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The Justice Department withdrew subpoenas Thursday it had previously filed against three New York Times journalists as part of a leak probe.
The DOJ sought the grand jury testimony and phone records of Times journalists Tyler Pager, Julian Barnes, Eric Schmitt and Eric Lipton, all of whom had a byline on a report published earlier this month revealing President Donald Trump flew home from Turkey on his old Air Force One instead of the new Qatar-donated Boeing 747-8 he flew into the NATO summit amid security concerns, something Trump denied.
The Times report, citing anonymous sources, prompted a leak probe by the DOJ, hoping to target those who gave the Times journalists the sensitive information.
“Today’s proceeding was an important affirmation of our country’s commitment to a free press,” New York Times Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel David McCraw said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “We are pleased that the government finally conceded that the subpoenas violated the law, but they should never have been issued in the first place. The Times and our journalists will continue to report and seek the truth without fear or favor. We will not be deterred in the face of tactics like these.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Upon his departure from the NATO summit in Turkey, Trump flew out on his old Air Force One instead of the new one gifted to the administration by Qatar that he had previously used. However, the Times alleged the change was made due to the escalated military tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
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Trump dismissed any security concerns with the jet, instead posting on Truth Social that the Mildenhall stop was conducted so service members stationed on the base could view the new aircraft.
The subpoenas targeting the Times journalists sparked an outcry among critics, accusing the Trump administration of violating First Amendment rights.
The DOJ previously defended the subpoenas, highlighting the crime of leaking national security information while stressing that the Times journalists weren’t the target of the probe.
“We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information,” a DOJ spokesperson said at the time. “We recognize there may always be natural tension there, but we are not going to ignore the law and stop investigating the people who work in the administration and think it’s okay to leak classified information impacting national security.”
Fox News’ Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
