US Justice Department subpoenas New York Times freelancer over North Korea story, paper says
The Times is funding Matthew Cole’s defense as prosecutors seek more than two years of notes and testimony to identify his source.
- On Aug 1, The New York Times reported that The Justice Department subpoenaed Freelancer Matthew Cole regarding his 2025 investigation into a botched military operation in North Korea.
- Cole's 2025 report detailed how Navy SEALs killed several unarmed North Koreans in early 2019 while attempting to plant a listening device near the country's coast, citing two dozen unnamed sources.
- Federal prosecutors from Virginia seek two years of Cole's notes and testimony to identify his sources, though The New York Times is providing his legal defense.
- New York Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander called the move 'another brazen and illegal attack,' noting that The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post faced similar subpoenas in recent months.
- Journalist Karly Kingsley labeled the action 'another step toward chilling free speech and press freedom' in a post on Bluesky, as critics warn the administration is escalating its hunt for sources.
9 Articles
9 Articles
US Justice Department subpoenas New York Times freelancer over North Korea story, paper says
The Justice Department has subpoenaed the records of a freelance journalist for the New York Times as part of a probe into the sourcing of a 2025 story about a botched U.S. military operation in North Korea, the newspaper said on Saturday.
Reporters Committee statement on subpoena issued to New York Times freelancer
New reporting from the New York Times indicates that a freelancer has been fighting a subpoena he received in February of this year after reporting about a failed Navy SEAL Team 6 mission that took place in 2019. In response, Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown made the following statement:“In the last 25 years, there have only been three attempts in national security leaks cases to force reporters to name their sources and now we have …
'Brazen and illegal': Trump DOJ stuns with 'chilling' subpoena
The Department of Justice is stunning journalists and advocates with another subpoena in its "escalating" series of attacks.According to reporting by The New York Times, the DOJ subpoenaed one of its freelancers in an attempt to identify his sources for a story about a failed top-secret mission in N...
Justice Department Subpoenas Times Freelancer
“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,” the New York Times reports.
Sources: the DOJ issued a subpoena to NYT freelancer Matthew Cole, seeking to force him to reveal his sources about a failed top secret mission in North Korea (Devlin Barrett/New York Times)
Devlin Barrett / New York Times: Sources: the DOJ issued a subpoena to NYT freelancer Matthew Cole, seeking to force him to reveal his sources about a failed top secret mission in North Korea — A previously undisclosed subpoena, involving reporting on a failed SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea, reflects …
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