Trump Caves and Withdraws Subpoenas for New York Times Journalists

Donald Trump’s administration withdrew its subpoenas Thursday for three New York Times journalists who reported on Air Force One’s security issues.

Lawyers for the publication appeared in court to challenge subpoenas that would’ve compelled reporters to testify about their confidential sources before a grand jury, and granted access to reporters’ and their family members’ phone records.

Times lawyers argued that the Department of Justice had ignored its own protocols for failing to give advance notice and issuing subpoenas “without first conducting any serious investigation.” On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian seemed to agree.

“Subpoenas are not the first thing you do, they are the last thing you do,” he said. The judge argued that the Trump administration’s actions had turned the First Amendment and free speech regulation “on its head.”

After nearly an hour of intense grilling, Sean Buckley, chief counsel to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, announced that the government was prepared to “unilaterally withdraw” its subpoenas. Subramanian made it clear he would have rejected the subpoenas anyway.

White House officials were left fuming earlier this month after the Times reported that Trump had ditched his new Air Force One in Europe because it was missing certain security and communications capabilities. The president later announced plans to further “max out” the plane, suggesting that the $400 million luxury jumbo jet indeed lacked sufficient security features—all but confirming the story had been accurate.

The Air Force has already spent roughly $400 million on renovating the plane, changing the cabin layout, communications system, and security upgrades. That doesn’t account for the taxpayer-funded continued maintenance of the plane, either. The Qatari-gifted jet will be moved to Trump’s presidential library foundation in 2029, where it may be available for him to use as a private citizen.

This story has been updated.

It’s only been four months, but it looks like Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is already on the White House’s bad side.

The rift is a result of some early missteps and concerns about Mullin’s personnel choices, according to a senior Trump administration official and a senior Department of Homeland Security official who spoke with NBC News Thursday.  

The White House wasn’t happy with Mullin’s decision to temporarily restrict Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle stops after two deadly shootings by immigration officers in Texas and Maine. 

Just one day after Mullin announced the change, and yet another person was killed during a chaotic ICE incident, Trump ordered the agency to resume traffic stops.

An administration official told NBC News that Mullin’s decision was “100 percent” a bad move.

Mullin reportedly never received the White House’s blessing before announcing the sudden policy change—leaving President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan in the dark. Trump was reportedly furious, believing that it signaled the administration was softening on immigration enforcement. 

Another source of tension between Mullin and the White House is the secretary’s decision to nominate Lance Schroyer, one of his allies, to run ICE. 

The decision had “a lot of people talking,” as Schroyer has no direct experience with federal law or immigration enforcement, a DHS official told NBC News. In addition to Schroyer’s lackluster résumé, he’s also been accused of failing to pay for child support.

In any case, several officials “aren’t thrilled with him,” one Trump administration official told NBC News. 

Rising tensions with the freshly appointed DHS secretary come as a new report suggests that Trump’s second administration has even higher turnover among Senate-confirmed officials than his first. 

President Trump announced massive new conditions to his nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia on Thursday morning, just hours after it was signed.

In a Truth Social post, Trump demanded that Saudi Arabia normalize relations with Israel via the Abraham Accords before getting any U.S. nuclear technology. He also claimed “there will be no enrichment of material,” though the deal certainly opens the door to uranium enrichment in the country.

“The Civil Nuclear Deal (There will be no enrichment of material!) being made between the United States Department of Energy and Saudi Arabia, which pertains only to non-military use such as the ones that Iran and UAE (and others) already have, will be approved, but is totally subject to Saudi Arabia joining the very respected and successful Abraham Accords,” Trump wrote. “The United States is not opposed to Civil (Non-Enriched) Nuclear Facilities.” 

Negotiating terms would make sense if the deal wasn’t already signed, or if the Saudi kingdom had at least hinted at accepting the demands Trump outlined (it hasn’t).

Trump’s post created a stark messaging contradiction for the White House, which is still struggling to explain the terms of the deal.  

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked to explain the president’s about-face during her Thursday press conference. 

“What steps is the U.S. taking to get Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords?” a reporter asked.

Leavitt did not answer the question. 

“This is a condition that the president has spoken about many times.… He wants to see these countries sign the Abraham Accord, it was one of the most historic accomplishments of his first term, and it continues to be a long-term goal of his to expand those accords to ultimately come to a place where the Middle East can be a peaceful and stable region,” Leavitt replied, providing no examples of mechanisms being used to make that happen. “Yes, this deal with Saudi Arabia … is contingent on this condition as far as the president is concerned. So we’ll continue to talk with our Saudi counterparts to get the deal finalized.” 

