The President, His Plane and the Press

Last year, I spent three months embedded with a capital defense team.

“Their client had been on death row for more than 30 years, and now, his execution date had been set.”

I followed along as the lawyers tried to prove something nobody had successfully done in three decades, that one of Texas's most notorious Cyril killers was actually innocent. The last 12 weeks, listen wherever you get your podcasts. I was out for some drinks sitting on a patio. And I wife and I were over at some friends house for dinner, you know, having a really nice evening,

glass of wine, and all that. My family and I had sat down to watch sheep detectives murder mystery. And right as we were about to find out from the sheep, who had committed the murder, I get a call.

“From New York Times, I'm Michael Babaro. This is The Daily.”

And I pick it up in, it's an FBI agent who identifies himself and says, "I'm in front of your house right now. Are you coming home anytime soon?" When I got home, my wife was in the front yard with our kids, and they were playing with some sparklers left over from the July 4 celebration. And she pointed to this unusual car sitting there across the street from our house inside where two FBI agents were effectively staying us out.

My son is at the front of the house looking through the window, and he shouts, "They're here!" Last Friday night, as my colleagues from the Washington Bureau of the Times settled into the weekend

routines. FBI agents showed up at their homes, and the agent identifies himself, and he basically says,

“"I'm serving you with this sapino." And some of them to testify before a grand jury.”

It was two sheets of paper. I mean, it wasn't even the official sign document. It was a photocopy of the sapino. The agents wouldn't say what the concern was, but I had no doubt what story they were talking about. They were talking about the Air Force One story. It was an extraordinary move by the Trump administration in response to a set of stories published by the Times about the safety of the new Air Force One. It was a fairly ordinary interaction except for the fact that this is not something

that is supposed to happen with reporters. Today, we talked to one of the reporters behind those stories. White House correspondent Tyler Pager. It's Friday, July 17th. Tyler, thank you for making time for us. Thanks so much, Michael. Go ahead to be here. So tell us about the reporting that you and our colleagues did that sparked this unexpected and very unusual response from the Trump administration. These sapinos that the FBI has delivered

to our colleagues. Yeah. So does that the scene, Michael? The president is traveling to Turkey for the annual NATO summit. And he's doing so in his new Air Force One, the one that's been donated

by Qatar. And it's the first time he's taking the plane overseas. Well, thank you very much.

And before we begin on the plane, he had just debuted the plane earlier this month around the July 4th, 250th birthday celebrations. He flew it to Mount Rushmore. The other plane was about 35 years old and it was time and a president of the United States. The president had complained for years that he was embarrassing for him to show up at international summits on the old plane, feeling that it didn't reflect American greatness and American innovation. And the president loves this new plane.

It's been a fixation of his to get rid of the dated Air Force One and debut this glittering jumbo jet that has been gifted to him by the country of Qatar. And I went to Boeing. I said,

who has the best one? They said Qatar. There's no there's never been a plane like it.

Frankly, we could. And which he's put a lot of taxpayer money into. Correct. So the Qatari government gives the president the plane and then they spend months and hundreds of millions of dollars retrofitting it because of course Air Force One is not any normal plane. It is carrying the American president and there are a lot of modifications that need to be made to ensure that it's

is very excited about this plane and is eager to show it off as are his aids that are traveling

“on it. They're posting photos and videos from inside the plane of the golden crusted walls and”

the big staircases and the plush seats and this geometric carpets. And so there's just a lot of excitement from the president and his team that this plane is ready and that he's able to take it on an overseas trip. So here he is arriving in Turkey for a summit with fellow presidents and leaders

in a plane that finally and his mind defeats the leader of the United States. Exactly. So the

president arrives in Turkey and I'm on the ground in Ankara covering the NATO summit. And when he gets off the plane he's the only world leader greeted by President Erdogan and he receives this over the top welcome ceremony that includes horses and the star-spangled banner played by a band and fighter jets and it's a ceremony that is most comparable to the one the pope received when

“he visited Turkey last year. Gets off a plane he thinks finally is worthy of the US”

walks into a ceremony worthy of the president and then there's just a torrent of news.

