‘The Goal Is Very Clearly Intimidation’: Maggie Haberman Sounds Off on Trump DOJ’s NYT Subpoenas

The New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman said it’s obvious that President Donald Trump is trying to intimidate her paper by subpoenaing four journalists who reported on security flaws with the new Air Force One.

Haberman shared her thoughts on the matter during a Monday appearance on Morning Joe; she was flanked by her colleague and Regime Change co-author Jonathan Swan.

“There are other presidents who have subpoenaed journalists. The Biden Administration actually stopped doing that, and Trump is obviously doing it again with vigor, and this has been related to his bullying campaigns of various industries,” Haberman said.

“In this case, the subpoenas were not a last resort, which is typically what they’re supposed to do when there is an alleged leak hunt. This time it came within 48 hours of the first story being published… This was something that was quite known in Washington. It was not a surprise,” Haberman continued.

She then agreed with co-host Joe Scarborough, who said earlier in the hour that Trump was using the subpoenas to “intimidate” reporters.

“This is not just issuing subpoenas, it’s sending federal agents to people’s homes,” Haberman added. “As you said, the goal is very clearly intimidation. It will now almost certainly be something that comes up in Jay Clayton’s hearing and Todd Blanche’s hearings this week.”

Her answer comes after the Times reported last week that Trump was leaving the NATO Summit in Turkey aboard the old Air Force One because of security problems with the new one.

Mediaite’s Kathianne Boniello explained:

The subpoenas were served on reporters Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt on Friday, The Times reported, in some instances by federal agents who showed up at their homes.

The legal command came from Jay Clayton, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Clayton was nominated last month by Trump to be the next Director of National Intelligence — after his interim choice, current Acting Director Bill Pulte, ignited a firestorm of criticism.

The quartet of reporters are expected to show up in federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday to testify before a grand jury, The Times said.

The DOJ posted on X on Saturday, “to be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

“We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country,” that post continued, “but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”

Watch above.

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