On July 1, 2026, the new Air Force One, a gift from the Qatari government, stands on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, USA.
Kylie Cooper | Reuters
The Trump administration issued subpoenas to several New York Times reporters on Friday following reports this week about safety concerns about the new Air Force One, the paper said.
The new jet that President Donald Trump received as a gift from Qatar just entered service last week.
The subpoenas were intended to compel the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the paper said, adding that federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the reporters’ homes.
The NYT report could not be independently confirmed, and there was no immediate response from the White House or Justice Department.
“The presence of federal law enforcement officers in front of reporters should shock the conscience of Americans who believe in the Constitution and the freedom of the press it protects,” the paper’s lawyer, David McCraw, said in a statement Friday.
The development comes after President Trump flew the new Air Force One to a NATO summit in Turkey. But he departed on Wednesday on one of the older Air Force One jets for a trip to Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall in Suffolk, England. The two jets both flew towards Mildenhall. President Trump then transferred to a new plane for a flight back to Joint Base Andrews.
The sudden exchange of planes comes amid a breakdown in a fragile ceasefire with Iran, with the United States launching airstrikes against Iran and Iran attacking three Gulf Arab states. Iran and Turkey share a border, and there has been speculation that the jet, gifted by Qatar and refurbished at a cost of $400 million, may have lacked certain advanced safety systems.
The newspaper reported Wednesday that the switch was made at the request of the Secret Service. The newspaper reported Thursday that the new plane lacked some of the older plane’s advanced security features, such as anti-missile capabilities. Both articles cite anonymous sources.
At the time, President Trump denied any security concerns and posted on social media that his stop in Mildenhall was for local military personnel to see the new jet planes. During the flight, President Trump denied to reporters that security concerns related to Iran were a factor in bringing the two planes home. Asked if he knew of any credible threat to Air Force One from Iran, Trump dodged the question.
“There’s always a threat to me. I’m number one on their list,” he said.
The White House later denied any safety flaws with the new airliner.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft equipped with high-level security protocols to ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” Press Secretary Stephen Chan said in a statement. “As the President recently stated, the United States has many adversaries who have their sights set on him, and we are using every tool at our disposal to counter those threats, including through distraction and misdirection.”
The newspaper said Times reporters who received subpoenas included Julian E. Burns, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmidt.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued subpoenas to reporters from the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal to compel them to testify. In both cases, the Justice Department later withdrew the subpoenas.
