New York Times turns to courts to toss out subpoenas seeking info on Qatari Air Force One story

The New York Times asked a court Wednesday to throw out grand jury subpoenas of three of its reporters who did a story about the Air Force One plane that was given as a gift to President Donald Trump by Qatar. 

The story was published earlier this month claiming the plane given by Qatar did not have some of the same defensive features of the older Air Force One, something the White House has denied, according to The Epoch Times. 

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton then issued subpoenas to try to find out who provided that information to the Times’ reporters. Clayton is now Trump’s nominee to be the next Director of National Intelligence. 

Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, addressed the issue during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, stating that Justice Department rules required him to authorize the subpoenas.

“We’re not targeting reporters,” Blanche said, adding, “The question we want to ask them is who provided them with classified national security information.”

David McCraw, senior vice president and deputy general counsel of The Times, said the subpoenas were “brought in bad ⁠faith to punish The Times for its coverage."

“We are going to court to ​defend our journalists’ ⁠rights to report freely on the administration and to provide the public with stories that matter,” he added.