US government cancels subpoena against three New York Times reporters

What the report says

Al Jazeera, citing its staff and The Associated Press, reported that US government lawyers have withdrawn subpoenas that sought to force three New York Times journalists to testify about their sources for reporting on an Air Force One aircraft gifted to President Donald Trump by Qatar. The development came during court proceedings on Thursday, July 23, 2026, before Judge Arun Subramanian.

According to the report, Subramanian criticized the government’s handling of the matter, saying subpoenas should be used only after other steps are exhausted. The Trump administration had also sought secrecy around the proceedings as it pursued the reporters’ testimony, a move challenged by New York Times lawyers. The newspaper also contested subpoenas for phone records tied to several journalists and relatives.

The Justice Department has said the reporters were not targets and that investigators were focused on people suspected of leaking classified information. The underlying story concerned Trump using an older Air Force One jet after a summit in Turkiye rather than a Qatari-gifted aircraft that, according to the article, has required $400m in retrofitting and security upgrades.

Al Jazeera framed the withdrawal as another court setback for the government’s efforts involving media organizations, noting that similar subpoenas aimed at Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters were recently withdrawn. The case matters because attempts to compel journalists to identify confidential sources can affect press freedom, especially in national security reporting where source protection is often central to public-interest journalism.