The federal government says it will drop its subpoenas compelling New York Times reporters to testify about anonymous sources in a case that involved President Donald Trump’s claims about a Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.
The withdrawal came on Thursday at the end of a hearing in the Southern District of New York, during which Judge Arun Subramanian grilled federal prosecutors about “inadvertent errors” they admitted to making in filing for the subpoenas.
“The government is prepared to unilaterally withdraw the subpoenas at this time,” Sean Buckley, chief counsel to the US attorney, told Subramanian during the hearing.
It is unclear if the Justice Department will reissue the subpoenas at a later date.
“Targeting reporters to appease the White House has reached a dead end once again in the federal courts,” Reporters Committee president Bruce D. Brown said. “Judge Subramanian saw DOJ’s effort clearly for what it was: a brazen and careless government overreach.”
Earlier this month, the reporters received the subpoenas referencing “an alleged violation of federal criminal law” just two days after publishing an article reporting that government officials had security concerns about the Qatari-gifted plane.
The reporting contradicted President Trump, who had claimed that the Qatari-gifted plane was flown ahead to England’s Mildenhall Air Force Base to give US service members “a chance to tour the aircraft.”
Privately, Trump seethed over the reporting on the plane’s security deficiencies, CNN later reported.
The Justice Department opened a leak investigation within hours, taking aggressive steps to identify the officials who spoke with the Times. Some officials were asked to turn over their cell phones at the White House, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Some of the subpoenas — which are court orders compelling a person to testify — were delivered by FBI agents at the reporters’ homes.
The paper publicized the legal threat right away and aggressively fought back, calling the subpoenas a “bad faith effort to harass and intimidate” the news media.
In a court filing, the government said the subpoenas were related to a “national security investigation.”
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh said the withdrawal of the subpoenas is a welcome reversal, “but withdrawing the subpoenas does not erase the chilling effect of issuing them in the first place, and the DOJ should not reissue the subpoenas.”
“Journalists should not have to choose between protecting confidential sources and facing government threats,” Steinbaugh said. “A free press depends on reporters being able to pursue the truth, and on sources being able to share information the public has a right to know.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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