President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, according to a motion unsealed Monday — an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask the confidential sources of reporters who wrote about Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.
The efforts by the Republican president’s administration to compel the identity of sources in the form of additional subpoenas come at a time when the executive branch’s relationship with the press is increasingly contentious. The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times over the weekend, were more expansive than previously known, the newspaper noted. They also covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question.
“Two of the subpoenas seek records beginning on January 1, 2026, long before the events that are purportedly the basis for the Department’s investigation,” lawyers for the Times wrote in the letter. “That timeframe strongly suggests that the Department is using this investigation not to focus on any purported concerns arising from the July 8 and 9 articles, but instead to forage for information about the Journalists’ source relationships more broadly.”
Government has said reporters aren’t the target
The phone records subpoenas come on top of grand jury subpoenas that were served July 10 on three journalists, seeking testimony about the identify of their sources. The Times has separately challenged those grand jury subpoenas, and a judge is scheduled to hear arguments on Thursday.
Lawyers for the newspaper noted that some of the phone records subpoenas were issued on the same day as the grand jury ones, an additional one was issued the following day and another was issued on July 16 — after the Times had already moved to quash the grand jury subpoenas.
The Times said the phone records subpoenas should be spiked, arguing that each instance demonstrated “bad faith” by the government. The lawyers argued that the Justice Department ignored its own guidelines by not giving the journalists advance notice that records were being sought and had issued subpoenas “without first conducting any serious investigation.”
The newspaper’s lawyers said the additional subpoenas call “into question the accuracy” of testimony given last week by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, where the grand jury subpoenas were issued. At his confirmation hearing to be the Trump administration’s director of national intelligence, Clayton said that “we followed the protocols” and that the government took “the least intrusive possible” steps.
The Justice Department has justified the grand jury subpoenas by saying that “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.” Asked about the phone records subpoenas, the department said Monday: “Any subpoena issued by the Department of Justice is done so in full compliance with federal law and internal Department policy.”
The additional subpoenas included a request for phone records of one reporter’s mother and two of the journalists’ spouses. The motion noted that the mother in question is a mental health professional with confidential client relationships and that one of the two spouses is the general counsel of a law firm.
“The disclosure of additional subpoenas for confidential newsgathering information of the Journalists is deeply concerning, revealing yet another instance of the alarming pattern of conduct detailed in the Motion to Quash,” the news organization’s lawyers wrote.
“These actions demonstrate abuse of the grand jury process, continued bad faith attacks on the Journalists, violations of the Department’s own internal regulations and disregard for the law in this Circuit intended to protect critical First Amendment interests,” the motion stated.
It’s part of an ongoing legal challenge
The Times revealed the government’s actions as part of an ongoing legal challenge to quash subpoenas that the Justice Department served on three journalists who reported on security concerns involving the jet.
The original subpoenas, delivered to reporters at their homes, marked a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on media leaks that free press advocates swiftly condemned as a government effort to intimidate news organizations. It followed an FBI search earlier this year of a Washington Post reporter’s home and the seizure of her electronic devices.
The new jet in question, a present from Qatar that Trump’s administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade, recently entered service. But Trump used an older model Air Force One jet to leave a NATO summit in Turkey earlier this month.
The Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that the switch had come at the urging of the Secret Service and that the newer plane lacked some of the advanced security features of the older Air Force One aircraft, including antimissile capabilities. On social media, Trump denied security concerns.
Trump’s administration has clashed with the press, from newspapers to TV networks to the Voice of America, on multiple fronts since he returned to office last year. The methods include lawsuits, administrative actions and public threats.
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the press’ ability to operate free of governmental restrictions.
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