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New York Times moves to quash subpoenas served to journalists by Trump administration

The Globe and Mail (AP) · back to the audit
New York Times moves to quash subpoenas served to journalists by Trump administration.

The New York Times on Wednesday filed a motion to quash subpoenas that the Justice Department served on journalists who reported on security concerns involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One, teeing up a significant court fight pitting press freedom against the government's ability to force reporters to identify sources.

The filing was made under seal in the Southern District of New York, where the journalists were summoned in subpoenas delivered last Friday to testify before a federal grand jury. The Times had said it expected five journalists to be subpoenaed; three were ultimately served.

The subpoenas, delivered to reporters at their homes, marked a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration's crackdown on media leaks that free press advocates swiftly condemned as a government effort to intimidate news organizations. It followed an FBI search earlier this year of a Washington Post reporter's home and the seizure of her electronic devices.

The Justice Department has justified the subpoenas by saying that "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," the department said, "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."

Asked about the issue at his Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said: "The Department of Justice requires that I authorize it, which I did. And those reporters -- we're not targeting reporters. They're material witnesses." When Sen. Peter Welch pointed out to Blanche that the department wants to ask the journalists who their sources were, Blanche replied, "No, the question we want to ask them is who provided them with classified national security information, which everybody in this body should want to protect."

Though the department across presidential administrations has periodically seized the phone records of individual journalists, it is extremely rare for the government to attempt to compel a reporter to reveal their sources before a grand jury. In April 2025, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded a policy from President Joe Biden's Democratic administration that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations. In January, FBI agents searched the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a leak investigation.