The Trump administration sought phone records of multiple New York Times journalists and even some of their relatives as part of an aggressive effort to unmask confidential sources who reported on security concerns with the president’s new Air Force One jet, according to documents unsealed on Monday. The subpoenas represent an escalation in the administration’s crackdown on media leaks, drawing swift condemnation from press freedom advocates and Democratic lawmakers.
The phone records subpoenas came on top of grand jury subpoenas served on July 10 on three Times reporters who were told to testify about the identity of their sources. The additional subpoenas were issued on July 10, July 14, and July 16—some after the Times had already moved to quash the grand jury subpoenas.
In a motion filed over the weekend, Times lawyers argued the government acted in “bad faith” by not giving journalists advance notice and by demanding records “without first conducting any serious investigation.” The motion noted that two of the subpoenas sought records beginning January 1, 2026—months before the July 8 and 9 articles about the Air Force One jet were published. “That timeframe strongly suggests that the department is using this investigation not to focus on any purported concerns arising from the articles, but instead to forage for information about the journalists’ source relationships more broadly,” according to the Times’ legal filing.
The additional subpoenas included requests for phone records of one reporter’s mother, who is a mental health professional with confidential client relationships, and two of the journalists’ spouses, one of whom is the general counsel of a law firm. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian has frozen enforcement of the phone records subpoenas pending a ruling on the newspaper’s motion to quash them, with arguments scheduled for Thursday.
The Times reported that Secret Service officials urged President Trump to use an older Air Force One during a NATO summit in Turkey because the new Qatari-gifted plane lacked some defensive capabilities of the traditional presidential aircraft. The administration spent $400 million retrofitting and upgrading the new jet. Trump denied the reporting on social media, and the White House said operational decisions included elements of “distraction and misdirection” to protect the president’s safety.
The Justice Department defended its actions, saying it complied with its own regulations and took investigative steps before seeking the subpoenas. Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who issued the subpoenas, told his confirmation hearing to be the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence that “we followed the protocols” and took “the least intrusive possible” steps. The Times’ lawyers said the additional subpoenas call that testimony “into question.”
Press freedom groups responded with alarm. The National Press Club called 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.” White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang said the organization stands with the Times reporters, saying they were “targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates.” Stephen J. Adler, chair of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, warned that “when the public’s right to know is crushed, as the Trump Administration is trying to do with its subpoenas against The New York Times, all of us suffer irreparable harm, as does the freedom upon which this nation is built.”
Democratic senators also condemned the action. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on social media that “reporters have the right and duty to report the truth,” while Senator Chris Coons called the subpoenas “another slap in the face of the First Amendment from this administration and an attempt to silence journalists they don’t like.”
The subpoena battle follows an FBI search in January of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, where federal agents seized her devices as part of a leak investigation. That search drew similar criticism from press advocates. The Justice Department has also issued grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony from reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal in separate leak investigations, though those subpoenas were later withdrawn after the outlets challenged them.
The administration’s efforts to compel journalists to reveal sources reflect a broader pattern of press freedom groups urging White House correspondents to stand up to Trump on multiple fronts. The Times has separately challenged the grand jury subpoenas, arguing the government’s actions demonstrate “abuse of the grand jury process, continued bad faith attacks on the journalists, violations of the department’s own internal regulations and disregard for the law in this circuit intended to protect critical first amendment interests.”
Sources
- The Guardian — Details on phone records subpoenas targeting New York Times journalists and relatives, timeline of subpoena issuance, Times’ legal arguments about bad faith and retroactive date ranges, and judicial freeze on enforcement
- PennLive / Associated Press — Reporting on the same subpoenas, grand jury subpoenas issued July 10, Times’ arguments about overreach, Justice Department response, and FBI search of Washington Post reporter’s home in January 2026
- Politico — Press freedom group statements from National Press Club, White House Correspondents’ Association, and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Democratic senators’ criticism; details on the Air Force One reporting that prompted the investigation
