DOJ Subpoenas NY Times Journalists Over Air Force One Reporting

NEWS & RESEARCH

On July 10, 2026, the Trump administration issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists, after the news outlet reported on security concerns involving the president’s new Air Force One, gifted to him by Qatar. Times lawyer David McCraw called the subpoenas “an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.” A month earlier, the US Department of Justice withdrew its subpoenas to compel the testimony of Wall Street Journal and Washington Post reporters over their coverage of the Iran war. DOJ had sent grand jury subpoenas to reporters in March 2025, demanding access to their records in order to identify government officials suspected of leaking information about the risks of going to war with Iran shortly before the US launched a military attack. Subpoenas are rarely issued to journalists, but the Trump administration overturned Biden-era policies intended to protect reporters, granting federal prosecutors greater authority to demand that journalists identify their sources. Trump has suggested that journalists who do not cooperate should go to jail. While President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth maintain that Iran's military has been "decimated" and is "no longer" a threat, classified assessments indicate that Iran has retained roughly 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile and regained access to approximately 90 percent of its underground missile facilities—findings that directly contradict months of public assurances from administration officials.

SOURCES: Wall Street Journal |The Hill | New York Times| New York Times| Washington Post | New York Times | New York Times

ANALYSIS& OPINION

Committee to Protect Journalist CEO Jodie Ginsberg called the subpoenas of the New York Times reporters “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations, and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country.” Even before the subpoenas to the Times reporters, the Freedom of the Press Foundation maintained that the administration’s decision to subpoena WSJ reporters had “nothing to do with ‘national security,’” and is “an outrageous attempt to silence sources, intimidate journalists and bury the truth about President Trump’s unpopular decision to launch a war even his own generals warned against.” First Amendment advocates warn the broader damage may be long-term. As the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Pressnotes, “[This] kind of intrusion into reporters’ relationships with their sources chills independent reporting on the government, and ultimately threatens the public’s access to information.”

SOURCE: USA Today | Committee to Protect Journalists

HOW TO FIX IT

Federal action:

• Pass the PRESS (Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying) Act, which would protect journalists from being forced to reveal their sources. The bill passed the House in 2024 but stalled in the Senate.

• Pass the Privacy Protection Updates Act, which would make it harder for the federal government to search and seize a journalist’s records. This is especially relevant if reporters do not comply with subpoenas and the DOJ escalates. 

Litigation:

• The reporters and New York Times plan to file a motion to quash the subpoenas before the reporters are called before a grand jury to testify on First Amendment grounds. Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, called the withdrawn subpoenas against its paper "an attack on constitutionally protected news gathering" and vowed to "vigorously oppose" them.

Legislation: H.R.4250 - PRESS Act | S.4268 - Privacy Protection Updates Act