The Trump administration subpoenaed four New York Times journalists on Friday after they reported on security concerns involving the president’s new Qatari-gifted Air Force One, marking an escalation of pressure on the press that drew swift condemnation from press freedom advocates.
The subpoenas require Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on July 15, according to the Times. Federal agents delivered some subpoenas to the reporters at their homes, the newspaper reported.
The Times had reported that the new Air Force One, a Boeing 747 retrofitted at a cost of $400 million, lacked antimissile capabilities and other advanced security features present on older presidential aircraft. The newspaper cited anonymous sources saying that Trump flew part of the way home from a NATO summit in Turkey on an older Air Force One at the request of the Secret Service, amid the collapse of a ceasefire with Iran.
Trump subsequently denied any security concerns. “I have a threat all the time,” he told reporters accompanying him on the flight. “I’m No. 1 on their list” regarding Iran.
Before publishing its initial story on the security concerns, the Times reported that a senior FBI official contacted the newspaper and asked it to withhold the article, citing national security issues. The FBI official declined to explain the specific security concern but asked the Times to disclose its sources, which the newspaper refused to do.
The Justice Department said in a statement that “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.” The department acknowledged “natural tension” between investigating national security breaches and protecting press freedom but said it would not “ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security.”
The subpoenas represent a dramatic escalation of Trump’s broader campaign against the media. Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued similar subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal over leak investigations, though those subpoenas were later withdrawn after the outlets contested them in sealed court filings.
Press freedom advocates condemned the move. David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times, said “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.”
Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the subpoenas “break from longstanding Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted.”
In January, FBI agents had searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a leak investigation into a Pentagon contractor accused of taking classified information. That same month, the Trump administration pursued criminal charges against journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for covering a protest at a Minnesota church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official was a pastor.
During his first term, Trump suggested the press constituted an “enemy” of the American people. Since returning to the White House, he has waged an aggressive campaign against media outlets he believes are overly critical of him, including filing lawsuits against news organizations, threatening to revoke broadcast licenses, and seeking to bend news organizations to his will.
In April 2025, Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a Biden-era policy that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations. The change gave prosecutors authority to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to hunt for government officials making unauthorized disclosures to journalists.
Sources
- AP News — Confirmed the subpoenas of four named Times journalists, the grand jury testimony date of July 15, the reported security concerns about antimissile capabilities, and the Justice Department’s statement on the investigation.
- The Guardian — Reported on the subpoenas, the Qatar-gifted plane details, the Secret Service request for the plane switch, Trump’s denial of security concerns, the FBI’s prior request to withhold the story, and press freedom organizations’ statements.
- Free Speech Center at MTSU — Confirmed the subpoena date of July 10 and the grand jury testimony date of July 15.
