Trump Administration Subpoenas New York Times Reporters Over Air Force One Story
Donald Trump New York Times in Admin's Crosshairs ... Reporters Subpoenaed Over Air Force One Story
Published
Donald Trump's administration has taken a huge step in its fight against the "fake news" media ... issuing subpoenas to New York Times reporters who wrote about his plane swap in Turkey.
The newspaper reported the shocking development on Saturday, stating the Trump admin issued subpoenas to four reporters ... Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt.
The four NYT employees collaborated on a story titled "Security Precaution Led Trump to Use Old Air Force One in Leaving Turkey," which was published on Wednesday.
The article focused on President Trump ditching the new Air Force One -- which was gifted to the United States by Qatar -- in order to take the older one because of concerns regarding the new plane's security capabilities.
Anonymous sources told NYT the plane was switched out because the Secret Service had concerns about flying it back from Turkey. President Donald Trump denied that the change was made because of security issues.
The Times writes the subpoenas aren't big on specifics ... but calls on the journalists to testify "in regard to an alleged violation of federal criminal law."
NYT admits a senior official with the FBI called the paper on Wednesday -- before the article ran -- and asked for it to be held, calling it a national security issue. However, the paper adds this individual didn't explain what the issue was, and the article ultimately ran.
The Times states the FBI official also wanted the names of the sources. NYT refused ... and we expect the journalists who are expected to appear in front of the federal grand jury in Manhattan Wednesday will do the same.
