Four New York Times journalists who reported on safety concerns surrounding Qatar’s donated aircraft serving as the new Air Force One have been subpoenaed by the Justice Department, the news outlet reported Friday.
The journalists – Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt – have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan next week, according to the Times, which noted that federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the reporters’ homes.
Times attorney David McCraw condemned the move in a statement included in the publication’s Friday report.
“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs,” McCraw said.
CNN contacted the White House, the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan and The New York Times.
The subpoena comes after the Times reported Wednesday that President Donald Trump left Turkey this week on an old Air Force One plane due to security concerns from the Secret Service. CNN reported Thursday that security officials felt more comfortable with the president aboard an older vessel that was built from the ground up with Trump’s security in mind, rather than a plane that was recently upgraded after being donated by Qatar.
The Times reported that a senior FBI official contacted them and asked them not to publish the story Wednesday on national security issues, but the official declined to say what the problem was. The subpoenas issued Friday also lack details, the Times reported, saying the journalists are being asked to testify “regarding an alleged violation of criminal law.”
The publication reported that the subpoenas were issued by U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, who was nominated last month by Trump to become the next director of national intelligence.