Justice Department Sought Phone Records of Times Reporters' Spouses and a Mother in Leak Hunt

The Justice Department sought the phone and messaging records of several New York Times journalists — and, in an unusual escalation, the records of two reporters' spouses and one reporter's mother — as part of an aggressive investigation into how the newspaper obtained information about the Qatari-gifted jet given to President Trump, the Times reported.

The disclosure, made public Monday, marks a widening of a leak inquiry that began earlier this month when federal agents appeared at the homes of Times reporters to compel grand jury testimony. Four journalists bylined on the paper's reporting — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt — received subpoenas tied to coverage of the aircraft, which Qatar gave to be used as a replacement for Air Force One.

According to the Times, the department sought communications records from third-party providers covering "calls and messages on the phones of two of the reporters' spouses" and one reporter's mother — people with no involvement in the reporting. Lawyers for the newspaper said two of the subpoenas sought records dating back to January 1, 2026, months before the events supposedly under investigation, suggesting to the paper's attorneys that prosecutors were fishing for a broader map of the journalists' confidential source relationships.

The Times has moved to quash the subpoenas, and a federal judge has frozen their enforcement pending a ruling on that motion. Press-freedom organizations reacted with alarm, noting that seizing the records of reporters' family members is a step even beyond the contested source-hunting tactics of previous administrations. The Trump administration's own Justice Department had, in a prior era, pledged to stop seizing reporters' records in leak probes — a policy that now appears abandoned.

The gifted jet has been a political flashpoint since it was first reported, raising constitutional questions about foreign emoluments and the propriety of a foreign government providing a head of state with a luxury aircraft. The reporting drew sharp criticism from the White House, which has characterized the leaks as a national security matter. Administration officials have defended the investigation as a legitimate effort to protect sensitive information about presidential travel.

First Amendment lawyers said the case could become a significant test of the legal protections afforded to journalists and their sources. "Going after a reporter's mother's phone records is the kind of overreach that should worry everyone, regardless of politics," one media attorney said. The Times, in a statement, vowed to fight the subpoenas "to protect the ability of journalists to report on the government without fear that their families will be swept up in retaliation."