WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – The New York Times said on Saturday that the U.S. Department of Justice had ordered several of its journalists to testify before a federal grand jury after they reported on security concerns involving President Donald Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One.
The media organization said subpoenas were issued on Friday, asking that the journalists appear before a grand jury on Wednesday to testify “in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law.”
The subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and in some cases delivered to reporters’ homes by federal agents, the news outlet reported. It described the move as “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations.”
In a statement to Reuters, a Department of Justice spokesperson did not confirm or deny the subpoenas but said the administration was not targeting reporters but was concerned about people leaking classified information. The White House referred all questions to the Justice Department.
Journalism advocacy groups criticized the subpoenas as a threat to press freedom and constitutional rights.
The National Press Club urged the Justice Department to “immediately” withdraw the subpoenas.
“When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement,” the club said in a statement. “It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”
Clayton was recently nominated by Trump to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee to hold Clayton accountable when he appears for his confirmation hearing next Wednesday.
“When the public’s right to know is crushed, as the Trump Administration is trying to do with its subpoenas against The New York Times, all of us suffer irreparable harm, as does the freedom upon which this nation is built,” Stephen J. Adler, chairman of the Reporters Committee, said in a statement.
Trump said on Wednesday that he would use an older Air Force One “for old time’s sake” to fly from Ankara to the Royal Air Force base at Mildenhall in Britain while the new plane stopped at the same base so U.S. service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.
Video late on Wednesday showed Trump boarding the new Air Force One gifted by Qatar at the British base as it prepared to fly to the U.S.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani and Jarret Renshaw; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, Mark Porter and Alistair Bell)
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