President Trump successfully makes first official flight on modified Air Force One
President Donald Trump made his first official visit aboard the new Air Force One gifted by Qatar and toured the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library.
WASHINGTON – The New York Times reported on Saturday, July 11, that the U.S. Department of Justice has ordered several journalists who reported on safety concerns surrounding the new Air Force One, donated by President Donald Trump from Qatar, to testify before a federal grand jury.
The media organization announced that subpoenas had been issued on Friday, July 10, requiring the journalists to appear before a grand jury on July 15 to testify “regarding alleged violations of federal criminal law.”
The news organization said the subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, and in some cases delivered to reporters’ homes by federal agents. The paper called the move “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to blackmail and intimidate independent news organizations.”
In a statement to Reuters, a Justice Department spokesperson did not confirm or deny the subpoena, but said the government was not targeting reporters but was concerned about those whose confidential information would be leaked. The White House referred all questions to the Department of Justice.
Journalism advocacy groups criticized the subpoena as a threat to press freedom and constitutional rights.
The National Press Club called on the Justice Department to “immediately” withdraw the subpoena.
“It is not normal law enforcement for federal agents to show up at a journalist’s home with a subpoena,” the club said in a statement. “This is an extraordinary attack on the freedom of the press that goes to the heart of the First Amendment.”
Creighton was recently nominated by President Trump to head the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Committee on Freedom of the Press has called on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee to hold Clayton accountable when he appears for his confirmation hearing on July 15.
“When the public’s right to know is crushed, as the Trump administration is attempting to do with its subpoena against The New York Times, we all suffer irreparable harm, as do the freedoms on which this country was built,” Committee on Reporters Chairman Stephen J. Adler said in a statement.
President Trump said on July 8 that he would use an older Air Force One to fly from Ankara to the Royal Air Force base in Mildenhall, England, “in a nod to the past,” and that the newer plane would stop so that U.S. military personnel stationed at the base could view the aircraft.
A video released late Wednesday showed President Trump boarding the new Air Force One, a gift from Qatar, at a British base and preparing to fly to the United States.
Reporting by Lucia Mutikani and Jarrett Renshaw. Editing: Philippa Fletcher, Mark Porter, Alistair Bell
