“They are breaking the constitutional rights of The Times and its reporters,” said David McCraw, the top attorney from The Times’s newsroom.”We are taking legal action to protect our journalists’ freedom to report on the administration and to share important stories with the public.”
McCraw called the subpoenas — which were handed out by federal agents who came to reporters’ homes — as “done in bad faith to punish The Times for its reporting.” He said they “violate the constitutional rights” of the newspaper.
The subpoenas are meant to force the journalists to testify before a grand jury about their confidential sources.
They came after the reporters published a story about a jet Trump received from Qatar that might have been compromised for security.The Times says Trump was “very angry” about their report.
McCraw is also trying to get the subpoenas made public because The Times “believes the public has a right to know about this case and wants the documents to be released.” The fact that they are kept secret shows that the Trump administration knows they are on weak legal and moral ground and wants to keep things hidden.
Joe Kahn, the Executive Editor of The Times, called the subpoenas “a clear effort to intimidate The New York Times and stop us from reporting on important national security issues.” He added that he has “seen how an authoritarian government can stop journalists from sharing news that is clearly in the public interest.”
He said, “It’s very important for American democracy that press freedoms are not eroded like this.”
In short, Donald Trump is the most anti-free speech president in history.
He doesn’t believe in the First Amendment as a basic right and would prefer an America where he could jail people for criticizing his failed administration, even if the criticism is mild.
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