{"id":138980,"date":"2026-07-14T08:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/subpoenas-issued-to-ny-times-reporters-seen-as-unprecedented-threat-to-press-freedom-2\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T08:42:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T14:42:17","slug":"subpoenas-issued-to-ny-times-reporters-seen-as-unprecedented-threat-to-press-freedom-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/subpoenas-issued-to-ny-times-reporters-seen-as-unprecedented-threat-to-press-freedom-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Subpoenas issued to NY Times reporters seen as ‘unprecedented’ threat to press freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"President
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Thursday, July 9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dangerous. Brazen. Unprecedented. Uncharted territory.<\/p>\n

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> \u2014 a legal maneuver seen as a troubling escalation of the Trump administration\u2019s campaign to control and intimidate independent media outlets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe subpoenas are an extraordinary escalation in President Trump\u2019s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations and have a chilling effect on the work of journalists across the country,\u201d said Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of the Committee to Protect Journalists.<\/p>\n

Media advocates and analysts expressed dismay at the tactic, even after months in which news organizations drawing President Donald Trump\u2019s 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\u2019s home has been searched by federal agents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have used the levers of power to intimidate and demonize professional journalists who report stories that are unfavorable to the administration\u2019s desired narrative,\u201d said Frank Sesno, a former CNN White House bureau chief who is now a media and public affairs professor at George Washington University.<\/p>\n

He called Friday\u2019s subpoenas \u201cdangerous and uncharted territory, but merely an extension of what we have seen from this administration and president.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t like a poll? Sue the Des Moines Register,” he said. “Don\u2019t like the way an interview is edited? Sue \u201860 Minutes.\u2019 Don\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some of the subpoenas were delivered to reporters at home<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump’s administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, entered service<\/a> last week. But the Republican president used an older model Air Force One jet<\/a> to leave a NATO summit<\/a> in Turkey.<\/p>\n

The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The fact that the operation was conducted from the White House itself was particularly egregious to analysts like Sesno, who called the coordination \u201cunprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice has justified the subpoenas by saying that \u201cto be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country,\u201d the department said in a weekend statement. “But DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation\u2019s secrets do what they\u2019re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Press Club called on the Justice Department to immediately withdraw the subpoenas.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery American should understand what is at stake,\u201d Mark Schoeff Jr., the club\u2019s president, said in a statement. \u201cWhen 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also expressing solidarity with the Times journalists was the White House Correspondents’ Association \u2014 which, in less than two weeks, holds its rescheduled dinner, with Trump planning to attend the event that celebrates the First Amendment. The first dinner was scuttled when a shooter opened fire<\/a> in what prosecutors say was an attempt to kill the president<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe White House Correspondents\u2019 Association stands with the New York Times reporters who were targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public\u2019s right to know how its government operates,\u201d said a statement from the group\u2019s president, Weijia Jiang. \u201cThe WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump’s administration has initiated multiple lawsuits against media outlets<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s 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 have taken place both in actual courtrooms and in the court of public opinion.<\/p>\n

The president has sued various news organizations whose coverage he dislikes<\/a>. He has also threatened to revoke TV broadcast licenses. His Federal Communications Commission chairman is seeking to penalize shows like ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View,\u201d where some hosts speak out against Trump, by having the FCC explore revoking its exemption from equal-time rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The legal skirmishes include an escalating dispute between the media and Trump\u2019s Defense Department over reporters\u2019 access to the Pentagon<\/a>. The Times has filed two lawsuits over a policy requiring journalists to be accompanied by escorts at the military complex.<\/p>\n

The White House has also battled with The Associated Press over the news organization’s refusal to follow Trump\u2019s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico<\/a>. And it has battled with The Wall Street Journal over reporting about Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to the president \u2014 including an article that described a sexually suggestive letter<\/a> that the newspaper said bore Trump\u2019s signature<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last month, the Justice Department issued and then withdrew subpoenas<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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\u2019s transformation of the federal government<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Times is now gearing up for battle against what its lawyer David McCraw has called \u201cthis brazen act.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an internal memo seen by the AP, the newspaper’s executive editor, Joseph Kahn, criticized the subpoenas, praised his journalists’ work and said: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Jocelyn Noveck covers the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

\"Staff
Staff lay a carpet on the tarmac before President Donald Trump exits Air Force One upon arriving for the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One, Thursday, July 9, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)(AP Photo\/Alex Brandon) 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":138981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-138980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138997,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138980\/revisions\/138997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138980"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=138980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}