Power Grab/Fire anyone who can stop him
Federal agents delivered grand jury subpoenas to the homes of New York Times reporters who covered the Air Force One jet
The July 10, 2026 subpoenas were signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, then Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence. Clayton declined to say whether Trump ordered them.
What happened
In July 2026, the New York Times reported on security flaws in the Qatari-donated Boeing 747 being converted into a new Air Force One. On Friday evening, July 10, federal agents delivered grand jury subpoenas to some of the reporters who wrote it, at their homes. The subpoenas came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and were signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.
Senator Ron Wyden said Clayton was “up to his eyeballs in sending intimidation subpoenas to reporters and armed thugs to their homes,” and called the conduct disqualifying for a Director of National Intelligence. At his Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on July 15, Clayton would not say whether the president had ordered the subpoenas.
On July 20, the Times reported that prosecutors had also obtained subpoenas for the phone records of several of its reporters and their relatives.
Who benefited
The administration gained a criminal process to identify the sources of a story embarrassing to the president’s prized jet project, and a chilling signal to other reporters covering the war and the Pentagon. Clayton’s office demonstrated its usefulness to the White House while his nomination was pending.
Who wanted something
Trump had publicly demanded earlier in 2026 that journalists give up sources “or go to jail.” Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Justice Department had restored prosecutors’ ability to subpoena reporters. Clayton signed the subpoenas while seeking confirmation as the nation’s top intelligence official. The gain was source identification and deterrence.
Who lost out
The Times reporters and their families had federal agents at their doors on a Friday night and their phone records pulled. Their confidential sources inside the government and the Air Force One program were exposed. The public’s ability to learn about security problems in a $400 million gift aircraft the president accepted from a foreign government was reduced.
Why it matters
A sitting U.S. attorney, nominated to run American intelligence, used a grand jury to pursue reporters over a story about a foreign gift to the president. The home deliveries and the follow-on demand for phone records are the use of criminal process against a major newspaper’s newsroom.