Trump administration admits legal errors and withdraws subpoenas of 3 NYT reporters

By — Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press By — Eric Tucker, Associated Press Eric Tucker, Associated Press By — Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-administration-admits-legal-errors-and-withdraws-subpoenas-of-3-nyt-reporters Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Trump administration admits legal errors and withdraws subpoenas of 3 NYT reporters Politics Jul 23, 2026 6:01 PM EDT NEW YORK (AP) — Criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government on Thursday grudgingly withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about President Donald Trump's Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet. READ MORE: DOJ sought phone records of NYT journalists in effort to unmask sources of Air Force One security report The withdrawals in U.S. District Court followed a remarkable back and forth between a visibly irritated Judge Arun Subramanian and government lawyers. They come at a time when the Trump administration is vigorously going after news organizations whose reporting and coverage it doesn't like — and also trying to crack down on leaks inside the government. The government's retreat in the face of vigorous legal opposition and a stern reprimand from a judge marked the latest instance of the Justice Department pulling back on its aggressive efforts to compel journalists to identify their sources before a grand jury. The administration recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel testimony in Virginia from journalists for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal related to separate national security coverage. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. Subramanian said he otherwise would have granted the newspaper's request to reject the subpoenas because laws and regulations pertaining to subpoenas served on journalists maintain that they should be issued as a last resort in an investigation. "Subpoenas are the last step, not the first step, but the last step," the judge said, citing rules set to protect against violations of the First Amendment. He said the government's actions had turned the law and the regulations "on its head." "When you see something like this, if this were a civil proceeding, what I would normally do is ask the parties to show causes why sanctions should not be issued," the judge said, referencing punishment for lawyers for egregious actions. After the hearing, the Justice Department lashed out at the judge in a statement, saying he "threatened our attorneys with sanctions unless subpoenas were withdrawn, and blocked us from presenting the meticulous process of this investigation." "The grand jury has a right to hear testimony from all material witnesses in a federal criminal in