JOE LANCASTER , Reason; Justice Department Subpoenas New York Times Journalists Who Reported About Trump's New Plane
The government says the reporters are not targets of the investigation, but such subpoenas can still have a chilling effect on the press.
"Officials are often overly aggressive in pursuing leaks of classified information, but President Donald Trump remains in a league of his own.
"The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several journalists for The New York Times," Michael M. Grynbaum wrote Saturday for the paper, "after the news outlet reported this week on security concerns involving President Trump's new Qatari-donated Air Force One."
The subpoenas—which "in some cases" were "delivered by federal agents who showed up at reporters' homes"—"seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday," Grynbaum added. The summonses were issued by Jay Clayton, who currently serves as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and has been nominated as the next director of national intelligence.
"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," New York Times deputy general counsel David McCraw said in a statement. "This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.""
