20 January 2023
(The Hill) – Former President Trump is calling for the jailing of the journalists who published a leaked draft opinion showing the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Last spring, Politico reporters Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward published a blockbuster report on a draft opinion penned by Justice Samuel Alito that would overturn the landmark abortion ruling.
The court on Thursday made public a report detailing an investigation into the leak of the opinion, indicating it was unable to identify the source of the leak to Politico.
“They’ll never find out, & it’s important that they do,” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social website. “So, go to the reporter & ask him/her who it was. If not given the answer, put whoever in jail until the answer is given. You might add the editor and publisher to the list.”
In the days that followed Politico’s report, congressional Republicans and conservative media figures expressed outrage that the opinion had been leaked before the court handed down its official decision on the matter and demanded the person responsible for the leak be found and punished.
Trump previously suggested the Supreme Court “go to the reporter” who published the draft memo to try to find the source of the leak.
The high court voted to overturn Roe last June with its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.