The Trump administration has subpoenaed four New York Times journalists who reported on security concerns surrounding a Qatari-gifted jet that President Donald Trump has been using as the new Air Force One, the outlet reported on Saturday.
Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, according to The Times.
The news comes after Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey aboard the old Air Force One due to Secret Service security concerns as per The Times reporting. This suggests the administration wants to know who leaked the story to the newspaper.
White House Correspondents’ Association President Weijia Jiang said the organization stands with the Times reporters, saying they were “targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates.”
“The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources,” Jiang said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Every administration has addressed the crime of leaking national security information,” DOJ wrote on X Saturday. “To the extent that we have to investigate breaches of national security, that’s something that we will continue to do. To be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”
A US justice department statement responding to a request for comment about the subpoenas mentioned investigating “breaches of national security”.
“To be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are,” the statement said, in part.
“We are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s OK to leak classified information impacting national security.”
Trump has brushed off questions about whether Iran had subjected Air Force One to any credible threats.
“I have a threat all the time,” Trump replied. “I’m No 1 on their list.”
