Key facts
- The Trump administration sought phone records of New York Times journalists and some of their relatives.
- The subpoenas were issued as part of an investigation into articles concerning the presidential Air Force One jet.
- The scope of the phone record requests extended beyond the dates of the articles, with some beginning in January 2026.
- The New York Times argued the government acted in bad faith and abused the grand jury process.
- The Justice Department maintained it followed its regulations and took investigative steps before issuing the subpoenas.
President Donald Trump’s administration sought phone records of several New York Times journalists and even those of some of their relatives, in an unusually aggressive attempt to unmask confidential sources. The push by the administration to compel the identity of sources through additional subpoenas comes amid increasingly contentious relations between the executive branch and the press.
The efforts, described in a letter-motion filed by the Times, were more expansive than previously known and covered a time frame that exceeded the news articles in question. Lawyers for the Times noted that some subpoenas sought records beginning January 1, 2026, long before the events purportedly forming the basis of the investigation, suggesting a broader effort to uncover source relationships.
These phone record subpoenas are in addition to grand jury subpoenas served on three journalists on July 10, which sought to compel testimony about their sources. The Times has separately challenged those grand jury subpoenas, and U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian is scheduled to hear arguments on Thursday. The judge has also frozen enforcement of the phone record subpoenas pending a ruling on the newspaper’s motion to quash them.
Lawyers for the newspaper argued that the government had acted in “bad faith” and ignored its own protocols by not giving journalists advance notice and by demanding information without a serious investigation. They stated that the additional subpoenas call into question the accuracy of testimony given by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, who claimed protocols were followed and the least intrusive steps were taken.
The Justice Department justified the grand jury subpoenas by stating that reporters are not the targets, but rather those leaking classified information. The department also said it complied with its regulations and took investigative steps before seeking the subpoenas, adding that any subpoenas for numbers not used by the movants would not be pursued.
The grand jury subpoenas, delivered to reporters' homes, were seen as a dramatic escalation of the Trump administration’s crackdown on media leaks, which free press advocates condemned as an effort to intimidate news organizations. This followed an FBI search earlier this year of a Washington Post reporter’s home and the seizure of her electronic devices.