was supposed to plant an electronic device in North Korea that would've let us intercept the communications of Kim Jong-un.
They apparently landed on a beach in NK but a local boat appeared unexpectedly, so the SEALs opened fire and killed everyone on board.
Then they evac'd out of there, without planting the listening device.
You seem to know what I meant.
Needing a distraction and media martyr just now to cover up their award winning COVID /Fauci coverage.
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