The Justice Department on Thursday said it would withdraw subpoenas related to several New York Times reporters' recent articles after a federal judge grilled prosecutors over whether they had followed proper procedures for the criminal investigation.
The judge, Arun Subramanian, sternly questioned prosecutors about the subpoenas, which were ordered after the Times published two articles earlier this month about a jet gifted to the U.S. by the Qatari government that was being used as Air Force One. Issuing subpoenas to reporters, Subramanian said, carries a high legal bar.
"They are the last thing you do," the judge said. "It's a matter of basic compliance with the law."
Sean Buckley, a lawyer for the Justice Department, argued that there was an exception if a subpoena is authorized by the attorney general. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he authorized the journalists' subpoenas.
The day after the second article was published, armed federal agents served three reporters with subpoenas at their homes, according to the Times's lawyers. They also attempted to serve subpoenas to Tyler Pager and Adam Goldman, but didn't ultimately do so. The Justice Department subsequently ordered a second set of subpoenas for phone records, some of which were tied to relatives of the reporters.
Buckley said prosecutors had obtained the phone numbers from a law-enforcement database and hadn't intended to seek records of family members.
"That was an error, judge, which we own," Buckley said. "It was a consequence of trying to move quickly."
Lawyers for the Times filed motions to quash all the subpoenas. They argued that the subpoenas didn't meet the stringent legal test for compelling information from a reporter. They also said the requests for phone records "demonstrate abuse of the grand jury process, continued bad-faith attacks on the journalists" and violate Justice Department regulations.
From the beginning of the hearing, in a Manhattan federal court, Subramanian made clear that he planned to quash the subpoenas if the Justice Department didn't opt to withdraw them. At one point, he called up a prosecutor sitting in the courtroom gallery and questioned why he had told a judge, after the investigation had been the subject of public reporting, that the probe wasn't public or known to the targets of the investigation.
The prosecutor, Kevin Sullivan, said the reporters weren't targets.
The judge then asked why prosecutors requested that the subpoena for phone records remain confidential.
"Are you going to do this again?" Subramanian asked.
"No, your Honor," said Sullivan. "Absolutely not."
The Wall Street Journal and its reporters received grand jury subpoenas dated March 4 that sought information related to a February article about the Pentagon raising concerns to Trump about the risks of an extended military campaign against Iran. A Dow Jones spokesperson said the subpoenas were later withdrawn.
The Washington Post reported last month that one of its journalists was subpoenaed related to "sensitive reporting about a national security matter." The subpoena was later withdrawn, the Post reported.
Write to Corinne Ramey at corinne.ramey@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 23, 2026 16:15 ET (20:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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