Less Than a Month After Four NYT Journalists Were Subpoenaed, a New Reporter is on the US Government Radar

Published Aug 3, 2026, 9:22 AM EDT

US prosecutors allegedly demanded contacts and sources from a freelance reporter at the New York Times, following other recent subpoenas.

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Published Aug 3, 2026, 9:22 AM EDT

The FBI has reportedly subpoenaed a freelance reporter over his report on a secret U.S. mission in North Korea. FBI agents delivered the subpoena, issued by prosecutors in Virginia, to Matthew Cole's home in New York in February, and demanded he hand over two years of contacts and sources, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources. Coles had been working as a freelance reporter for the publication. In 2025, Cole and staff reporter Dave Philipps reported on a Navy SEAL Team 6 mission in 2019 that led to the death of two or three unarmed North Koreans. Cole and Philipps cited two dozen unnamed sources to uncover the mission, which was undertaken to plant a listening device near North Korea's coast. The incident raises questions about press freedom and the Trump administration's approach to the first amendment. It follows a string of other similar incidents in which the government has approached journalists and asked them for their sources. Cole “has dedicated his professional life to bringing official misconduct to light and informing the public about the workings of its government,” his lawyer, David A O’Neil, said in a statement issued to the New York Times.