“Why was that condition not mentioned yesterday when the energy secretary announced it?” another reporter followed up.

“Well, look, the president is always the final dealmaker, as you know, and this is something that he has mentioned on numerous occasions,” Leavitt replied.

“So the deal is dead if Saudi Arabia doesn’t join? And have you any indication that Saudi Arabia is even considering this?” 

Leavitt once again failed to engage with the actual questions being raised. 

“The president has spoken directly with the Saudis about this in numerous conversations in the past, and the administration will continue to engage in these conversations.” 

It’s clear that no one in the Trump administration can explain just how they plan to get the Saudis to agree to a different deal than the one they signed just a few hours ago. 

“On Trump seemingly adding new conditions to the US Saudi nuclear deal, including Saudi Israel normalization, a Saudi source says: ‘It was signed. So nothing to renegotiate,’” journalist Laura Rozen wrote. “‘Tweets don’t overturn signed agreements.’” 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune tore into Karoline Leavitt Thursday, rebuking the press secretary hours after she announced that the White House was losing patience with his inability to pass Donald Trump’s wildly unpopular SAVE America Act.

“Well maybe she or somebody else ought to get on the phone and get the votes, right?” Thune told reporters. “It’s 50 around here. And, so, instead of pointing the finger at Republicans, they might think about going after the people who are stopping it on the floor, which is the Democrats.”

“And if there are Republicans that they think are gettable, get on the phone. Let’s get them to ‘yes,’” he added.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Leavitt revealed that the president’s “patience is running out.”

“He wants to see as much of the SAVE America Act passed by the August recess,” Leavitt said. “He knows that’s what the American people want to see passed.”

The Senate goes into recess on August 7. The House, which began its month-long recess Thursday, voted 216–214 to adopt a budget blueprint Wednesday night that included portions of Trump’s voter restriction bill.

The president has predicated his support for any legislative effort on the SAVE Act’s passage. Since the beginning of the year, Trump has insisted it should be Congress’s top priority. He has refused to sign any bill and even derailed Cabinet confirmations until Capitol Hill bends to his will. So far, that stalemate has gummed up efforts to fund the Department of Homeland Security, stalled attempts to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, and upended a planned photo op of Trump signing a landmark bipartisan housing bill.

The original iteration of the SAVE America Act sparked nationwide backlash for proposing numerous amendments to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, perhaps chief among them a requirement that voters bring either a passport or birth certificate to register to vote. Critics argued that the mandate would unduly restrict millions of Americans from voting, pointing out that half of the country’s population lacks a passport, and furthermore that the legislation as written would make it difficult for anyone who changed their name—including married women—to register.

The bill would also require voters to present photo identification when casting a ballot, and impose a total ban on mail-in voting. Trump has described the latter procedure as “crooked” and “corrupt,” despite the fact that he himself has cast several mail-in ballots.

At a rally in Georgia Wednesday, President Trump singled out a group of his supporters who consistently attend his speeches and sit in the front row, known as the “Front Row Joes.” 

“I don’t know what the hell they do, I think they make a lot of money, too. I’m hearing they’re very rich,” Trump said. 

The reality for these supporters is quite different, though, as Trisha Hope, a former Trump supporter and Front Row Joe, explained in a long X post. 

“Trump WRONGLY says to them ‘you’ve made a lot of money, you’re rich,’” Hope said. “This shows me how absolutely clueless he is on what these folks have sacrificed in order to support him. They DO NOT MAKE MONEY!!  In fact it costs them a GREAT deal of money and time to attend.”

Hope, who said she left the group last year over Trump’s comments about Jeffrey Epstein, added that the Front Roe Joes are “incredibly loyal and are deserving of much more than they have been given by Trump.”

“They drive sometimes all night to get in line [at rallies], they spend money on flights when driving isn’t an option,” Hope’s post continued. “They sleep outside the venue sometimes for days often sleeping on pop up cots or just a pallet on the ground. They rely on whatever facilities they can find to relieve themselves.”

Hope pointed out that the founder of the Joes, a Marine veteran named Randall Thom, was killed in a car accident driving home from a Trump rally on October 18, 2020, and “never got any recognition from the Trump crew, he had hoped to get a job with the rally team but he could never get them to commit to him.”

“I just couldn’t remain silent when I heard Trump talk as if the Front Row Joe’s are profiting from their rally attendance, it is the exact opposite,” Hope concluded.

All of this makes Trump’s comments on how wealthy the group must be seem incredibly callous and clueless. While he praised the Joes, who came decked out in matching red, white, and blue Trump sports jerseys, he doesn’t seem to know much about them, or care to know.