The Trump administration on Friday issued subpoenas to several New York Times reporters after they wrote that President Donald Trump’s new Air Force One was not retrofitted with sufficient security measures, according to the outlet.
The reporters published an article on Wednesday speculating on why Trump departed the NATO summit in Turkey this week aboard an older presidential aircraft, instead of flying in the new plane gifted by Qatar, which he had used to travel to the summit. The report triggered pushback from the White House, including subpoenas delivered to the reporters ordering them to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday, the outlet said on Saturday.
The New York Times condemned the subpoenas in a strong statement framing the “brazen act” 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.”
“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,” an attorney for the New York Times, David McCraw, said.
In their reporting on Wednesday, Tyler Pager, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Eric Lipton observed that the new Air Force One, donated by Qatar, appeared to have been upgraded to fit Trump’s security needs on an expedited timeline that did not allow for sufficient precautions. After Trump used an older plane known to have all the advanced systems to fly back from Turkey instead of the Qatari-gifted aircraft, the reporters speculated about whether the “expedited timeline allowed for the addition of an advanced missile defense system and other modifications used to protect the president.”
“People briefed on the new plane’s capabilities, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive security issues, said the new plane does not have all the features of the older plane,” they wrote. “The older plane has been widely reported to be equipped with a system designed to blind an incoming antiaircraft missile, along with ‘chaff’ that could be deployed to mislead a missile and force it off course.”
Trump later sidestepped a question when asked whether he had avoided flying the newer aircraft because of potential threats from Iran.
“I’m No. 1 on the kill list for Iran,” he replied. “There was another list that came out yesterday, and I’m No. 1 on it. I like being No. 1 on TikTok better, but I’m No. 1 on the list for killing.”
White House communications director Steven Cheung sought to tamp down on concerns, releasing a statement saying the “new aircraft is a state-of-the-art plane that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the President and his staff.”
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“As the President has said recently, there are many enemies of America who have their sights on him, and we use every tool at our disposal — including distraction and misdirection — to address those threats,” Cheung added.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House and Justice Department for comment.