---
title: "Justice Dept. subpoenas New York Times reporters over Air Force One story"
description: "The Justice Department has subpoenaed New York Times journalists who reported that President Trump's new, Qatari-supplied Air Force One lacks the anti-missile defenses of the previous plane, seeking to compel their testimony and, potentially, the identity of their sources. It is the latest escalation in the administration's pressure campaign against the press."
category: "Politics"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/politics
author: "Elias Rosen"
published: 2026-07-11T06:52:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-11T06:52:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/justice-dept-subpoenas-new-york-times-reporters-over-air-force-one-story
tags: ["press-freedom", "justice-department", "new-york-times", "trump", "air-force-one"]
---
# Justice Dept. subpoenas New York Times reporters over Air Force One story

The Justice Department has subpoenaed New York Times journalists who reported that President Trump's new, Qatari-supplied Air Force One lacks the anti-missile defenses of the previous plane, seeking to compel their testimony and, potentially, the identity of their sources. It is the latest escalation in the administration's pressure campaign against the press.

The Trump administration's confrontation with the news media has moved into a courtroom, with federal prosecutors demanding that reporters answer for a story about the president's plane.

## The subpoenas

The Justice Department has subpoenaed several New York Times journalists to testify before a federal grand jury, after they reported that Mr. Trump's new Air Force One, an aircraft supplied by Qatar, lacks advanced anti-missile capabilities that the older presidential plane had, [Ynetnews reported](https://www.ynetnews.com/article/aqgmdy738). The subpoenas seek to compel the reporters to testify about the material behind their reporting and could be used to press them to reveal who leaked the classified information about the plane's defenses.

## Why it matters

Forcing journalists to disclose sources strikes at the core of investigative reporting, which depends on the ability of insiders to speak without fear of exposure. Reporter's privilege, the principle that journalists should not be compelled to burn their sources, has long been protected, imperfectly, by Justice Department guidelines that treat subpoenas to the press as a last resort. Turning that tool on reporters over a national-security story sends a chill through newsrooms, press-freedom advocates say, precisely because it threatens the confidentiality that makes such stories possible.

## A pattern

The move does not stand alone. Only weeks earlier, the Justice Department issued subpoenas compelling reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury, then withdrew them after the news organizations pushed back, [CNN reported](https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/23/media/trump-doj-subpoenas-washington-post-wall-street-journal-reporters). Press-freedom groups have condemned the broader effort, [with the Washington Post detailing](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/06/23/doj-issued-then-withdrew-subpoenas-force-post-wsj-reporters-testify/) how the earlier subpoenas sought to force reporters to testify about their sources. The subpoenas fit alongside the administration's other moves against the media, including lawsuits and threats aimed at outlets whose coverage the president dislikes.

## What's next

The Times is expected to fight the subpoenas, as the Post and Journal did, setting up a legal clash over how far the government can go in pursuing journalists and their sources. The outcome will help define the boundaries of press freedom under an administration that has made its hostility to the news media a defining feature. For now, reporters who exposed a vulnerability in the president's plane find themselves, rather than the vulnerability, the target of a federal investigation.