The government is demanding the cell phones of reporters' family members as part of its ongoing leak investigation into the Air Force One scandal, including the phone of a reporter's mother.
The New York Times reported Monday that the ongoing leak investigation by President Donald Trump's administration is issuing subpoenas to reporters' family members. The paper is requesting the subpoenas be quashed.
FBI Director Kash Patel and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles began probing the cell phones of folks in the White House, including top-level officials, after reports said the president was lying about why he didn't use Air Force One to fly from Turkey to the U.K. after the NATO summit earlier this month.
Trump had told reporters that they were taking the old plane instead of the one Qatar had gifted him because he wanted to show it off to soldiers stationed overseas. At least one security expert didn't buy the claim at the time, insisting the real reason is that the jet lacked the necessary security features the older plane had.
The New York Times reported on the plane, saying it lacked an anti-missile defense system. The FBI immediately launched an investigation claiming that it was a huge breach of national security, with Patel personally overseeing the investigation. The government demanded access to reporters' cell phones to track down the confidential source that leaked the information to the reporters.
Now, the Justice Department is subpoenaing information from reporters' families to find the source of the leak, including the mother of one of the reporters. The DOJ also wants grand jury testimony from reporters.
"The government’s actions amount to an extraordinarily aggressive and unorthodox attempt by the Trump administration to unearth the confidential sources of independent journalists whose reporting had angered the president," said the Times.
"In its motion on Saturday, The Times said that the Justice Department had violated its own guidelines for media subpoenas when it waited a week to notify The Times about the phone record requests, calling the delay 'deeply concerning,'" the report said.
One subpoena even demanded phone records dating back to Jan. 1, 2026.
“That time frame strongly suggests that the department is using this investigation not to focus on any purported concerns arising from the July 8 and 9 articles, but instead to forage for information about the journalists’ source relationships more broadly,” the newspaper wrote in a statement.
MS NOW reporter Carol Leonnig said that Trump was "embarrassed" by the ordeal. She also reported that Air Force generals raised questions about the plane and potential risks, but they were ignored. Trump took the plane to North Dakota ahead of the July 4 holiday and then flew it to the NATO summit. A Secret Service agent told Leonnig they were concerned because they want to make Trump happy, but at the same time, his safety is paramount.
The plane has now been completely sidelined for further upgrades and no timeline has been reported as to how long it will take.
The new Air Force One was given to the United States by Qatar, and Trump demanded it have more than $300 million in retrofitting to rush the long process of ensuring the safety and security of the plane.