overnight a new round of U.S. attacks on Iran. There's the resumption of hostilities between

the US and Iran which had been somewhat dormant because of the ceasefire and ongoing negotiations. They want to make a deal but they don't know how to make a deal and then they go around shooting ships at night. So the U.S. and Iran are trading strikes again. We can play games but I'm not sure I want to make a deal. I'll let you finish the job. And the president jumps into unleashing criticisms on the NATO allies. Reviving criticisms he's had for some time that NATO allies didn't

enough to support the US and its organs to run. That countries are not meeting their defense

spending requirements. We pay far, far too much billions and billions of dollars too much

because it's unfair because we're protecting them. So we protect them but then not there for us. Thank you. It doesn't work. And so there's just so much going on that the plane was sort of the story of the week before because that's when it debuted and domestically. And so there was in a whole lot of attention on the plane at that point because there was just so much else going on at the summit and with Iran. One is that start to change. So that changes the next day when the

president is scheduled to leave Turkey and return back to the United States. It was a very short trip. What the president announces on true social is that the new Air Force One, the Qatari donated jet, is going to be flown from Turkey to England to an Air Force base so that troops can get an opportunity to see it. Interesting. And the president says he will be taking the old Air Force One which is in Turkey not surprisingly when the president travels overseas they

often have multiple planes and backup planes and other sorts of aircraft to transport all the stuff that the president needs when he's overseas. And what the president says is that he'll be taking the old Air Force One quote for old timesake which is an unexpected explanation for a president who as you said Tyler is pretty openly obsessed with the superiority of this new plane compared to the old one. Exactly. It's surprising and immediately there are questions about why there's this

sudden last minute change. Presidential trips are choreographed to the minute and everything is done far in advance. Way before the president even departs the United States, there are advanced teams that scout out locations and departures and every piece of the president's trip is highly scheduled. So it's a surprise to see a change made so soon to his departure. And people immediately

“start to ask questions about security. And so Michael remember we are in Ankara which is roughly a”

thousand miles away from Tehran and the war has started up again. And so there are questions about whether there are threats or risks to the president at a time when the U.S. is launching more strikes against Tehran and he's in the region. Right. This seems like the closest the president has been too Iran perhaps since the war began. Absolutely. And also it's important to point out that there have been questions about the security apparatus on this plane for months. Lawmakers and former

president too soon. That is the amount of work to retrofit a plane to make it safe for the president

“to fly on as their first one requires a lot more time than the months it took from when the president”

acquired the Kutari jet and when he flew on it for the first time. And what are the systems aboard Air Force One that folks had feared would have been difficult to import to this Kutari donated plane that the president is now using in this pretty compressed time scale that he got it in. So probably there are concerns that there were not the same defensive countermeasures including advanced anti missile capabilities installed on this plane. People told us that there

just wasn't the time to put all of those critical systems on the plane to ensure the president had

the full scope of capabilities to protect the plane from any sort of issue or threat. And I guess it's worth saying that Air Force One, the official old Air Force One, was specifically built for the purposes of protecting the American president whereas this Kutari plane was originally constructed to carry lots of people in luxury and gets retrofitted to be secure. But inevitably it's probably quite hard to put some of those very specific countermeasure technologies onto a

plane that wasn't designed for them. Right Michael, in fact, if you compare photos of the old

Air Force One and the new Air Force One, you can see on the old plane under its wing on its tail

aspects of defensive systems that you can't see on the new plane. So as you start to have questions about why the president's plans have changed and whether it's related to security concerns about

“this plane, what do you do next? Remember, I'm still in Turkey reporting on the NATO summit”

and I'm trying to figure out what's going on with this plane but I happen to be sitting in a cavernous auditorium with hundreds of reporters from all over the world waiting for Trump to come out and give his final press conference before leaving. Not exactly the ideal place to do sensitive source-based reporting. It might not, are we going to win what you want to call people and say, hey, it's Tyler Pager from the Air Times, try to figure out what's going on with Air Force One.

People would over here that. Right. But very quickly, a team of reporters comes together and starts asking questions. Good. Hey, Sean McCreech in the Air Times. But why aren't you flying the new plane home? Say what? Why aren't you flying on the new Air Force One? It's lying to Europe to one of the big bases two or three of the big bases where we can show it to the people and we'll be going home by a normal methods. But we, and what we learned is that the story that the president

“is saying on social media is not exactly what has happened. What has happened is that the secret”

service has grown concerned about the plane and has urged the president to switch his itinerary and not take this cutterie jet out of Turkey and revert back to the old Air Force One. Which certainly suggests that they're worried that he might not be safe on the new plane flying out of Turkey in this moment. Correct. Now, we don't have that fully confirmed at that moment, but I reach out to the White House to let them know this is what we're hearing and see if they have

any comment. So Michael, while this is happening, a senior FBI official reaches out to my colleagues in Washington and asked that we not run the story for national security reasons. He doesn't specify why and also asks us to identify our sources, which we do not do. Got it. So we continue to report the president takes off from Turkey. Then he lands in England, walks across the tarmac and gets on the new Air Force One, the cutterie jet that was waiting for him in England. And when he gets on

the new plane, he does a gaggle with the reporters on board. What was the security concern that caused us to change planes? We said this one in. And he sort of downplays any security concerns. Do you think there wasn't a security concern? No, no. Why were there any other questions? But by the time he's doing that, me and my colleagues have confirmed that, in fact, it was a security concern that caused the change in planes. And we decide to publish as the president is back on the Qatari jet flying

people understand, the story says that Trump flew the old Air Force One out of Turkey,

instead of the new Qatari donated retrofated plane as a security precaution related to the resumption of hostilities in Iran. And that the new plane does not have all the same features as the

“old one. And that the switching of the planes was done at the urging of the secret service. That's”

what the story says. That's correct. Obviously, that contradicts the president's claim that he was on Air Force One for old times sake. Right. And it also undercuts the president's public narrative about how magnificent and special and important this new Air Force One is. And what we learned in the aftermath of the story is that the president is outraged and furious that this has come out. We'll do a back.

