Overview
- The government told U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on Thursday that it would withdraw grand‑jury subpoenas that sought testimony from several New York Times reporters.
- Those subpoenas were issued on July 10 by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan and some were hand‑delivered to reporters’ homes after the Times published reporting about security concerns on a Qatari‑donated Air Force One plane.
- Prosecutors also sought phone and text records from third parties and mistakenly included numbers tied to reporters’ spouses and a parent, errors they acknowledged in court.
- Judge Subramanian’s probing questions and warnings about possible sanctions prompted the withdrawal and made clear the government must exhaust other investigative steps before reissuing similar subpoenas.
- The episode highlights a broader clash over leak investigations and press freedom because DOJ guidance says subpoenas of journalists are a last resort and press groups say aggressive tactics chill reporting.