A person enters the New York Times building on January 22, 2026 in New York City.
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The Justice Department has withdrawn subpoenas obtained for grand jury testimony and phone records of a New York Times reporter involved in a story about security issues surrounding President Donald Trump’s new Air Force One jet, prosecutors told a federal judge in New York on Thursday.
The move was made during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Judge Arun Subramanian warned prosecutor Sean Buckley that if the Justice Department did not withdraw the subpoena, he would destroy it at the Times’ request, MS NOW reported.
“Why isn’t that the correct outcome?” Subramanian asked Buckley, who argued at length that the subpoena was legally issued.
A judge later issued an order noting that the Justice Department voluntarily withdrew the subpoena, which the department maintains was issued as part of a national security investigation into leaks of classified information to the Times.
“As stated by the government during the hearing, as long as a decision is taken to renew the summons, the government will approach the court before issuing it,” Subramanian said in his order.
The Justice Department issued a subpoena on July 10 to compel the Times reporter to testify before a federal grand jury, the newspaper reported. Federal agents delivered several subpoenas to the reporters’ homes.
On Monday, the Times reported that the Justice Department told the paper late last week that it had “also issued subpoenas to third-party telephone service providers seeking records of the phone calls and text messages of several journalists.” The paper said the phone records of a reporter’s mother were subject to a subpoena.
The subpoena was issued by Jay Clayton, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who was nominated by President Trump to be director of national intelligence. Clayton was asked about the subpoena during his July 15 Senate confirmation hearing.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, approved the subpoena.
“Today’s hearing was an important affirmation of our country’s commitment to press freedom,” David McCraw, the Times’ deputy general counsel, said in a statement Thursday after the hearing.
“While we are pleased that the government has finally acknowledged that the subpoenas violate the law, they should never have been issued in the first place,” McCraw said. “The Times and our journalists will continue to report and seek the truth without fear or favor. We will not flinch in the face of tactics like this.”
“The judge threatened sanctions if the subpoenas were not withdrawn and prevented us from presenting the thoroughness of this investigation,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
“The grand jury has the right to hear testimony from all material witnesses in a federal criminal investigation,” the spokesperson said. “This judge’s actions violate longstanding clear principles and common sense and prevent grand juries from obtaining key evidence in national security investigations.
“Make no mistake, this investigation is ongoing. We will pursue justice against those who threaten national security by divulging classified information, which is a serious federal crime,” the spokesperson said.
The investigation related to the subpoena began after the Times reported on security concerns about President Trump’s new Air Force One, which was donated by Qatar.
The Times reported on July 8 that President Trump departed from Turkey that day “in an older Air Force One rather than a newer Boeing 747-8 donated by Qatar as a safety precaution related to the resumption of hostilities with Iran.”
The newspaper reported, citing a person briefed on the new plane’s performance, that in terms of safety, “the new plane does not have all the functions of the old model.”
MS NOW reported that during Thursday’s court hearing, Prosecutor Buckle told Subramanian that the Justice Department said in a letter on Monday that it was willing to suspend the subpoena in order to proceed with other investigative steps.
According to MS NOW, the judge said this was an admission that the Justice Department had not taken reasonable steps to obtain the same information from other available sources before issuing the subpoena. Based on precedent from the competent federal appeals court applicable in Manhattan federal court, the Justice Department must take such steps before subpoenaing journalists.
At one point, Mr. Subramanian told Mr. Buckley that if the case involved a civil dispute rather than a criminal investigation, he would instruct the Justice Department why it should not impose sanctions for the prosecutor’s actions.
According to MS NOW, the Times’ lawyer, David O’Neill, told Subramanian that the Justice Department’s actions were “malicious, and that’s even more evident now.”
In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week, Creighton said he could not go into details of the investigation into the Air Force One story.
“Let me tell you: I am confident that the procedures we have in place to protect the First Amendment and protect the freedom of the press will not result in the intimidation of journalists,” Clayton said.
CNBC’s Ryan Ruggiero contributed to this report.
