'Big questions' raised about NYT subpoenas after Trump decoy plane exposed

On Monday evening, August 10, the Washington Post and the New York Times both reported that because of an "Iranian assassination threat," U.S. President Donald Trump secretly flew from Turkey in July on an alternate military aircraft. White House officials, in July, told reporters that Trump was flying on Air Force One, but according to the Post and the Times, that aircraft was used as a decoy when Trump was really on a different aircraft. And according to journalist Chris Geidner, this reporting raises "big questions about the recent NYT subpoenas."

The Trump-era U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) drew vehement criticism from many journalists for subpoenas of Times journalists, who denounced the subpoenas as an intimidation tactic. The DOJ, however, withdrew the subpoenas on July 23.

According to Times reporters Maggie Haberman, Eric Schmitt and Zolan Kanno-Youngs, "Top administration officials engaged in an elaborate deception to spirit President Trump out of Turkey during the NATO Summit there last month, transporting him in a catering container to a military jet because of a threat against him and Air Force One from Iran, two senior U.S. officials said on Monday."

Geider, in his Law Dork blog, argues that reporting from the Times (which described the use of a decoy plane as an "elaborate ruse") and Post speaks volumes about Trump's adversarial relationship with the press.

"This is a story about Trump's Qatari-donated 'new' Air Force One, the 'old' Air Force One, and a secret third plane, identified by the Post as 'an Air Force C-32A,'" Geidner explains. "It's also a story about the way the Trump administration lies to the public and to the press, as well as how senior administration officials — up to and including Trump — might have been willing to go so far as to put the lives of others, including members of the media, at risk. Finally, it's a story of how the Trump administration quickly went on the offense in the aftermath of the 'ruse' — subpoenaing some of the first reporters who dove into what was happening."

Geidner elaborates, "The Times had reported, on July 8, that the use of the old Air Force One was a 'security precaution' in Turkey and then reported, on July 9, that the Qatari-donated jet 'lacks the same defensive countermeasures' as the old Air Force One. The next day, the Trump administration — via the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York — subpoenaed Times journalists, leading to the high-profile fight that ended with the office withdrawing the subpoenas, and others subsequently issued for phone records, at a hearing before a skeptical judge on July 23."

Geidner argues that "it appears that the Times is reporting that it believes the Trump administration purposely misled reporters to publish information that the administration believed could make those reporters the target of an attack."

"Think about the implications of this — 'The Trump administration purposely misled reporters to publish information that the administration believed could make those reporters the target of an attack' — if it is true," Geidner emphasizes. "If that is what happened, the subpoenas issued by then-U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton's office in the Southern District of New York raise even more essential questions about what the Trump administration, the Justice Department, SDNY, USAO, and Clayton were doing here — and why."