MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The New York Times is condemning the Trump administration's efforts to get its journalists to testify about their unnamed sources. The Times reported on security concerns over the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar. Then the Justice Department served the reporters with subpoenas. NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik is covering the story and he's with us now. Good morning, David.
DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So, David, we learned over the weekend that the Times reporters got these subpoenas. What have we learned since then?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, it's one fact, and it's a barn burner. It's that at the direction of the White House, FBI Director Kash Patel himself personally oversaw the issuing of these subpoenas and did so from the White House itself, this according to the reporting of The New York Times about these subpoenas to its own reporters. As we've already reported, a senior FBI official called the newspaper to demand that the paper not publish and to also then demand the paper reveal its sources. The paper rejected both of those requests.
MARTIN: What was the specific issue that seems to have motivated the administration to do this?
FOLKENFLIK: So the first one was Wednesday and involved the president leaving Turkey, Ankara, from a, you know, meeting with European leaders there, not on the plane donated by the Qataris to become Air Force One and kitted out, but from the older Air Force One because the Secret Service intervened over security concerns. And then there was a subsequent story just detailing some of the concerns about the security features about the new Air Force One that the old one lacks. The president loves this airplane. He's called it the world's most luxurious plane and wanted it. Forty-eight hours after The New York Times published that story about security concerns, those subpoenas were issued.
MARTIN: What is the government seeking and why?
FOLKENFLIK: So the government has asked for journalists involved in the stories to give testimony Wednesday morning before a grand jury. And we've asked the Justice Department, the FBI, the White House, the Department of Homeland Security for comment. They haven't commented to us. But a Justice Department spokesperson told The New York Times' reporters, who were reporting on its own thing in a meta way, that it just wants to identify the original sources, not that it's going after the reporting. This of course compromises the ability of The New York Times journalists, or any journalist who would be subpoenaed, to get people to open up and say things off the record. There is a very real fear of retaliation, and that's particularly acute in President Trump's Washington.
MARTIN: And how has the Times responded to all of this?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, from their legal department to their CEO, to their top editor, they've made clear the paper stand behind their reporters. Entirely, they see this as an effort to intimidate news gathering. They call it unjustified. They've said all the resources of the Times will be behind these reporters.
MARTIN: So, David, before we let you go, the administration - the Trump administration is known for haranguing, for pressuring, even insulting journalists. But the Times is calling this an escalation. Why is that?
FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think it's in part because these subpoenas were issued at home, in part because this is usually a last-ditch effort, not the thing you do a day or two after. They haven't identified what the security concerns are. Federal prosecutors did withdraw a pair of subpoenas to reporters from The Wall Street Journal and the Post last month. But it is seen as an indication of escalating pressure as there are so many different fronts in which battles are being fought - in the courts, in regulatory areas and in other ways - against the press by the president and his administration.
MARTIN: Do we think they're going to appear before a grand jury in two days?
FOLKENFLIK: The New York Times isn't saying. But it's basically signaling that it intends to try to get a federal judge to intercede and quash these subpoenas before they happen. The U.S. attorney who issued these, interestingly, is up on the same day, on Wednesday, for confirmation hearings to become director of national intelligence.
MARTIN: That's NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik. David, thank you.
FOLKENFLIK: You bet.
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