The Wall Street Journal revealed on May 11 that the Department of Justice has sent grand jury subpoenas to the paper, demanding records related to its journalists’ reporting on the lead-up to the Iran war. Prosecutors have also sent subpoenas to other media organizations, as well as to email and phone providers seeking information in parallel leak inquiries, according to sources who spoke to the Journal.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation responded swiftly and sharply. “The government’s investigation of The Wall Street Journal has nothing to do with ‘national security,'” said Seth Stern, the organization’s Chief of Advocacy. “It’s an outrageous attempt to silence sources, intimidate journalists, and bury the truth about President Trump’s unpopular decision” to go to war.
The subpoenas mark a dramatic escalation in the already fraught relationship between the Trump administration and the American press. They also raise a fundamental question: when a government wages a controversial war, does the public have the right to know how that decision was made — or can the state seal off the decision-making process under the banner of national security?
