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President defends subpoenas targeting leakers while reporters note DOJ withdrawal
Summary
Reporters said the Justice Department withdrew subpoenas to a New York Times journalist; the president said he supported using legal tools to find leakers and described investigations as aimed at "leakers," not the press, while acknowledging past administrations had used similar measures.
Reporters raised a recent Justice Department action and asked whether the president supported subpoenas that had been issued to people connected with a New York Times reporter. A reporter said the DOJ had withdrawn subpoenas to a Times journalist; the president replied: "We're not after journalists. We're after leakers. We're after people that are cowards, people that are unpatriotic, people that are treasonous in many cases."
When asked whether it was appropriate to subpoena family members of reporters to get leakers, the president said he did not know what was "appropriate" in every case and defended legal means to identify sources tied to national-security leaks, noting that prior administrations had pursued similar lines of inquiry. He also said the government sometimes approaches journalists and asks for sources when national-security information is at stake.
Reporters pressed whether such subpoenas were overbroad; the president emphasized national-security considerations as a justification for investigative steps but did not provide legal citations, limits, or specifics about the withdrawn subpoenas during the briefing. The exchange included an on-the-record affirmation that the DOJ had withdrawn subpoenas and a president's restatement of a distinction he drew between journalists and leakers.