I'm David Sanger. I cover the White House and national security of the New York Times, and I try to explain what decisions made in Washington mean for you wherever you live. This is why the Times sends me to the Oval Office when the president is making a major decision

or has me ride along on Air Force One on critical trips. And I talked to foreign leaders

exploring why they're so often at odds with the United States. We live in a world of misinformation and disinformation. It's never been more important to have reliable sources of on-the-ground reporting. If you want first hand reporting on how U.S. policy affects the world, consider subscribing to the New York Times. So Tyler, after this reporting is published by the Times and the president of SORBSIT

“and becomes quite agitated by it, what do you come to understand happens as a result?”

So what my colleagues learn is that cash-patel, the FBI director, goes to the White House last week and is directed to oversee a weak investigation into our reporting. He spent roughly eight hours at the White House on Friday running the investigation there instead of the FBI headquarters, which is an enormous departure from historical practice.

Historical practice would be what? Well first that there would be complete separation

between the White House and the FBI in terms of running these sorts of probes. The White House is supposed to be separate from the Department of Justice and obviously the FBI is underneath the Department of Justice. When I covered President Biden, Merrick Garland,

“then Attorney General, wouldn't even like to be in the same room as the president, unless it was”

first specific reason, and those norms have been completely shattered. But even this is a step further, having the FBI director run an investigation out of the White House. You described what cash Patel's overseeing as a lead investigation, just explain that. So essentially they're trying to figure out who provided information that informed our coverage of security concerns around the new Air Force One. And where this leads is the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,

Jay Clayton, issue subpoenas that FBI agents attempt to deliver to our homes on Friday evening. Now in my case, I wasn't at my home in DC. I had flown directly from Turkey to New York to attend a birthday party for my mother. So unlike some of my colleagues, I haven't yet received the subpoena. Well, based on what you know about the subpoenas that have been delivered, what do they actually say and what do they require? The subpoena calls for testimony in front of a

grand jury in New York for an alleged violation of federal criminal law. It does not have any specifics about the topic or the case, but based on who received the subpoenas, we know it was related to our coverage of Air Force One. That's pretty vague. So is the Department of Justice with these subpoenas investigating times journalists now? So Justice Department spokeswoman said in a statement that we are not the targets, rather, quote, "those leaking classified information

are." But my God, I want to underscore being subpoena to a federal grand jury is a huge deal

and is not something you see very often, if at all, in which journalists are called to testify.

There are first amendment protections and other policies and procedures that say the Justice

Department is supposed to use subpoena journalists as a last resort, not a first step in a leaking investigation. And it's very rare for the Department of Justice to issue subpoenas for

“reporters to appear in front of a federal grand jury. Gotcha. So here, I think we have to break the”

fourth wall for just a moment and acknowledge that the New York Times has lawyers and that they have responded to these subpoenas. So I want to read what the New York Times' top lawyer David McCraw had to say about the subpoenas just a few hours after they were issued. He said, quote, "This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs." And so

Tyler, I want to ask you about that because these subpoenas are not occurring in a vacuum. We've reported a lot on this show and the Times has reported a lot in its pages about

the Trump administration's aggressive approach toward journalists and journalism in the second

“term. So should we see these subpoenas as an extension of that? Just put this into a larger context.”

Absolutely, we've seen an aggressive attempt by this administration to pressure news organizations in a variety of ways, whether that's filing lawsuits, threatening to file lawsuits, kicking journalists out of the pool of reporters that travel and cover the president, changing the ways in which we are able to cover the president, criticizing news organizations, deriding them as fake news, just sort of the overall rhetoric

about the role of a free press in the United States. And it's not just media organizations and free speech advocates that are concerned about this. Members of Congress are too. And one interesting thing about this whole situation is that the two men who played a big role in these subpoenas Jay Clay in the U.S. Attorney in New York and Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, each had confirmation hearings before the Senate this week. Clay in his trying to become the

