DOJ withdraws subpoenas to NY Times reporters in Trump plane probe

The Department of Justice is withdrawing subpoenas it obtained for New York Times reporters involved in an article about President Donald Trump‘s new Air Force One jet, prosecutors told a federal judge in New York on Thursday.

The move came at a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge Arun Subramanian was considering a motion by the Times to quash the subpoenas targeting its journalists, according to MS NOW.

The DOJ on July 10 issued subpoenas seeking to compel Times reporters to testify before a federal grand jury, the newspaper has reported. Several of the subpoenas were delivered by federal agents to reporters’ homes.

The subpoenas were issued by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, whom Trump has nominated as director of national intelligence. Clayton was asked about the subpoenas at his Senate confirmation hearing on July 15.

On Monday, The Times reported that the DOJ told the newspaper late last week that “it had issued subpoenas to third-party phone service providers seeking several journalists’ phone and text messaging records.” The phone records of one reporter’s mother were targeted by a subpoena, according to the newspaper.

The probe came after the Times reported security concerns about Trump’s new Air Force One, which was donated by Qatar.

The Times had reported on July 8 that Trump flew from Turkey that day “on the old Air Force One instead of his new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 as a security precaution related to the resumption of hostilities with Iran.”

The paper, citing people briefed on the new plane’s capabilities, reported that “the new plane does not have all the features of the older plane” in terms of security.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said David McCraw, The Times’ lawyer, in a statement on July 11.

“Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used,” McCraw said.

“This brazen act should be seen 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.”

During his testimony last week to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Clayton said he could not get into the details of the probe about the article on Air Force One.

“Let me say that I am confident that the procedures that we have in place to protect the First Amendment and protect the freedom of the press, and not result in intimidation of journalists,” Clayton said.

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