Trump’s DOJ withdrew subpoenas targeting Washington Post and WSJ reporters
The Department of Justice issued and then withdrew subpoenas compelling journalists from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify under oath before a grand jury.
(CNN) — The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal waged a secret legal fight to stop the US government from subpoenaing several reporters in connection with national security leak probes.
The Justice Department subsequently withdrew the subpoenas, at least for the time being, though the episode remains a troubling example of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the news media.
The Journal revealed the probes last month and said it was “vigorously” opposing “this effort to stifle and intimidate essential reporting.”
The Post remained silent about the matter until Tuesday, when it reported that the Justice Department “withdrew the subpoenas earlier this month after they were challenged by the news organizations, according to a Justice Department official familiar with the matter.”
Crucially, none of the journalists were ever compelled to testify about their anonymous sources.
The Post confirmed that the subpoena to reporter Ellen Nakashima was withdrawn, and a person familiar with the matter confirmed to CNN that the order to the Journal was also withdrawn a few weeks ago.
The newsrooms will remain on guard against the possibility that the subpoenas will be reissued in the future.
This legal battle between the government and two top newsrooms stemmed from the government’s leak hunts. And those hunts have been fueled by Trump’s anger over crucial and carefully sourced stories about the risks of military action in Iran — stories that turned out to be prescient.
“In particular,” the Journal reported last month, “Trump has focused his ire on articles that provided details on how he arrived at his decision to launch the war, and what his advisers had told him as he deliberated.”
Officials familiar with the matter told CNN that Trump personally pushed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to issue the subpoenas. The president delivered the message — with the word “Treason” written in Sharpie — on a stack of printed articles he handed to Blanche.
One of the officials told CNN that the Justice Department’s National Security Division was already preparing to look at some of the stories’ sources, but Trump’s stack accelerated the effort.
Responding Tuesday to questions about the withdrawn subpoenas, Blanche told CNN that “reporters are not our targets” and that the Justice Department is “not going to stop investigating people who work in this administration who think it’s okay to leak classified information.”
Press freedom groups said the notion that the reporting amounted to “treason” was preposterous.
The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, wrote in a newsroom memo Tuesday morning, “With the news out and the subpoena withdrawn, I want to reiterate our unwavering support for the First Amendment rights enshrined in our constitution, the legal protections afforded journalists, and our unblinking support of our journalists and press freedom.”
“This institution stands behind each of you,” he added. “It is in The Washington Post’s DNA to question, investigate, uncover and report. That’s why we’re here and what we’ll keep doing.”
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
The-CNN-Wire
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