Fired Stars and Stripes journalists sue Hegseth and Pentagon spokesperson

Washington — Three fired Stars and Stripes journalists sued Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and two other top Pentagon officials in federal court Thursday, claiming the Trump administration is attempting to fire them illegally as part of its "extraordinary censorship efforts" against the military news outlet.

The plaintiffs — publisher Max Lederer, editor-in-chief Erik Slavin and reporter Lara Korte — were given separation notices last week. The cause cited was insubordination.

They alleged that they were fired both for "speaking up as private citizens in support of the press's freedom to cover military operations," and because of their reporting on rough conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. The lawsuit names Hegseth, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell and aide Andrew Brey as defendants.

Slavin and Korte said the alleged insubordination cited in their termination notices was related to interviews they gave to CBS News for a piece on "CBS Sunday Morning" that aired in July. In the story, Korte said that she worked for Stars and Stripes, "not for the Pentagon, not for any administration, not for any policymaker."

More than a month later, the newspaper published a piece detailing flagging mental health and food and water shortages aboard the Lincoln, which has been deployed for nine months. A day after that story ran, the lawsuit says, the defendants "ordered plaintiff Max Lederer, Stripes' publisher, to present notices of separation to Mr. Slavin and Ms. Korte."

"The notices charged them with insubordination for the statements they made five and one-half weeks earlier on 'CBS Sunday Morning,'" the lawsuit reads.

He did not deliver the notices. Lederer announced his intent to retire at the end of September over "fundamental" differences with the Defense Department, but the Pentagon fired him before he could.

The three fired staffers' complaint says they are "facing imminent retaliation and termination in violation of their First Amendment and statutory rights."

"This action seeks to prevent the blatant violation of the First Amendment rights of these journalists and challenges the U.S. Department of Defense's ("DoD") extraordinary censorship efforts in violation of both the First Amendment and DoD regulations and policies," the lawsuit reads.

Stars and Stripes was first published during the Civil War, and in recent decades, the paper has prided itself on its editorial independence — meaning the federal government does not dictate what it can and can't publish.

Roughly half of the paper's $29 million annual budget comes from taxpayers, a person familiar with the newspaper's operations told CBS News last week. Readership has declined since its peaks during the Vietnam War, the Cold War and World War II, according to two U.S. officials, but an average of 1.4 million people see Stars and Stripes each day. Print editions overseas also reach service members in remote locations where internet access is spotty and unreliable.

Earlier this year, Parnell said the Defense Department would make sweeping changes to the paper.