President Donald J. Trump tours the new Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland on Friday, June 19, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

Federal agents have served subpoenas on four New York Times reporters after the paper published sensitive details about alleged security shortcomings in President Trump’s new Air Force One, the spectacular Boeing 747-8 gifted to the United States by the government of Qatar.

The reporters hit with subpoenas, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt, must now testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan this Wednesday.

The journalists recently published articles reporting that President Donald Trump continued using the older Air Force One during one trip because of security concerns and that the Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 lacked some of the advanced defensive systems installed on the current presidential aircraft.

The stories cited anonymous sources familiar with sensitive national security matters.

According to The New York Times, the subpoenas were issued as part of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive government information.

The subpoenas reportedly direct the journalists to testify regarding a violation of federal criminal law.

David McCraw, the newspaper’s deputy general counsel, condemned the move.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.

“Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating and their taxpayer dollars are being used.”

McCraw described the subpoenas as “a brazen act” and argued they were intended to intimidate journalists and discourage reporting on government activities

What’s truly brazen is a major newspaper publishing operational security details about the aircraft that carries the President of the United States, especially while Iran has Trump at the top of its assassination target list.

According to reports published Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence recently alerted U.S. officials to a specific assassination plot targeting President Trump.

The revelation comes as President Trump has openly acknowledged the ongoing threats against his life while attending the NATO summit in Türkiye.

Trump went on to announce that he would not be flying on Air Force One back to the United States, prompting speculation of security concerns.

The White House Press Pool was advised to keep the window shades on Air Force One closed while en route to the United States after taking off from Ankara, Turkey, at 8:43 pm local time.

President Trump was seen boarding the old Air Force One jet en route to the US.

Publishing specific details about what security systems may or may not be on Air Force One is reckless, especially at a time when threats from Iran and other adversaries remain real.

Jim Hᴏft Jim Hᴏft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016.

You can email Jim Hᴏft here, and read more of Jim Hᴏft's articles here.

Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can't see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.