Director of National Intelligence and Blanche is nominated to serve as the official attorney general. And during those hearings, Democratic senators really laid into these officials about the subpoenas. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York called them rough and aggressive. I would just urge that this doesn't sound like the proper independent legal process that we would normally expect for issuance of a subpoena. The characteristics surrounding it seem rushed aggressive

with an unnecessary urgency. And and question why the subpoenas were issued so quickly. It's not even clear that the subpoenas that you sign followed the administration's policy,

which requires the government to first make all reasonable attempts to obtain information from

other sources. What specific actions did you take before you sign the subpoenas? I can tell you that Ron Wyden of Oregon asked if the Justice Department made reasonable attempts to obtain

“information before they had issued the subpoenas. But I think the most interesting exchange”

was between Peter Welch of Vermont and acting attorney general, Todd Blanche. Do you support Mr. Patel's efforts to subpoena and get the reporters under the grill to disclose who their confidential sources are? The Department of Justice requires that I authorize it, which I did. And those reporters, we're not targeting reporters. Their material witnesses just like a reporter would be a material witness to a car crash. They have their witnesses. And so in the

question you want to ask them, is who were their sources? No. So the crux of this is Blanche saying all we're trying to do is figure out who talked to the reporters who talked to us. And Welch is saying hang on, that's a big deal because it impinges on our ability as reporters and the free press to do our jobs. And just to explain that if reporters are forced to divulge their sources, then those sources are not going to talk to us as journalists, that is why the First Amendment offers these protections

to journalists. Exactly. I'm curious, Tyler, what the status of these subpoenas are at the moment and whether or not reporters, including you, are now going to have to testify before a grand jury.

basically to have them tossed out. But the motion, like everything else in this case, is seal that

“the moment. So we don't know the exact wording of it. The Times is trying to get all of it on”

seal. And that motion is going to make its way through the court system. And ultimately, it will be up to a federal judge decide whether the subpoenas are permissible. Gotcha. Simple question. I have these subpoenas changed your ability and the ability of our colleagues to keep reporting on the story. Look, it definitely makes things harder and more complicated, but we're not stopping. We are continuing to do our jobs and report out this story.

We're going to try to figure out how safe this plane is and if any corners were caught in retrofitting it for the president. Well, Tyler, to that point, I want to end our conversation by bringing us back to Air Force One. Because from everything I can tell, this new

“Cotari donated plane is not as robustly protected as the original Air Force One. And therefore,”

flying on it would seem inherently riskier. Perhaps we'll never know how much riskier,

but riskier for those on board, including members of the president's cabinet, presidential staff, journalists, including journalists from the Times who end up traveling with the president. And ultimately, a pretty simple question here is, does that make sense? That's the question a lot of people are asking. And it's going to be really interesting to see whether the president takes this plane over

she's again. Because what this episode has revealed is it's not just lawmakers

and people in the administration who are concerned, but it's also the secret service,

which is responsible for protecting the president of the United States. Well, Tyler, thank you very much. Thanks so much, Michael. We'll do a back.

“Here's what else you need to know today. On Thursday, for the second day in a row,”

Canadian wildfires, combined with a heat dome, left a plume of dense smoke over much of the northeastern United States. The smoke made the air unhealthy to breathe in a string of large cities, including Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Minneapolis. As New Yorkers can see and in some neighborhoods, as New Yorkers can smell, smoke from the Canadian wildfires is over our city. In New York City, Mayor Zoron Mondani urged residents to limit their time outdoors,

at unhealthy levels, everyone, not just people with asthma and heart conditions, not just older adults, everyone may feel health effects. So today, every New Yorker should take precautions. Canada is struggling to contain the wildfires, as of Thursday, more than a hundred active fires were burning across northwestern Ontario. And in a speech on Thursday night, President Trump made at times outlandish claims about the

vulnerability of America's voting system, drawing selectively from documents that the White House published online and that Trump claimed had been covered up. But together, these discloses reveal an election system so broken and so vulnerable that no one can possibly defend it. It is not defensible. Trump, who has long argued without evidence that he won the 2020 election, focused on claims that China had compromised American voter roles and had sought to undermine

his reelection. But US intelligence agencies have concluded that China did not try to interfere in the 2020 race in an effort to change the outcome. Every American, whether you're a Republican, Democrat, independent or otherwise, should be able to agree that we deserve the most secure honest and fair election system anywhere in the world. Today's episode was produced by Jack Decidural, Mood Zady, and Olivia Nat.

It was edited by MJ Davis-Lin and Michael Ben-Waugh, and contains music by Dan Powell, Mary Lazzano, Diane Waw, and Roenie Misto. Our theme music is by Wonderland. This episode was engineered by Chris Wood. That's it for the Daily. I'm Michael Mowara. See you on Sunday.

of a marriage at sea Sophie Omhurst. This couple who set sail in their tiny boat, there they are

“halfway around the world, and they hit by a whale. I knew it wasn't just the story of the”

catastrophe that I wanted to write, what pulled me into it was the idea of this happening to a

marriage as much as to two individuals. Listen to the Book Review, or I view it get your podcast.