The ‘leak’ of the problems and situation around the plane switch of Trump’s Air Force One’s in Turkey generated a score of orders for NY Times reporters info on the story….
Such requests have been uniformly met with a thumbs down by Federal Courts….
The Justice Dept. Lawyers called in to defend the subpoenas got chewed on the judge…..
All US President’s hate leaks….
But they ARE a fact of life in the political and governmental way of life….
The Justice Department said on Thursday that it would withdraw the subpoenas that sought phone records and grand jury testimony from New York Times journalists who had reported on the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Qatari-built Air Force One jet.
“The government is prepared to unilaterally withdraw the subpoenas at this time,” Sean Buckley, one of the highest-ranking officials in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, said at a hearing in U.S. District Court.
The government’s move came after Judge Arun Subramanian grilled Justice Department lawyers for nearly an hour over their handling of the subpoenas, which The Times had sought to quash. The newspaper called the subpoenas an effort to intimidate its reporters.
Judge Subramanian said the Justice Department was not prevented from subpoenaing the Times reporters again if the government followed appropriate procedures.
The case had emerged as a flashpoint in the Trump administration’s efforts to escalate pressure on independent news organizations.
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Politico….
Criticized by a federal judge for sloppy legal work, the government on Thursday withdrew subpoenas that would have compelled three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for articles about President Donald Trump’s Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.
The withdrawals in U.S. District Court followed a remarkable back and forth between a visibly irritated Judge Arun Subramanian and government attorneys. They come at a time when the Trump administration is vigorously going after news organizations whose reporting and coverage it doesn’t like — and also trying to crack down on leaks inside the government.
The government’s retreat in the face of vigorous legal opposition and a stern reprimand from a judge marked the latest instance of the Justice Department pulling back on its aggressive efforts to compel journalists to identify their sources before a grand jury. The administration recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel testimony in Virginia from journalists for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.
Subramanian said he otherwise would have granted the newspaper’s request to reject the subpoenas because laws and regulations pertaining to subpoenas served on journalists maintain that they should be issued as a last resort in an investigation.
“Subpoenas are the last step, not the first step, but the last step,” the judge said, citing rules set to protect against violations of the First Amendment. He said the government’s actions had turned the law and the regulations “on its head.”…
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The hearing was public despite efforts by the Trump administration to keep secret the litigation spawned by subpoenas it served on the Times’ journalists to try to get them to divulge their sources….
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