Trump Handed His Acting AG a Stack of News Articles with "Treason" Written in Sharpie — The DOJ Then Tried to Drag Post and Journal Reporters Before a Grand Jury, and Backed Down
The Washington Post reported on June 23, 2026, that Trump's Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas this spring to compel reporters from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify under oath in a leak investigation — then withdrew them earlier this month after the two newsrooms challenged them in a secret legal fight in the Eastern District of Virginia. The targets were Post national security reporter Ellen Nakashima and three unnamed Wall Street Journal reporters. CNN reported that Trump personally pushed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to issue the subpoenas, handing him a stack of printed articles with the word "Treason" written across them in Sharpie. The leak hunt was driven by Trump's anger over carefully sourced stories warning of the risks of attacking Iran — stories that turned out to be prescient. Compelling a journalist to reveal sources before a grand jury is extraordinarily rare; the National Press Club called it "one of the most aggressive actions against a free and independent press in recent memory." It followed a deliberate dismantling of press protections: in April, AG Pam Bondi rescinded the Biden-era policy shielding reporters' records, and in January the FBI searched the home of Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her devices. No reporter testified — but the DOJ offered no explanation for the withdrawal, leaving open whether the subpoenas will simply be reissued.