Justice Department Subpoenaed Freelance Reporter Matthew Cole

The Justice Department subpoenaed Matthew Cole, a freelance reporter for The New York Times, demanding his testimony and more than two years of notes to identify his sources for a story last year about a botched 2019 SEAL Team 6 mission in North Korea. The article, which cited roughly two dozen unnamed sources, described how U.S. Navy SEALs killed several unarmed North Koreans while trying to plant a listening device near the country’s coast. The Trump administration failed to notify Congress about the operation. FBI agents showed up at Cole’s home to deliver the grand jury subpoena earlier this year, which was issued by prosecutors in Virginia. Cole’s lawyer David O’Neil said Cole “will not be intimidated from continuing that important work. He will defend press freedom and the First Amendment from this administration’s brazen attacks on journalists, and he will honor his commitment to his sources.” www.democracynow.org