President Donald Trump’s administration has issued subpoenas to New York Times reporters in what advocates say is an escalating attack on press freedom.
Late Friday, the Times reported that at least four reporters had received subpoenas, some of which were delivered to their homes by federal agents.
Recommended stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Those subpoenas will compel them to testify before a grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday.
“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,” David McCraw, the newspaper’s lawyer, said in a statement quoted by the Times.
News of the subpoena sparked an outcry from leading news organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), who demanded that the subpoena be withdrawn.
“This subpoena is an extraordinary escalation of President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations, which is having a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,” said CPJ CEO Jodi Ginsburg.
The subpoena was approved by the Trump administration’s top Justice Department official, Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
Creighton is set to succeed Bill Pulte as director of national intelligence, with Pulte holding the cabinet-level role on an interim basis. The Senate is scheduled to begin hearings on Creighton’s confirmation next week.
Scrutiny of NATO travel scope
At issue is a New York Times report on President Trump’s return flight from the 2026 NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, this week.
President Trump flew to Europe on Air Force One, a new jet given to him by Qatar and refurbished by the U.S. military, but he departed on an older Air Force One.
President Trump claimed the switch was made to allow the new jet to visit RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, which supports U.S. military operations.
He framed this as an opportunity to allow military personnel to tour the aircraft.
“This is going to be sent to some bases. It’s going to be really cool and the soldiers will be able to see it,” Trump said at the time.
However, during the same July 8 press conference, President Trump cited concerns for his own safety.
Asked by a New York Post reporter about the airline change, Trump replied, “As you know, the president’s life is in great danger.” He went on to add that he is “number one on Iran’s kill list.”
The same day, the New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that the new presidential plane had been replaced with the old one due to safety concerns. This change was reportedly made at the request of the Secret Service.
The next day, the Times expanded its coverage with a follow-up report showing that the new Air Force One lacked the security features of older jets.
The article cited two anonymous former Air Force officials as saying there would not have been enough time to make the necessary modifications before the flight to Ankara.
It’s unclear what fixes have already been made, but experts estimate the update could cost up to $1 billion.
Friday’s subpoena targeted four journalists involved in Times reporting on the case: Eric Schmidt, Tyler Pager, Eric Lipton and Julian E. Burns.
The newspaper said it was contacted by a senior FBI official before the subpoena was issued.
The person, who did not wish to be named, asked the newspaper to refrain from reporting on Air Force One, citing national security concerns. FBI officials also requested information about the Times’ anonymous sources.
But the paper, in accordance with standard reporting practice, declined to provide such information.
A rocky relationship with journalists
These subpoenas mark the latest clash between the Trump administration and U.S. media reporting on its activities.
Trump himself has a long-standing feud with the Times. He filed a lawsuit against the newspaper in September seeking $15 billion in damages, alleging that the newspaper defamed him and tried to “prevent” him from running in the 2024 presidential election, which he won.
The first complaint was dismissed as “inappropriate,” but Trump refiled it in October.
The Times sued the Trump administration’s Pentagon, accusing it of trying to impose reporting restrictions on journalists.
Just this week, The Times also filed a countersuit with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging that the paper discriminated against a white male employee by not promoting him.
The Times called the effort a violation of the First Amendment’s free speech protections and an attempt to silence the press.
The Times is not alone in facing legal backlash from the Trump administration. President Trump filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the BBC in December, claiming that a documentary it aired misrepresented Trump’s speech before the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
President Trump is also seeking $10 billion from the Wall Street Journal over a report on a birthday message he allegedly sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. After that lawsuit was dismissed, President Trump refiled the lawsuit in May.
The Trump administration has also taken action against individual journalists.
For example, in January, the FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who was reporting on the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal workforces.
The raid was part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of leaking information to the media, but at least two judges have barred the Trump administration from using information seized from Mr. Natanson.
The Trump administration denies seeking to violate press freedom, instead citing national security needs.
But McCraw, the Times’ lawyer, argued that with the subpoena, the White House was trying to limit “the American people’s right to know how their government operates.”
“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to intimidate journalists into not doing their jobs, thereby keeping the public informed about what is happening in their countries,” he said.
Senior Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have also weighed in on the subpoenas, using them to accuse Trump of corruption.
“Donald Trump is one of the weakest, thinnest people the world has ever seen,” Schumer wrote on social media.
“Reporters have a right and a duty to report the truth. It is not their fault that his foreign-gifted plane is a national security threat. This subpoena is a gross overreach, an abhorrent misuse of federal law enforcement resources, and should alarm all Americans.”
