Trump DOJ Goes off the Rails With New Attack on NYT Reporters

So, on Friday, several journalists at the New York Times were served with subpoenas to force them to testify, as I said, before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this coming Wednesday in just two days. And what was particularly egregious about this is federal agents showed up at these reporters' homes. Can you imagine you are in what you think is the safety and the security and the comfort of your home? And you get a knock on the door and it's federal agents that are serving you with a subpoena to appear in front of a grand jury. Was it really that necessary to serve them at home? Of course it is. Not necessary legally, but necessary for the Trump regime because it just fits with the whole chilling effect that they are aiming to achieve. Now, the New York Times top lawyer, David McCraw, issuing the following statement. The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects. The subpoenas had, quote, few specifics asking only that the journalists testify in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law. And as I noted, that these subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton. the US attorney in Manhattan. So the Times journalists who were the recipients of these grand jury subpoenas did reporting last week about felon Trump flying on that $400 million luxury jet that was a corruption gift bribe from the Qataris, as you'll recall. Now, what happened was Donald Trump just put the... pressure to be able to retrofit this luxury jet liner to be able to serve as Air Force One. And this is a Boeing 7478. And the reporting that was done, and I think this is important for us to talk about, the reporting that that was done noted the following. It said that because Donald Trump flew out on that Qatari jet to the NATO summit that was in Ankara, Turkey. And because the United States initiated again, the, well, it's really over. I mean, it was never really over, right? The war with Iran was never really ordered. But because a lot of the fighting just kind of just hit like the acceleration button, he had to fly out of Turkey last week on the old Air Force one as a security precaution because of, quote, hostilities with Iran. The change in the plane being as a result of the urging of the Secret Service. The Katari plane, the bride plane, Trump had been really pressuring his team to get that thing retrofitted with sufficient security measures. But people who were briefed on the new plane's capability said that this new plane didn't have all of the features of the older Air Force One and that because of that, that is the reason why Trump had to fly out on the old Air Force One out of Turkey.

Okay. Now, I also want you to hear this. The Times reported that when Trump left Ankara... He usually kind of, you know, eats shit and talks to the gaggle reporters. No, he hauled ass, he got on the plane, and then the people on the plane were ordered to pull their window shades down before takeoff. I mean, it suggests that there was a serious security concern that was going on. Industry and Pentagon officials have said that an extensive upgrade to that type of jet could cost as much as $1 billion and take up to two years to complete. Andrew Hunter, former Air Force Assistant Secretary who was in charge of the Air Force One program during the Biden administration said that a true retrofit of a 747 jet to prepare it to become Air Force One would require more than a year of work. Clearly. That time wasn't spent. Was that money spent? Gosh, wouldn't we like to know maybe Congress can find out for us while we sit here with skyrocketing expenses while we sit here with no affordable health care, no snap. Yeah, hey, maybe we should find out if Trump's spending more than a billion dollars to retrofit that bride plane. So that was the reporting that was done. And that reporting was so important, right? Because we want to know is the president of the United States wasting American taxpayer money? Is the president of the United States actually putting himself at risk? Listen, not like I have any love for this man. I definitely don't have love for a JD Vance administration because something happens to Trump. I mean, it's all bad. But don't you think it's important for Americans to know that because Trump is pursuing a vanity project like he's got fucking hell on heels right now, that he wants to be able to get this jet done so quickly that he's willing to sacrifice security and safety just because he wants to stroke his fucking ego? Don't you think this is important for us to know? And that's why the New York Times is reporting on it. And as a result of their reporting, And remember, this is last week. Wednesday, Thursday is the reporting from the Times. Friday. Friday, they get served with the grand jury subpoenas. Before the Wednesday article was published, a senior official at the FBI contacted a reporter and a senior editor at the New York Times and said, don't run the article. This FBI official said, this is an issue of national security. But then when asked, the FBI official declined to say what the national security issue was. And then the FBI official asked the New York Times to disclose who their sources are. And of course, the Times said, yeah, peace out. Not going to happen. I'm not going to tell you who our sources are. Next thing you know, Wednesday article goes out. Follow-up Thursday article goes out. Friday, these reporters get the grand jury subpoenas. And this is nothing new.

