(CNN) — The federal government says it will drop its subpoenas compelling New York Times reporters to testify about anonymous sources in a case that involved President Donald Trump’s claims about a Qatari-gifted Air Force One jet.
The withdrawal came on Thursday at the end of a hearing in the Southern District of New York, during which Judge Arun Subramanian grilled federal prosecutors about “inadvertent errors” they admitted to making in filing for the subpoenas.
“The government is prepared to unilaterally withdraw the subpoenas at this time,” Sean Buckley, chief counsel to the US attorney, told Subramanian.
Afterward, when CNN asked the Justice Department if the subpoenas to the Times may be reissued in the future, a spokesperson responded with a statement criticizing the judge and saying “this investigation remains ongoing.”
“We will pursue justice against those threatening national security by leaking classified information, a serious federal crime,” the spokesperson said.
But for the time being, at least, “targeting reporters to appease the White House has reached a dead end once again in the federal courts,” Reporters Committee president Bruce D. Brown said. “Judge Subramanian saw DOJ’s effort clearly for what it was: a brazen and careless government overreach.”
CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe said the judge “made it absolutely clear” during the hearing that if the government did not yank the subpoenas, “he was going to quash them, so I see the withdrawal of the subpoenas, really, as more of a matter of limiting their losses.”
The Times’ top newsroom lawyer, David McCraw, said in a statement, “We are pleased that the government finally conceded that the subpoenas violated the law, but they should never have been issued in the first place.”
While the use of subpoena power against journalists has always been highly controversial, officials in past administrations sometimes justified it by arguing it was used as a last resort, after other investigative avenues were exhausted. In this case, the subpoenas seemed more like a first step.
The Times reporters received the subpoenas referencing “an alleged violation of federal criminal law” on July 10, just two days after publishing an article reporting that government officials had security concerns about the Qatari-gifted plane.
The reporting contradicted President Trump, who had claimed that the Qatari-gifted plane was flown ahead to England’s Mildenhall Air Force Base to give US service members “a chance to tour the aircraft.”
Privately, Trump seethed over the reporting on the plane’s security deficiencies, CNN later reported.
The Justice Department opened a leak investigation and took aggressive steps to identify the officials who spoke with The Times. Some officials were asked to turn over their cell phones at the White House, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Some of the subpoenas — which are court orders compelling a person to testify — were delivered by FBI agents at the reporters’ homes.
The Times publicized the legal threat right away and aggressively fought back, calling the subpoenas a “bad faith effort to harass and intimidate” the news media.
The Justice Department said it was not targeting the reporters; it was pursuing the leakers of classified information.
The Times sought to slow down the subpoena process and to stop it altogether. Last week, its attorneys filed a motion calling the court orders “abusive” and “improper.”
Judge Subramanian seemed to agree during a Thursday afternoon hearing in lower Manhattan.
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression senior attorney Adam Steinbaugh said the withdrawal of the subpoenas was welcome news, “but withdrawing the subpoenas does not erase the chilling effect of issuing them in the first place, and the DOJ should not reissue the subpoenas.”
“Journalists should not have to choose between protecting confidential sources and facing government threats,” Steinbaugh said. “A free press depends on reporters being able to pursue the truth, and on sources being able to share information the public has a right to know.”
McCraw said in a statement that “The Times and our journalists will continue to report and seek the truth without fear or favor. We will not be deterred in the face of tactics like these.”
CNN’s Evan Perez and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed reporting.
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