#new-york-times — Trump Fail

The DOJ Sent Federal Agents to the Homes of Four New York Times Reporters With Grand-Jury Subpoenas — for Reporting That Trump's Qatari Air Force One Lacks Missile Defenses and That the Secret Service Told Him Not to Fly It — and the Prosecutor Who Issued Them Is Trump's Nominee to Run National Intelligence

The Justice Department subpoenaed four New York Times journalists — Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt — ordering them before a Manhattan federal grand jury "in regard to an alleged violation of criminal law." Federal agents delivered some of the subpoenas to the reporters' homes. Their offense: reporting that the Secret Service urged Trump to leave the NATO summit in Turkey aboard the old Air Force One rather than the Qatari-gifted Boeing 747, and that the gifted jet lacks "defensive countermeasures that were security features of the old model, including its advanced antimissile capabilities." The subpoenas were issued by Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan — who is himself Trump's nominee to become Director of National Intelligence, with a confirmation hearing days away — and followed a White House meeting involving FBI Director Kash Patel. The Times said it will fight the order. Its newsroom lawyer David McCraw said federal agents on reporters' doorsteps "should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects." The National Press Club called it "an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment." The DOJ claimed "reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are." The move fits a pattern: the department earlier issued then withdrew similar subpoenas against Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters, the FBI searched a Post reporter's home in January, and in April 2025 AG Pam Bondi rescinded the Biden-era policy that shielded journalists' records in leak investigations. The reporting being criminalized is the same reporting documented here days ago — that the $400M+ rushed retrofit produced a plane one analyst said was suited to "domestic hops rather than hostile skies."

White House Secretly Pressured the Board Meant to Protect Civil Servants — Sherk Told MSPB Head to Follow "the Company Line," Board Then Broke with Decades of Precedent, and 50,000 Workers Lost Protections

A New York Times investigation by Michael Schmidt reveals that the Trump White House secretly pressured the Merit Systems Protection Board — the independent agency created after Nixonian abuses to protect federal employees from political firings — into adopting the administration's theory that the president can fire any civil servant at will. White House aide James Sherk, author of the Schedule F memo and a man who has said "every federal employee should serve at the pleasure of the president," met with acting MSPB head Henry Kerner while Kerner was being considered for a permanent position. Sherk told Kerner he was expected to follow the Office of Legal Counsel's opinions on unitary executive theory — described by experts as "little different from calling a federal judge and telling him how to rule." The MSPB then broke with decades of precedent and ruled that it could weigh in on constitutional questions in a way that effectively endorsed the president's power to fire employees without cause. This followed Trump firing Democratic MSPB member Cathy Harris in February 2025 — converting the bipartisan board into one controlled by his appointees — and the Supreme Court blocking her reinstatement via shadow docket. On March 9, 2026, the Schedule Policy/Career rule took effect, stripping civil service protections from up to 50,000 federal workers, making them at-will employees who cannot appeal firings to the MSPB, cannot access statutory whistleblower protections, and cannot challenge their reclassification. An initial executive order reclassified about 8,000 positions. When DOJ prosecutor Maureen Comey (daughter of James Comey) was fired via an Article II letter, a federal judge ruled she could bypass the compromised MSPB and sue directly in federal court — finding the constitutional basis for her firing placed her case "outside the universe" Congress intended the MSPB to resolve. The D.C. Circuit dissent warned: "Under my colleagues' reasoning, it appears that no independent agencies may lawfully exist in this country."

Trump Claims Vandals Cut a "350-Foot Gash" in the Reflecting Pool and Calls Them "Enemies of Our Country" — But the Government Won't Produce Any Records, the Gash Length Keeps Growing, a PolitiFact Reporter Couldn't Find It, and the Only Person Charged Is a 67-Year-Old Three-Time Olympian Who Touched a Piece of Already-Peeling Paint

As the Reflecting Pool renovation continues to unravel — algae, peeling paint, storm drains, $16+ million in costs — Trump has constructed an alternative explanation: vandals did it. He claims six people were arrested and seven cited for cutting "a 350-foot gash" in the sealant with "a very sharp knife or razors." He calls them "enemies" who "want to destroy our country." The problems: (1) The government has produced no records of these arrests — no complaints, no citations, no court filings. The New York Times reported "no records of arrests or citations have been produced to support the president's claims." (2) The alleged gash keeps growing: 150 feet, then 250, then 300, then 350. (3) A PolitiFact reporter visited the pool and saw no visible gash. Officers on-site could not point to it. (4) Interior Department staff noticed coating defects including bubbling and small holes in May — before any alleged vandalism. (5) The only confirmed arrest is David Carter Hearn, a 67-year-old three-time Olympic canoeist, who says he simply reached in to touch a piece of already-peeling paint during a bike ride and was held in a Park Police jail for five hours. (6) Pool experts say the polyurea coating is naturally chemical-resistant, and the tools Trump describes would cause only superficial damage. Former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori: "My operating hypothesis is that this information is not being produced to the public because it would not support the president's claims." He compared it to a pattern where the D.C. U.S. attorney's office under Jeanine Pirro loudly publicizes cases that serve the narrative — like the "sandwich guy" arrest video — but goes silent when the facts don't cooperate. Khardori: "I don't believe him. I'll just be honest."