{"id":3749,"date":"2026-07-22T17:08:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749"},"modified":"2026-07-22T17:08:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:08:50","slug":"trump-doj-just-blew-up-its-own-fight-against-the-1st-amendment-ex-federal-prosecutor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749","title":{"rendered":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Last week, President Donald Trump launched a new assault on the First Amendment by sending swarms of subpoena-wielding FBI agents to the homes of New York Times journalists, demanding that they reveal sources to a recent story about security concerns regarding his Qatari-gifted jet. But while Trump may be making an intimidating show of force, a former federal prosecutor says that his attack is likely already doomed for two reasons his Justice Department should have realized. <\/p>\n

Read more Ex-congressman details signs Trump never plans on leaving the White House<\/a><\/p>\n

This is according to former assistant US attorney Elie Honig, who on Tuesday examined the legal context of a White House attempting to force a journalist to give up its sources. According to legal precedent and obvious facts here in the present, writes Honig<\/u>, the president has a flimsy case. <\/p>\n

According to Honig, \u201cThe Justice Department\u2019s own internal policy<\/u> \u2014 most recently updated in April 2025, during the current Trump administration \u2014 exposes just how abusive the Times subpoenas are. The newly revised Justice Manual<\/u> specifies that subpoenas should be served on journalists only as \u2018an extraordinary measure to be deployed as a last resort\u2019 in a case of \u2018substantial importance\u2019 to law enforcement or national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honig says this makes it clear that there are two problems, writing, \u201cFirst, forget about a case of \u2018substantial importance\u2019 \u2014 the Times\u2019s reporting barely poses any security risk at all. The Times didn\u2019t reveal war plans or expose an undercover agent or publicize information about an ongoing crime or disclose details about potential domestic vulnerabilities to foreign attack. In fact, it was already widely and publicly known that Trump had flown to Turkey on the Qatari plane and that the switch back to the original Air Force One happened before his return home. All the Times added was that the change in aircraft was \u2018a security precaution related to the resumption of hostilities with Iran.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Ex-general warns Trump learning the hard way to \u2018never underestimate your enemy\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCrucially,\u201d Honig elaborates, \u201cthe Times did not report anything about the specific nature of those security concerns around the Qatari plane, or where weaknesses might exist. Nobody with bad intentions could realistically use the information in the Times story to do anything malicious, beyond rolling their eyes that Trump had accepted the dubious foreign gift in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond,\u201d writes Honig, \u201cit\u2019s doubtful the Justice Department tried less intrusive measures before deploying the \u2018last resort\u2019 \u2014 the Trump DOJ\u2019s own words \u2014 of subpoenaing journalists. Did investigators first make any effort to get information about the apparent leaks from other evidentiary sources? Did prosecutors give the journalists a chance to negotiate their disclosures, or perhaps to voluntarily provide certain limited information? Given how quickly this all unfolded \u2014 the Times story<\/u> broke on July 8, and subpoena<\/u>-wielding agents came knocking two days later \u2014 it seems DOJ broke its own rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Times has filed a motion to block the subpoenas. While Honig says the aforementioned issues should be compelling to the judge, he concludes on a grim note, writing, \u201cIf the Times ultimately prevails, the Justice Department\u2019s leak investigation could still continue but the reporters won\u2019t have to give up their sources. But if the Times loses and the subpoenas are deemed lawful, things will get dark. Each journalist will have to decide whether to comply and reveal their sources to prosecutors \u2014 or to risk a contempt finding and imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more MAGA hitting roadblocks in quest for total media domination: Nobel economist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, President Donald Trump launched a new assault on the First Amendment by sending swarms of subpoena-wielding FBI agents to the homes of New York Times journalists, demanding that they reveal sources to a recent story about security concerns regarding his Qatari-gifted jet. But while Trump …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week, President Donald Trump launched a new assault on the First Amendment by sending swarms of subpoena-wielding FBI agents to the homes of New York Times journalists, demanding that they reveal sources to a recent story about security concerns regarding his Qatari-gifted jet. But while Trump ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next Address America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"headline\":\"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749\",\"name\":\"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?p=3749#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Next Address America\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextaddressamerica.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America","og_description":"Last week, President Donald Trump launched a new assault on the First Amendment by sending swarms of subpoena-wielding FBI agents to the homes of New York Times journalists, demanding that they reveal sources to a recent story about security concerns regarding his Qatari-gifted jet. But while Trump ...","og_url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749","og_site_name":"Next Address America","article_published_time":"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"headline":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor","datePublished":"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749"},"wordCount":603,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749","name":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor - Next Address America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-22T17:08:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/eac624ae06b0ccfc7f037c437ca29dac.webp","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?p=3749#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump DOJ just blew up its own fight against the 1st Amendment: ex-federal prosecutor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/","name":"Next Address America","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a4840e0eb2094ec31aed2107d53108b3","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com"],"url":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nextaddressamerica.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}