DOJ sought phone records of Times reporters’ relatives in leak probe
Why it matters: The filing says the subpoenas reached back to Jan. 1 and included a reporter’s mother and spouses, widening press-freedom concerns.
The Justice Department sought phone records for several New York Times journalists and some of their relatives as it tried to identify sources for reports on security concerns involving President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet, according to a court motion unsealed Monday. The Times said the subpoenas covered one reporter’s mother and two journalists’ spouses and stretched to Jan. 1, 2026, well before the July 8 and 9 articles under investigation. The newspaper is asking a court to quash the subpoenas, arguing they abused the grand jury process and violated protections for newsgathering. The department has argued that leakers of classified information, not reporters, are the focus.