Trump administration calls New York Times reporters after Air Force One report
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The Trump administration subpoenaed several New York Times reporters after their report on security concerns involving the new Air Force One, according to the newspaper.
The new plane, which US President Donald Trump received as a gift from Qatar, entered service last week.
The subpoenas issued on Friday sought to compel the reporters to testify before a grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the newspaper said, adding that federal agents had brought the reporters to their homes.
There was no immediate response from the White House or the US Department of Justice to requests for comment on Saturday.
“The appearance of law enforcement on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the freedom of the press it protects,” said David McCraw, an attorney for the Times, in a statement.
A pattern of anti-pressure actions
Issuing the subpoenas represents a major development in the Republican president’s effort to threaten new independent organizations by using the power of the federal government against them.
It’s also part of Trump’s systematic pattern of trying to undermine press freedom to protect himself from misinformation.
Earlier this year, the Justice Department issued subpoenas seeking to compel testimony from reporters at the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. In both cases, the Department later withdrew the summons.
During his first term, Trump suggested that the media was an “enemy” of the American people. Since returning to the White House last year, he has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern US history.
Trump’s pattern of attacks on news channels and media figures he believes are too critical of him has included suing companies he doesn’t like, threatening to revoke broadcast licenses and seeking to bend news organizations and social media companies to his will.
NYT reports on aviation safety concerns
The president took the new Air Force One to a NATO summit in Turkey this week. But he traveled on Wednesday in an older model Air Force One to Mildenhall, the Royal Air Force base in Suffolk, England.
A new plane also flew to Mildenhall. Trump then transferred to that plane to fly home to Joint Base Andrews.
The sudden exchange of airstrikes came at a time of the collapse of the ceasefire agreement with Iran, when the US launched airstrikes against Iran, and Tehran attacked three Gulf Arab states.
Iran and Turkey share a border, provoking speculation that the Qatari gift plane, which received a refund of 400 million dollars from the US, did not have some sophisticated security systems and countermeasures.
The newspaper, citing anonymous sources, reported that the replacement came at the behest of the US Secret Service and that the new plane does not have the advanced security features of the old plane, including anti-missile capabilities.
Trump has denied any security concerns, posting on social media that the stopover at Mildenhall was to allow service members to view the new aircraft.
US President Donald Trump walked out of an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press after becoming frustrated with Kristen Welker’s questions. Andrew Chang lays out Trump’s negotiating tactics, and how they present a unique challenge to reporters. (Image credits: The Canadian Press, Reuters, Adobe Stock and Getty Images)
The White House denies any security concerns
During the flight, Trump denied to reporters who were traveling with him that security concerns involving Iran were the reason for the two flights home. Asked if he was aware of credible threats against Air Force One by Iran, Trump dismissed the question.
“I’m always a threat. I’m number 1 on their list,” he said.
The White House later denied any security flaws in the new plane.
“The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft equipped with state-of-the-art security systems to ensure the safety of the President and his staff,” his spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement.
“As the President recently said, there are many enemies of America targeting him, and we are using every tool at our disposal – including disruption and disinformation – to deal with those threats.”
Times reporters who received subpoenas include Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt, the newspaper reported.
