The Justice Department has subpoenaed at least four New York Times journalists to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan, escalating the Trump administration’s campaign against news outlets that publish leaked information. Federal agents delivered the summonses to some reporters’ homes on Friday evening, demanding their appearance on Wednesday as part of a criminal investigation into the sources behind stories about security concerns involving the president’s new Air Force One.
The targeted reporters are Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt, the four bylined journalists on the Times’ initial July 8 story about the plane. That article, citing anonymous sources, reported that the Secret Service had urged President Donald Trump to fly home from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on an older Air Force One because of security concerns about the new jet.
The following day, the Times expanded its coverage with a follow-up report indicating the new Air Force One lacked defensive countermeasures, including advanced antimissile capabilities, that were standard on the older model. Two former Air Force officials told the paper anonymously that there had not been enough time to make the necessary upgrades before the Ankara flight. Experts have estimated that the updates could cost up to $1 billion.
A brazen act
David McCraw, the Times’ senior vice president and deputy general counsel, called the subpoenas a “brazen act.” He described the summonses as “nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.” He said the appearance of federal law enforcement agents on reporters’ doorsteps should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution.
The Justice Department defended the move. “Reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are,” the department said in a statement, adding that it would not ignore the law or stop investigating administration officials who leak classified information affecting national security.
Before the Times published its initial article, a senior FBI official contacted the newspaper and asked that the story be held for national security reasons, without providing details. The official also asked the paper to identify its anonymous sources. The Times refused both requests.
Broad condemnation
Press freedom organizations and members of Congress swiftly condemned the subpoenas. The Committee to Protect Journalists called them “an extraordinary escalation” in Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations, with a chilling effect on journalists across the country. The National Press Club said the decision should alarm every American. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said the subpoenas broke from longstanding Justice Department practice requiring prosecutors to seek information from reporters only as a last resort.
Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin, whose network is generally aligned with Trump, echoed the criticism on social media. She wrote that the government’s action to subpoena reporters for covering legitimate news about Air Force One security concerns should alarm every American. The White House Correspondents’ Association also condemned the move. Its president, Weijia Jiang, said the organization “condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.”
The subpoenas were authorized by Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, whom Trump recently nominated to serve as the next director of national intelligence. The Senate is set to begin hearings on Clayton’s confirmation next week. Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said members of both parties must hold him accountable.
The plane at the center of the dispute is a Boeing 747-8 that the Qatari government donated last year as an “unconditional” gift to the United States, valued at an estimated $400 million. The Air Force said the luxury jet was modified to transport the president with upgrades in security, mission communications, and advanced technology, and that any potential threats from using a previously owned aircraft had been neutralized. White House spokesperson Steven Cheung called the new Air Force One “state-of-the-art” and said it had been fitted with high-level security protocols ensuring the safety of the president and his staff. Cheung suggested Trump had not flown the whole way back from Turkey on the new plane because it was a “misdirection” against potential threats.
Trump denied any security concerns. He told reporters that no safeguard-related worries factored into the decision to fly part of the way home on the older plane, and brushed off questions about threats from Iran. “I have a threat all the time,” Trump said. “I’m No. 1 on their list.”
The confrontation is the latest in a series of clashes between the Trump administration and major news organizations. In June, the Justice Department similarly subpoenaed journalists from the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post over national security leaks, but withdrew the subpoenas after the outlets contested them in sealed court filings. Trump has also filed multibillion-dollar lawsuits against the Times, the BBC, and the Wall Street Journal. In January, the FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a leak investigation. At least two judges have barred the administration from using the information seized from Natanson.