A motion unsealed Monday shows the New York Times moved to quash subpoenas after a U.S. district judge ordered enforcement of the subpoenas paused; the filings say the Justice Department sought phone records of several Times journalists and some of their relatives as part of an investigation into reporting about a Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.
The motion says the subpoenas were aimed at identifying confidential sources for articles about security concerns involving the jet and that grand jury subpoenas seeking testimony were served July 10 on three journalists; a hearing in the matter is scheduled for Thursday.
The Times asked the court to block new subpoenas sent to third-party phone service providers that sought the phone records of the reporters and their relatives, including the spouses of two reporters and one reporter's mother.
The filings said one reporter's mother was described as a mental health professional and that one spouse was described as the general counsel of a law firm.
Lawyers for the newspaper wrote that two of the subpoenas seek records beginning on Jan. 1, 2026, and said that timeframe “strongly suggests” the department is trying to "forage for information about the journalists' source relationships more broadly" and that the department waited a week to notify the paper, violating its own policies.
The filings say the subpoenas were signed by Jay Clayton, Mr. Trump's nominee to be director of national intelligence and the former U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, and they call into question testimony he gave at his confirmation hearing that "we followed the protocols" and that the government took the "least intrusive possible" steps.
A Justice Department spokesperson said the subpoenas are "in full compliance with federal law and internal department policy."
David McCraw, the paper's senior vice president and deputy general counsel, said the company moved to quash the "abusive and improper subpoenas."
The filings and reporting say the subpoenas followed the Times' first report that the Secret Service had advised the president to use the older presidential plane to depart from Turkey after Mr. Trump flew on the new jet to a NATO summit in Ankara and questions arose about the new plane's defensive capabilities.
U.S. officials told reporters the new plane was hurried into service and lacked some desired security features, and a former U.S. government official expressed concern there had not been enough time or money to outfit the jet with the defensive capabilities required to serve as Air Force One.
The White House initially denied security concerns, with White House spokesman Steven Cheung saying the new plane "is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president would keep using the old Air Force One while the new plane is modified, saying upgrades would come in the fall and take "approximately one month to complete." Mr. Trump said the plane would be "maxed out" and that upgrades would take "about a month," and he said of threats from Iran, "I have a threat all the time. I'm No. 1 on their list."
The filings noted the jet was a present from Qatar given last year and that the new plane underwent about 10 months of work before Mr. Trump flew on it for the first time on July 1; the papers also said the administration spent $400 million to retrofit and upgrade the aircraft and that lawmakers have raised security and ethics concerns about accepting the gift.