Donald Trump handed his acting Attorney General a stack of Iran war news articles with a single word scrawled on a sticky note: 'Treason.' 

The President privately raged to Todd Blanche last month about the leaks, prompting the Justice Department to launch an aggressive pursuit of reporters' sources behind sensitive national security stories, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

Subpoenaing reporters has for decades been treated as a nuclear option, deployed only after every other investigative avenue is exhausted, but former AG Pam Bondi shredded Biden-era protections last year, clearing a path for the crackdown.

Among the stories that sparked Trump's fury was an April 7 New York Times bombshell, which revealed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally lobbied the President to launch the war during a secret Situation Room presentation.

The article said that Vice President JD Vance warned the war could 'break apart Trump's political coalition', CIA Director John Ratcliffe dismissed Netanyahu's pitch as 'farcical,' and Secretary of State Marco Rubio branded it 'bulls***.'

The Wall Street Journal was subpoenaed over a February 23 article that revealed General Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had warned Trump about the risks of an extended military campaign in Iran. 

Axios and the Washington Post published similar stories the same day.

Trump launched the war five days later, on February 28.

The President was also incensed by media coverage of the massive rescue operation launched after an American fighter jet was shot down over Iran on April 3, leaving two airmen missing behind enemy lines. 

Trump believed that reports that a second airman remained missing after the first had been rescued would jeopardize the mission. 

'We're going to go to the media company that released it, and we're going to say, "national security; give it up or go to jail,"' Trump said at a news conference. 

A White House official told the Daily Mail that the administration was 'rightfully frustrated by illegal leaks of classified information which risked operational security and American lives.' 

The rescue operation had been reported by numerous outlets, leaving it unclear which one Trump was threatening. 

Trump ousted Bondi in early April, incensed that she had failed to successfully prosecute a string of his political enemies.

Blanche, who grew close to the President while serving as his defense attorney during the New York hush money trial, took over as acting AG and has publicly argued Trump has 'a right and a duty' to influence the Justice Department's criminal probes.

Asked about Trump's threat over the downed jet, Blanche told a press conference: 'If that means sending a subpoena to the reporter, that's exactly what we should do, and that's exactly what we will be doing.'

The leaks crackdown has escalated on multiple fronts. 

Federal agents stormed a Washington Post reporter's home in January as part of an investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of smuggling classified intelligence reports about US military movements in Venezuela.

The raid stunned former federal prosecutors, as the Justice Department already had enough evidence to charge the engineer. 

A judge in February rejected prosecutors' requests to search devices seized from the reporter's home, ruling that the court would conduct its own review. 

Dow Jones, the Journal's publisher, said in a statement: 'The government's subpoenas to The Wall Street Journal and our reporters represent an attack on constitutionally protected newsgathering. We will vigorously oppose this effort to stifle and intimidate essential reporting.'

The New York Times declined to comment.

The White House and the Justice Department have been contacted for comment.