To turn the Ministry of Justice into a thick stick to discipline the media and muzzle investigative journalism: Trump Blows Up Unprecedented Constitutional Confrontation by Summoning New York Times Journalists
The battle goes beyond Trump's usual media rhetoric against what he calls "fake news," revealing a structural shift in the administration's strategy.
The Dawn of the Judiciary!!
Afrasianet - The U.S. capital has seen a dramatic escalation that has put press freedom in direct confrontation with the executive branch, after the Justice Department, at the direction of President Donald Trump's administration, took the unprecedented step of sending federal agents to deliver official subpoenas to the homes of four top national security reporters at the New York Times to appear before a federal jury in Manhattan.
This immediate move sparked a wave of anger and was considered by the human rights and media circles as an explicit declaration of war on investigative journalism and an intimidating attempt to dry up the sources of leaks within the US administration.
The crisis sparked after the four journalists — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmidt — published an investigative report that revealed Trump's embarrassing security behind-the-scenes during his recent NATO summit.
According to the leaked report, the Secret Service made an urgent and binding recommendation to the president that he should not use his new presidential jet (Air Force One) on the return flight and instead rely on the old conventional aircraft.
The new aircraft is a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet, which the Qatari government gave last year as an "unconditional gift" to the United States worth about $400 million.
The leaks revealed that the plane lacked some of the military defense systems and advanced communications available in the old plane, making it an unsafe target amid the escalation of direct military and diplomatic conflict between Washington and Tehran in the waterways.
Sources close to the administration said Trump was outraged by the backstage outing, which he called a "political embarrassment" that undermined the prestige of the presidency, prompting him to give strict orders to the Justice Department and Southern New York Federal Attorney General Jay Clayton to launch an urgent prosecution campaign to decapitate the leaks.
The newspaper's general legal adviser, David McCrow, announced his rejection of the measure in full, stressing that the appearance of agents on the doorsteps of journalists' homes is a "blatant assault on the First Amendment to the Constitution." The newspaper stressed that the disclosure of defects in a plane intended to transport state leaders is deeply in the public interest and national security.
The U.N. condemned the move, calling it a dangerous precedent aimed at creating a "intimidating effect" that would make government sources afraid to speak to the press in the future.
The Democratic Party used the crisis to launch a scathing attack on the White House, with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling the move "a blatant overreach and abhorrent abuse of law enforcement to settle presidential personal scores."
Rather than settle for internal investigations, the administration has chosen to activate the federal jury tool to force journalists under the law to reveal their confidential sources, threatening the traditional immunity of journalism in the United States.
This judicial intimidation coincides with Trump's decisive decision, also published in the New York Times, to announce the complete collapse of the ceasefires, the resumption of military operations, and the comprehensive naval blockade against Iran.
Observers believe that the administration wants to impose a complete blackout and absolute strictness on newsrooms to prevent the leak of future military deployment plans.
This crisis puts the U.S. judiciary in front of a constitutional and historic test: either it will triumph over freedom of expression and protect journalistic sources as the pillar of democracy, or give the current administration the green light to turn the Justice Department into a thick stick to discipline the media and muzzle investigative journalism.
