Lib Reporter Faces Subpoena After Doxxing Delta Force Commander Over Maduro Capture
The House Oversight Committee moved decisively this week to hold a left-wing journalist accountable after a vote to subpoena Rolling Stone contributing editor Seth Harp for publishing identifying information about a U.S. Delta Force commander tied to the recent operation that captured Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
The committee’s action followed Harp’s decision to post a photograph and biographical details of the commander on X, including the officer’s full name and family information. Harp later claimed his account was restricted until the post was removed, according to a statement he shared Monday on the platform.
Out of security concerns, the Daily Caller News Foundation declined to publish the commander’s name or the details Harp posted.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, a member of the House Oversight Committee, introduced the motion to subpoena Harp, describing his actions as “doxxing” and accusing him of exposing classified information tied to the operation.
“I have made a motion to subpoena Seth Harp, which passed unanimously with bipartisan support in committee, to face accountability for leaking classified intelligence related to Operation Absolute Resolve, including the doxxing of a U.S. Delta Force commander,” Luna told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“That conduct is not protected journalism. It was reckless, dangerous, and put American lives at risk. The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations, or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting. Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate when national security is endangered, and no one is above oversight.”
“Seth Harp has also been referred to the Department of Justice for his actions, and I look forward to the findings of the investigation,” she added.
After the vote, Luna underscored the stakes on X, writing, “Putting a service member and their family in danger is dishonorable and feckless.” The measure passed with strong bipartisan backing, including support from the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, according to multiple reports.
Harp, for his part, has taken a sharply ideological stance on the mission. In his posts, he referred to the deposed and captured Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro as the country’s “rightful president” and accused President Donald J. Trump—currently serving his second term as President of the United States—of having “kidnapped” the despot.
Prior to Maduro’s removal, the United States and most of its allies had long regarded him as an illegitimate ruler.
The identities of elite Special Operations personnel, including Delta Force operators and commanders, are typically classified and closely guarded, a point long emphasized by military officials and outlets such as The Washington Post.
“The First Amendment does not give anyone a license to expose elite military personnel, compromise operations, or assist our adversaries under the guise of reporting,” Luna reiterated Thursday to The Washington Post. “Congress has a constitutional duty to investigate when national security is endangered, and no one is above oversight.”
Garcia supported Luna’s subpoena after attaching an amendment seeking additional subpoenas for the co-executors of Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, Richard Kahn and Darren Indyke. Garcia has pushed House Democrats to pursue records directly from the estate, citing the Department of Justice’s failure to meet a congressional deadline for releasing Epstein-related files.
Harp has denied wrongdoing. “In no way did I ‘doxx’ the officer,” he wrote in a Jan. 5 statement posted to social media. “I did not post any personally identifying information about him, such as his birthday, social security number, home address, phone number, email address, the names of his family members, or pictures of his house.”
Yet the biography he shared did include the first name of the commander’s wife.
“Nothing about this should distract from the larger Issue: Delta Force, acting on President Trump’s unlawful orders… invaded Venezuela, killed scores of Venezuelans who posed no threat to the United States, and kidnapped the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, as well as his wife,” Harp claimed in the same statement.
He doubled down in comments to The Washington Post: “The idea of a reporter ‘leaking classified intel’ is a contradiction in terms. The First Amendment and ironclad Supreme Court precedent permit journalists to publish classified documents. We don’t work for the government and it’s our job to expose secrets, not protect them for the convenience of high-ranking officials.”
“It’s not ‘doxing’ to point out which high-ranking military officials are involved in breaking news events. That’s information that the public has a right to know,” he added.
Earlier this month, Harp also attacked the elite unit itself, describing Delta Force in a Jan. 3 post as “an organization filled with cokeheads and pervaded by drug trafficking.”
According to biographical information published by the left-leaning New America think tank, Harp previously served as a U.S. Army Reservist during the Iraq War and later worked as an assistant attorney general in Texas before entering journalism.
Rep. James Comer, the Republican chairman of the Oversight Committee, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.