The Trump administration issued subpoenas to several New York Times journalists after the paper reported on security concerns involving President Donald Trump’s Qatari-donated presidential aircraft, according to the Times.
The subpoenas, issued Friday, seek to compel the reporters to appear before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the Times reported. In some cases, federal agents delivered them at reporters’ homes, according to the paper.
The move followed Times reporting that the Boeing 747-8 Trump flew to Turkey earlier in the week did not have the same defensive systems as the older Air Force One aircraft. The Times, citing multiple officials briefed on the retrofit, reported that the newer plane lacked advanced antimissile capabilities and other countermeasures present on the existing model.
That is the part of the story that matters operationally. A presidential aircraft is not just a VIP cabin with better upholstery. It is supposed to move the president through contested airspace and crisis scenarios with hardened communications, defensive systems and enough redundancy to make a bad day less bad. According to the Times, experts said the missing capabilities could create risk when the jet is used overseas.
The concern became less theoretical in Turkey. The Times reported that Trump left the country aboard the older Air Force One after the Secret Service urged the change.
How the plane became a political and security problem
NPR reported that Qatar offered the luxury Boeing 747 as a replacement presidential jet and that industry groups had put its value at about $400 million. NPR described it as one of the largest foreign gifts received by the U.S. government and said the offer raised legal and ethics questions.
Trump defended accepting it. NPR reported that he said last May he would be “stupid” not to take the offer. During a Friday tour of the aircraft, NPR quoted Trump saying the plane had been turned into a “flying White House” with an unusual level of luxury. He also said he approved the color scheme and that it reflected his taste.
The Times report shifted attention from the ethics fight to the aircraft’s actual security posture. The central question was not whether the jet looked presidential, but whether it could do the job the old one was built to do.
White House role in the leak investigation
The Times separately reported that the White House directed FBI Director Kash Patel to oversee a leak investigation connected to the paper’s Air Force One reporting. Citing people with knowledge of the matter, the Times said Patel canceled a planned Chicago trip and spent about eight hours at the White House on Friday while running the inquiry from there rather than FBI headquarters.
The Times characterized that setup as a major break from historical practice. The Justice Department and FBI have traditionally treated investigations involving journalists and leaks as especially sensitive because they collide with press freedom and source protection. Subpoenaing reporters to testify before a grand jury escalates that collision quickly.
The administration has not been quoted in the available reporting giving a public explanation for why testimony from the Times reporters is needed, what crime the grand jury is examining, or whether prosecutors are seeking the reporters’ confidential sources.
This story draws on original reporting from Techdirt.