Feds Target Reporters After Air Force One Security Leak
The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several New York Times journalists following the newspaper’s recent coverage of alleged security vulnerabilities on the new Air Force One.
According to the publication, the subpoenas demand that the reporters testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this coming Wednesday. Federal agents delivered some of these legal orders directly to the reporters’ homes.
The claims made by The New York Times regarding the subpoenas have not yet been independently verified.
The newspaper’s legal counsel criticized the government’s actions.
“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” David McCraw, the paper’s lawyer, said in a statement on Friday.
The escalating legal dispute stems from the President’s recent travel logistics during a high-stakes international trip. The President initially flew the new Air Force One model to a NATO summit in Turkey.
However, for a subsequent leg of the trip to Royal Air Force base Mildenhall in Suffolk, England, he departed on one of the older-model Air Force One jets. Both the old and new aircraft flew to the English base. The President then switched back to the newer plane for his final flight home to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
This sudden aircraft transition occurred during a volatile period for U.S. foreign policy. A fragile ceasefire with Iran had just collapsed, leading to U.S. airstrikes on Iranian targets and subsequent retaliatory attacks by Tehran against three Gulf Arab states.
On Wednesday, the newspaper reported that the mid-trip plane switch occurred because the Secret Service urged the change.
A follow-up report published by the paper on Thursday alleged that the newer Boeing 747-8 aircraft lacked certain advanced security features present on the older model, specifically pointing to antimissile capabilities. Both of the newspaper’s reports relied on information provided by anonymous sources.