Federal prosecutors have backed off a legal effort that had several New York Times reporters facing subpoenas over their coverage of President Trump's new Air Force One. At a hearing Thursday in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department said it is withdrawing subpoenas for reporters' testimony about their sources and for their phone and text records, CNBC reports. US District Judge Arun Subramanian displayed irritation as he criticized the work of the government lawyers around Free Speech protections as sloppy, per the AP. "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.
The subpoenas, some of which were served at the journalists' homes, were tied to an investigation that followed Times reporting on security concerns surrounding Trump's new presidential jet, which was provided by Qatar. The demands for records were issued under the authority of Manhattan US Attorney Jay Clayton, whom Trump has nominated to serve as director of national intelligence, per CNBC. The Times had asked the court to quash the subpoenas, with a lawyer for the newspaper saying the government was trying to discourage reporting on how the federal government operates and spends public money. Had the government not pulled the subpoenas, the judge said he'd have rejected them.
"Subpoenas are the last step, not the first step, but the last step," when seeking information from journalists, Subramanian said, citing rules that protect against violations of the First Amendment. The government was required to ensure it could not obtain what it needed from other sources first, the prosecutors were told. Subramanian said the government's actions had turned the law and the regulations "on its head."
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