In Trump regime 2.0, if you recall, back in January of this year, Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson got her home searched and got phones, laptops, and a smart watch seized by federal agents after they executed a search warrant on her home ostensibly as a part of an investigation into a government contractor's handling of classified material. In addition, just as a reminder, subpoenas were also served on the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal under the guise of national security investigations in June of 2026. Grand jury subpoena to Washington Post reporter Ella Nakashima was related to, quote, sensitive reporting about a national security matter. Then the DOJ issued subpoenas to three Wall Street Journalists, Wall Street Journal journalists who were also reporting on national security issues. And what happened? Wapow and the Wall Street Journal went to court to fight these subpoenas and the DOJ backed down and withdrew those subpoenas. But this all kind of comes back home to Roos. The reason I'm talking about Jay Clayton, Trump wants to handpick Jay Clayton as a loyalist to go and be the director of national intelligence. And what does the DNI do? Overseas what? National security matters. And you see the Trump regime using national security as a sword. They are weaponizing national security to be able to go after the media. And the media should never be subjected to that. The National Press Club stating the following after the news broke about these subpoenas being served on these New York Times reporters on Friday. Every American should understand what is at stake. When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement. It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the public's right to an independent press. When the government turns its investigative powers on journalists, it weakens one of the nation's strongest checks on those who hold power. Bruce Brown, the president of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, in his statement, Donald Trump's war on the press is looking for another victim. This time the storied federal prosecutor's office in Manhattan. The subpoenas it issued to journalists at the New York Times break from longstanding Justice Department practice to protect the public interest and press independence by requiring prosecutors to only seek information from reporters as a last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted. When Jay Clayton appears before the Senate Intel Committee on Wednesday, members of both parties must not let him escape accountability. And yes, that is what's going to happen. What a coincidence, right? Wednesday, July 15th, Jay Clayton will appear before the Senate on Wednesday.

in front of Senate Intel over his nomination to be the Director of National Intelligence. That's also the return date for the federal grand jury subpoenas for those New York Times reporters to have to go testify, which we know the Times is going to fight legally. July 15th, also the day that another hand-picked Trump loyalist, Todd Blanche, appears for the first of two days of his Senate Judiciary Committee testimony. to become the permanent attorney general of the United States. It's a big day on Wednesday, July 15th. Can't ignore it, folks. A few things I want to also mention is the following. The New York Times has not escaped the ire of Donald Trump. In fact, it's one of the most, I'd say, favored child status in terms of being a target of Donald Trump. As you know, Trump sued the New York Times for an allegation of bullshit, which was for defamation regarding his candidacy to be president in the 2024 presidential race. And then in December, actually, the Times. sued the Trump Defense Department after it created all of those bullshit new restrictions on who could get access to the Pentagon, as you recall, and ended up giving it to the My Pillow Guy people and to Laura Lumer, but then it took it away. If you didn't sign up for all these crazy restrictions, you couldn't do it for any of the legacy media outlets. The Times sued again after the Defense Department reduced physical access to the Pentagon. So it wasn't of just you could have a seat at the Pentagon. It was also physical access to be able to reach, you know, areas of the Pentagon. And then in May of 2026, the EEOC headed up by another Trump loyalist sued the New York Times alleging that it was committing employment discrimination. And just this past Friday, the Times served a counterclaim on the Trump administration stating, that that bullshit EEOC lawsuit was in fact just retaliation for the Times' coverage of Trump's presidency. It was also a violation of the Times First Amendment rights. As you see, there's a common denominator here. A lot of these battles are being waged in our courts of law. And that's why I always remind you. that rule of law still stands and is still an important bulwark against this wave of autocracy that we see from somebody like a convicted felon Donald Trump. I'm going to follow this really carefully, not only because I have a vested interest as a member of the fourth estate, but I also think it's really important for us to realize that this is the type of petulant retaliatory conduct that has very, very significant real world consequences. don't like the way that I report on what you're doing. So instead of Trump just saying, you know what, that's just the times or that's just that reporter and the way that they want to report on what I'm doing, instead of just letting that be the case, no, that's not what's happening here, right? What's happening here is he's weaponizing the DOJ.

under some guise of national security implications to be able to go and create a chilling effect on our fourth estate. But it's also why the role of Attorney General is so important and why I'm always saying block Todd Blanche, block Todd Blanche, block Todd Blanche, because you cannot give. You cannot give the keys to the kingdom, right? to somebody like Todd Blanche, who has shown a level of blind loyalty that has created this wave of insanity and malevolence where we see the weaponization of the DOJ going after, going after people what, that have the audacity to speak the truth, that have the audacity to report the truth on what is happening in this administration. It's just wrong. So again, reporters are not supposed to become the story. They're just supposed to report on the storymen in this instance. It is important for us to understand that the reporters here are the story. They deserve our support. They deserve for us to understand what is at stake. Because as we've now heard from several people in defense of free speech and free press and the First Amendment, this cannot stand. Be mad, be outraged, demand accountability. I, as you know, a believer and a lover of the First Amendment am off to rattle cages. Katie Fang here. We launched the Katie Fang News channel in partnership with the Midas Touch Network so we could bring you the latest in legal and political news. Straight, no chaser. So if you're a fellow truth teller, hit that subscribe button and share the word about this channel so we can build a high information America together.