DOJ's subpoenas in Air Force One probe included journalists' families, NYT says

The Trump administration's attempt to subpoena the phone records of New York Times journalists in a probe about a leak on the security of President Donald Trump's new Air Force One jet was more extensive than initially disclosed and included journalists' family members, according to newly unsealed court documents from the paper's attorneys.

The subpoenas were revealed in a letter to quash the requests filed by lawyers for The New York Times on Saturday. According to the document, the Department of Justice sought information on phone numbers of two of the journalists' spouses -- one of whom serves as a general counsel at a major law firm -- and the phone number of one journalist's mother, who serves as a mental health professional with "confidential client relationships."

The subpoenas follow a different set issued earlier in July that sought to compel reporters to testify before a federal grand jury.

"Any subpoena issued by the Department of Justice is done so in full compliance with federal law and internal Department policy," a Department of Justice spokesperson said.

The motion said the government's actions "raise pressing questions about the conduct of this purported national security investigation and confirm the absence of any regularity in the Department's use of the grand jury in this case." The company added that the court's intervention is "urgently required."

The legal battle, another escalation in the Trump administration's efforts to reshape the power of the federal government to interfere with the activities of news organizations, revolves around reporting by the Times on concerns federal officials harbored about the Qatari-gifted jet meant to temporarily serve as Air Force One.

"That timeframe strongly suggests that the Department is using this investigation not to focus on any purported concerns arising from the July 8 and 9 articles, but instead to forage for information about the Journalists' source relationships more broadly," the Times' attorneys write.

They also allege that the DOJ failed to notify the reporters of their attempt to access their records through a third party, characterizing the department as acting in bad-faith.

That timing, the lawyers write, calls into question the validity of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton's remarks to Congress from Wednesday, in which he maintained that the government has followed procedures meant to protect the First Amendment and not intimidate the press.