Subpoenas issued to NY Times reporters seen as 'unprecedented' threat to
press freedom
[July 14, 2026]
By JOCELYN NOVECK
Dangerous. Brazen. Unprecedented. Uncharted territory.
Reaction in the media world has been swift and severe to the issue of
subpoenas to five New York Times journalists who reported on security
questions involving the new, Qatari-gifted Air Force One — a legal
maneuver seen as a troubling escalation of the Trump administration’s
campaign to control and intimidate independent media outlets.
“The subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s
efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations, and
have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,”
said Jodie Ginsberg of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Media advocates and analysts expressed dismay at the tactic, even after
months in which news organizations drawing President Donald Trump’s ire
have been attacked both in courtrooms and in the court of public
opinion; media access to corridors of power has been blocked; and a
Washington journalist’s home has been searched by federal agents.
“They have used the levers of power to intimidate and demonize
professional journalists who report stories that are unfavorable to the
administration’s desired narrative,” said Frank Sesno, a former CNN
White House bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor
at George Washington University.
He called Friday’s subpoenas “dangerous and uncharted territory, but
merely an extension of what we have seen from this administration and
president.”
“Don’t like a poll? Sue the Des Moines Register. Don’t like the way an
interview is edited? Sue ‘60 Minutes.’ Don’t like the coverage of the
gifted Air Force One? Order the FBI to investigate and subpoena the
journalists for what is, by the way, a story that is in the public
interest.”
Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at home
Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at their homes, the
Times said. Sought by Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, they
seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in
Manhattan this week.
The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that the administration
spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, entered service last week.
But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit
in Turkey.
The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported the switch had come at the
urging of the Secret Service, and that the newer plane lacked some of
the advanced security features of the older aircraft, including
antimissile capabilities. On social media, Trump denied security
concerns.
The subpoenas were issued after FBI Director Kash Patel and other
Justice Department officials met at the White House on Friday to talk
about the matter, according to a person familiar with the discussions
who was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly and spoke on the
condition of anonymity. The Times said the meeting lasted around eight
hours.
The fact that the operation was conducted from the White House itself
was particularly egregious to analysts like Sesno, who called the
coordination “unprecedented.”
“This graphically illustrates the pressure and influence the White House
and president have brought to bear on law enforcement that is supposed
to be independent and driven by facts, not politics,” he said.
The National Press Club called on the Justice Department “to immediately
withdraw these subpoenas and reaffirm a principle that has long
distinguished the United States: a free and independent press serves the
people, not the government.”
“Every American should understand what is at stake,” Mark Schoeff Jr.,
the club’s president, said in a statement. “When federal agents arrive
at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law
enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press
that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”
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President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Thursday, July 9,
2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Trump administration has initiated multiple lawsuits against
media outlets
Trump’s animosity toward news outlets whose agenda runs counter to
his own isn't new. But in his second presidential term, he has
launched an escalation, often harnessing the levers of the federal
government or attempting to do so. These efforts has taken place
both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.
The president has sued various news organizations whose coverage he
dislikes. He has also threatened to revoke TV broadcast licenses.
His FCC chairman is seeking to penalize shows like ABC’s “The View,”
where some hosts speak out against Trump, by having the FCC explore
revoking its exemption from equal-time rules.
The legal skirmishes include an escalating dispute between the media
and Trump’s Defense Department over reporters’ access to the
Pentagon. The Times has filed two lawsuits over a policy requiring
journalists to be accompanied by escorts at the military complex.
The White House has also battled with The Associated Press over the
news organization's refusal to follow Trump’s executive order
renaming the Gulf of Mexico. And it has battled with The Wall Street
Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to the
president — including an article that described a sexually
suggestive letter that the newspaper said bore Trump’s signature.
Last month, the Justice Department issued and then withdrew
subpoenas that sought to compel reporters at The Washington Post and
the Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, according to
people familiar with the matter.
The Post confirmed that one of its journalists received a subpoena
from the Trump administration as part of a broader crackdown on
media leaks that in January also included the extraordinary step of
an FBI search of the home of another journalist at the newspaper and
the seizure of her electronic devices. The media world was stunned
by the search of the home of reporter Hannah Natanson, who was
covering Trump’s transformation of the federal government,
The Times is now gearing up for battle against what its lawyer,
David McCraw, has called “this brazen act.”
In an internal memo seen by the AP, the paper's executive editor,
Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas and said: “We expect to
prevail. We have the best legal team in the business. ... The law
protects news gatherers from this sort of retaliatory abuse of
prosecutorial power. It is essential that the courts reaffirm that
protection and quash this overreach. We are confident they will in
this case.”
Kahn praised the work of the five journalists — Tyler Pager, Eric
Schmitt, Eric Lipton, Adam Goldman and Julian Barnes — and said they
should know “that all of us as their colleagues, and the full
resources of The Times, are behind them and that we will fight this
legal abuse together.”
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Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment
for The Associated Press.
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