Overview
- Multiple New York Times journalists were subpoenaed to appear before a Manhattan grand jury on Wednesday, July 15, to testify about reporting on the president’s Qatar‑gifted Air Force One.
- The subpoenas give minimal detail, cite a vague “alleged violation of federal criminal law,” and were reportedly delivered in person to some reporters’ private residences.
- The Times’ stories, based on anonymous sources, reported that the new Boeing lacked some security and defensive systems present on the older presidential jet and that the Secret Service advised a temporary plane switch after the NATO summit.
- The Justice Department has declined to confirm the subpoenas while the New York Times, its lawyer David McCraw, and multiple press groups called the move an intimidation of journalists and warned it could chill national‑security reporting.
- The case follows earlier 2026 DOJ efforts to compel reporter testimony and a search of a reporter’s home, raising questions about the balance between leak investigations, oversight of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office, and the public’s right to know about presidential security and foreign gifts.