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source_url: https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-subpoenas-another-nyt-reporter-leaks-north-korea/
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Here we go again.
The Trump administration is going after a reporter in its seemingly endless search to identify leakers. And the latest situation involves another reporter with ties to The New York Times.
Matthew Cole, a freelance journalist who helped write a [story for the Times about a failed 2019 secret U.S. mission in North Korea](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/navy-seal-north-korea-trump-2019.html), was issued a subpoena in February. It’s another case of the paranoid Trump administration trying to force a reporter to reveal a source.
[The New York Times’ Devlin Barrett wrote](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/01/us/politics/times-subpoena-reporter-trump-north-korea.html), “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.”
The Trump administration also subpoenaed several Times journalists in July after the news outlet published a story about security concerns involving the Air Force One jet gifted to President Donald Trump by Qatar. [Those subpoenas were withdrawn](https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2026/trump-administration-drops-subpeonas-against-new-york-times/) after a judge said he would quash them if the Department of Justice refused to withdraw them.
The Times is providing a legal defense for Cole.
David A. O’Neil represented the Times in the Air Force One story and also represents Cole in this latest case. He said in a statement that Cole “has dedicated his professional life to bringing official misconduct to light and informing the public about the workings of its government.”
He added that 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.”
Unlike the Air Force One case, the administration has not withdrawn the subpoena.
The story about the failed mission was published last September.
Barrett wrote in his Times story, “The article described how the SEAL members killed two or three unarmed North Koreans who appeared to have stumbled upon the mission, a classified operation to plant a secret eavesdropping device near the country’s coastline. The Times’s account, published in September, drew on interviews with two dozen people.”
Cole shared a byline with Times staffer Dave Philipps. It’s not believed that Philipps has been served with a subpoena. Cole was served at his New York home in February, but the subpoena was not publicly disclosed until last weekend.
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In the aftermath of ‘60 Minutes’
Scott Pelley and Sharyn Alfonsi, two respected journalists who were controversially fired from “60 Minutes,” have been appointed Journalists in Residence at the Columbia Journalism School for the 2026-27 academic year. Both were among the veteran journalists dismissed during the upheaval that reshaped the storied newsmagazine this summer.
Jelani Cobb, dean of the Columbia Journalism School, said in a statement, “Their distinguished track records in investigative reporting highlight the amazing opportunity our students will have to learn from them, and we look forward to having Sharyn and Scott with us this year.”
Alfonsi said it is an “extraordinary privilege, especially at a time when deep, rigorous and fearless reporting has never been more vital.”
Pelley added, “This is a critical time for a free press. Columbia is leading the way in training the next generation of great journalists and I am honored to join Sharyn in that vital cause.”
Meanwhile …
[The New York Post](https://nypost.com/2026/08/02/media/ex-60-minutes-boss-bill-owens-wants-to-launch-rival-news-show-with-scott-pelley-other-fired-staffers-sources/) reported that former longtime “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens wants to launch a newsmagazine show to rival “60 Minutes.” Owens resigned in protest from “60 Minutes” in April 2025, saying the program had lost its journalistic independence.
The New York Post’s Alexandra Steigrad reports that Owens “is looking to raise around $50 million to fund two years’ worth of in-depth and investigative news segments.”
However, representatives for Owens told Steigrad that he has no plans to start his own show.
On the warpath
President Donald Trump lashed out Monday, and it was hard to determine who he was more upset with — a reporter from MS NOW or Jeanine Pirro, his U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Trump was upset with Pirro after she dropped a case against a former U.S. Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
[In a Truth Social rant last Saturday](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/117021210137447022), Trump wrote, “I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, on the Reflecting Pool. I don’t know what she was thinking? To me, it was a pure case of VANDALISM, that included the grass, which had a big 86 47 emblazoned in giant letters on it, and other elements of the surrounding area. There may have been some contractor difficulty, but the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
It’s not uncommon for Trump to get rid of those who upset him in his administration. So, MS NOW reporter Jake Traylor asked the obvious question Monday: “Are you reconsidering her role?”
Trump, who already was bothered by questions from Traylor, said, “You’re fake news. Don’t ever talk again. You’re fake. You’re one of the worst in the business. Fortunately, nobody watches you.”
He then turned his ire back to Pirro, saying, “I was disappointed with Jeanine Pirro! Really disappointed with Jeanne Pirro! She folded like an umbrella! And people get away with things, and it’s a disgrace!”
Sure enough, [The Wall Street Journal’s Natalie Andrews and Josh Dawsey reported](https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-says-jeanine-pirro-folded-like-an-umbrella-in-reflecting-pool-case-89a06be2?mod=hp_lead_pos1) late Monday afternoon that Trump “has discussed ousting” Pirro.
Alexander’s new show
Earlier this year, Peter Alexander left NBC News after more than two decades to join MS NOW, which had split from NBC. The expectation was that he would get his own show on the cable network.
That was confirmed Monday. MS NOW announced that Alexander’s new show will start next Monday.
