The Justice Department unleashed a barrage of grand jury subpoenas, sending federal agents to the doorsteps of four New York Times reporters who wrote a story that the FBI warned would compromise highly classified national security secrets and give America’s enemies a roadmap to the commander-in-chief’s vulnerabilities.
The Times admitted on Saturday that according to federal law enforcement sources, a top FBI official contacted “a reporter and a senior editor,” asking them to kill a story citing unnamed sources about President Donald Trump departing Turkey on the old Air Force One instead of the new Qatari-gifted jet.
The Times ignored the FBI’s urgent request, slammed the “publish” button, and refused to unmask who leaked the classified information in the first place.
Now, the Justice Department is bringing down the hammer. New York Times scribes Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt have been ordered to appear before a Manhattan grand jury to answer for the breach.
“Reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are,” a DOJ spokesman stated.
The administration made it clear it isn’t playing games when it comes to the nation’s secrets.
“We are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security,” the spokesman added.
The drama started after the Times published details of the security protocols of Trump’s new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, claiming it lacked antimissile defenses. The paper suggested that the classified leaks explained why the Secret Service briefly put Trump on the older aircraft during a high-stakes NATO summit in Turkey while tensions flared with Iran.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung blasted the reporting, confirming that the new jet is a “state-of-the-art aircraft” packed with high-level security protocols.
“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 said.
The Times immediately started crying foul, with their top newsroom lawyer David McCraw complaining that the home-visit subpoenas were a “brazen act” and meant to “shock the conscience.”
“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country,” McCraw said.
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