Trump administration subpoenas New York Times journalists over new Air Force One reporting

Summary

Outlet said journalists subpoenaed to testify before grand jury after story detailed security concerns with Qatar-gifted plane The Trump administration has issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists after the newspaper reported on security concerns with the president’s new plane, according to the outlet . The Times said its journalists were subpoenaed on Friday by the US justice department to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan five days later, marking the latest effort by the Trump administration to compel testimony from journalists under the threat of penalty. Agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the Times reporters at their homes, the paper added. US justice department spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday about the subpoenas. Press freedom advocates, meanwhile, expressed consternation over the subpoenas. A statement from the Washington DC-based National Press Club said federal prosecutors’ “decision to subpoena journalists at the New York Times should alarm every American because it threatens the public’s constitutional right to an independent press”. “The National Press Club calls on the justice department to immediately withdraw these subpoenas and reaffirm a principle that has long distinguished the United States: a free and independent press serves the people, not the government,” the organization continued. Times lawyer David McCraw said in his own statement that “the appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the [US] constitution and the press freedom it protects”. The airplane at the center of the Times report was provided by Qatar as a $400m gift. That happened amid the collapse of a ceasefire with Iran, which shares a border with Turkey and which the US and Israel launched war against in late February. One such recent and prominent example particularly dealing with the news media involved the Trump administration’s pursuit of criminal charges against journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and photographer Junn Bollman for covering a protest in January at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE (immigration enforcement agency)) official is a pastor.