“State of Play with Peter Alexander” will air weekdays at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The show will be based in Washington. Alexander also will serve as the network’s chief national reporter and a breaking news anchor.
Alexander spent 22 years at NBC News, including covering the White House, as well as co-hosting the weekend version of the “Today” show for nearly eight years.
Romo reactions
As I wrote in Monday’s newsletter, CBS lead NFL analyst Tony Romo is in a sticky situation. He was recently arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. And, almost immediately, CBS announced that Romo was on leave until further notice.
In addition, sort of hinting that Romo’s future at the network remains very much undecided, CBS already announced that J.J. Watt was being promoted to the top broadcasting team next to play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz. That announcement came even though the NFL regular season is still nearly six weeks away.
As I wrote on Monday, Romo broke into the broadcasting business nearly a decade ago and was immediately praised for his work. But, in recent seasons, he has come under more scrutiny, with some critics saying he doesn’t seem as prepared as he used to be.
Could his current legal situation be a way for CBS to move on from Romo?
A couple of sports commentators weighed in to say they think Romo’s time as a top NFL analyst at CBS is over.
[Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports said](https://x.com/wakeupbarstool/status/2084265193513595213), “Duh, they wanted to get rid of Romo. This decision was made within 0.2 seconds of this incident happening, so they were clearly looking for an out, and Romo led them through the door. There’s no brainer, if they thought Romo was doing a good job and they wanted to keep him, Romo would keep his job. … Guys have survived way more than this with no issue. They wanted to get rid of him, no doubt.”
It does seem telling how quickly CBS put Romo on leave.
Then Portnoy put it bluntly: “He’ll never get his job back. He may be at CBS because maybe, I don’t know what the legality of it is, but he will never get that No. 1 chair back. Never.”
Romo still has four years left on a 10-year deal, and CBS still owes him $72 million. That is, unless they can get out of it.
Meanwhile, former ESPN personality [Dan Le Batard said on his show](https://x.com/LeBatardShow/status/2084288194690830519), “This might be the beginning of the end of Tony Romo and one of America’s premier broadcast teams. And I assume that, contractually, they might be able to fire him for cause and get out from under that money. My guess is that the delay is all of this and putting him on leave is, at least, in part so they can figure out what they want to do because the only thing that saves or eliminates Tony Romo’s job right now is if his bosses were happy with him before this happened.”
Again, this all goes back to just how quickly Romo was placed on leave.
[Awful Announcing’s Drew Lerner wrote](https://awfulannouncing.com/nfl/where-tony-romo-if-loses-cbs-job-netflix-fox-golf-prime-video-tnf.html), “The move, and particularly the speed with which Watt was confirmed as Romo’s replacement, signaled to many media observers that Romo’s suspension was about more than his arrest. Rather, CBS could see this as an opportunity to elevate Watt, an analyst many believe has surpassed Romo in quality, without demoting Romo on performance grounds.”
Media tidbits
- Nieman Lab’s Andrew Deck with “
[A record-breaking eight Pulitzer awardees disclosed AI use this year.”](https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/08/a-record-breaking-eight-pulitzer-awardees-disclosed-ai-use-this-year/) - The New York Times’ Stuart A. Thompson with
[“The MAGA Media Machine Is Fracturing.”](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/us/politics/trump-iran-economy-media-critics.html) - The Washington Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf and Michael Birnbaum write about pro-Trump blogger Laura Loomer in
[“Loomer’s Ukraine reversal deepens split in Trump’s ‘America First’ movement.”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/08/02/inside-laura-loomer-surprising-turn-ukraine/) [Rana Cash has been named](https://www.news-journalonline.com/staff/2646577001/rana-l-cash/)executive editor of The Daytona Beach News-Journal and deputy region editor for investigations and enterprise at the USA Today Network-Florida. Cash has an extensive resume. She was a reporter at the Miami Herald, The Dallas Morning News and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She then moved into leadership positions, working at places such as The Sporting News, The Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Louisville Courier Journal and the Savannah Morning News. Most recently, she was at The Charlotte Observer. The latest move is a bit of a homecoming for Cash, who grew up in Florida.[ProPublica announced](https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/propublica-hires-four-reporters-to-expand-washington-and-national-security-coverage)it has hired four top-notch reporters to expand its Washington and national security coverage. They are Cate Brown, Aaron Davis, Joel Schectman and Byron Tau. The reporters hired have experience at places such as The Washington Post, The Associated Press, The Guardian and The Wall Street Journal. See the link above for more details.- NFL quarterback and constant attention-seeker Aaron Rodgers returned to Pat McAfee’s ESPN show on Monday and said a bunch of wild stuff, including calling Anthony Fauci an “absolute coward” and ESPN a “gutless organization” with “no integrity.” ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio details it in
[“ESPN has no comment on Aaron Rodgers’s comments on ESPN, about ESPN.”](https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/espn-has-no-comment-on-aaron-rodgers-comments-on-espn-about-espn)
Hot type
- The Atlantic’s David A. Graham with
[“Americans Are Turning on Trump.”](https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/2026/08/trump-loosing-black-hispanic-young-republican-voters/688164/)
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