The Justice Department served subpoenas Friday on four New York Times reporters, ordering them to testify Wednesday before a Manhattan federal grand jury investigating leaks tied to the newspaper's reporting on President Trump's new Qatari-gifted Air Force One.
Federal agents delivered the summonses to reporters' homes, the Times said, days after the paper reported that the Secret Service had urged Trump to swap the new Boeing 747-8 for an older jet on his return from a NATO summit in Turkey because the newer aircraft lacked antimissile capabilities.
The subpoenas
The subpoenaed reporters were Eric Lipton, Julian E. Barnes, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, Fox News said. The subpoenas require testimony "in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law," the Times reported. Federal grand juries are convened by prosecutors to weigh evidence and decide whether to file charges.
The reporting
The Times published two articles this month describing the aircraft swap. Trump flew the retrofitted 747-8 to the NATO summit in Ankara but returned aboard a legacy jet after Secret Service officials raised concerns about the new plane's defensive systems, the paper said. CBS News published similar accounts, citing U.S. officials who said the plane had been hurried into service. A former U.S. government official told CBS there had not been enough time or money to bring the aircraft up to full Air Force One standards. Both Times stories cited anonymous sources. Qatar donated the 747-8, valued at about $400 million, last year.
Times response
David McCraw, the Times' top newsroom lawyer, called the summonses a "brazen act" and said the appearance of federal 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." Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the subpoenas break from longstanding department practice requiring prosecutors to seek journalist testimony only as a last resort. The NewsGuild of New York also condemned the action.
DOJ position
Fox News and the Washington Examiner emphasized the Justice Department's stated distinction between reporters and leakers. "Reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are," the department told the BBC. "Every administration has addressed the crime of leaking national security information," a department spokesman told the Washington Examiner, adding that officials would not "ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration." Speaking to media about classified information is a federal crime, though the Constitution protects press freedom, the BBC noted.
White House defense
White House spokesman Steven Cheung said the new aircraft "is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff." Trump brushed off questions about the plane swap. Asked about credible Iranian threats, he told reporters, "I have a threat all the time. I'm No. 1 on their list."
The subpoenas arrived as U.S. and Iranian forces continued to trade strikes after the collapse of a June ceasefire. The reporters are ordered to appear in Manhattan on Wednesday.