New York Times Moves To Quash Trump DOJ Subpoenas To Its Reporters

The New York Times has filed a motion to quash subpoenas of a group of its journalists after they reported on the lack of security features on the new Air Force One, a gift of the government of Qatar that was accepted by President Donald Trump.

The Times reported that Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, and Eric Schmitt were called to testify before a grand jury, as the White House wages an effort to identify the source or sources of leaks. The Times said that the Justice Department sought information from reporters “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law.”

In a statement on Wednesday, David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at the Times, said, “The New York Times filed a motion to quash the abusive and improper subpoenas issued to three of our journalists demanding they appear before a grand jury in the Southern District of New York and disclose their confidential sources. As we set out in our motion, these subpoenas are brought in bad faith to punish The Times for its coverage. They violate the constitutional rights of The Times and its journalists. We are going to court to defend our  journalists’ rights to report freely on the administration and to provide the public with stories that matter.”

The filing was under seal, due to a court order. “The Times believes that the public has a right to information about this case and is also seeking to have the papers unsealed,” McCraw said.

The Times reported that subpoenas were being prepared for two of its other journalists, Adam Goldman and Tyler Pager, but they never received any.

A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement, “To the extent that we have to investigate breaches of national security in whatever form they come, that’s something that we will continue to do. To be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are. We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”

The Times report detailed security concerns about the new Air Force One, as Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey last week in the old aircraft. The report included the lack of antimissile capabilities in the new aircraft, a Boeing 747-8 that was donated by the government of Qatar and later retrofitted.

The subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, who is serving as U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Trump has nominated Clayton to serve as director of national intelligence. At his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Clayton declined to go into specifics, but noted that these matters “require consultation.” Clayton defended the subpoenas, and indicated to Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) that his office did consult with the DOJ or the White House.

“I’m confident that the procedures that we have in place to protect the First Amendment and protect the freedom of the press and not result in the intimidation of journalists were followed,” Clayton said.

He added, “It is vitally important that if national security issues are at stake, that there’s not what I would say is a huge blind spot where someone can use the ability to provide information to journalists to get it out there, including our adversaries, without any potential for discovering how that happened.”

Bennet replied that “I think that all of us would agree that the First Amendment is not some sort of glaring loophole that is out there.”

The Times’ executive editor, Joseph Kahn, appeared in a video posted on Wednesday in which he said that “the Department of Justice has said that the reporters themselves are not the targets of the investigation, but their real targets are the government officials who were providing that information. We see this, though, as an attempt to intimidate the journalists and the Times itself, and we’re going to continue to report both about Air Force One and on the circumstances around the government use of prosecutorial power to intimidate the independent news media.”