* The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Senate Judiciary Committee members to hold acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accountable regarding anti-press actions at the Department of Justice during his confirmation hearings.
* On July 10, the Department of Justice issued federal grand jury subpoenas to *New York Times* reporters concerning security concerns about President Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One.
* These subpoenas seek journalist testimony on July 15, the same day as Blanche’s first confirmation hearing.
* United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton issued the subpoenas and faces a Senate confirmation hearing for nomination as director of national intelligence.
* José Zamora, CPJ’s regional director for the Americas, stated the Justice Department has weaponized authorities to silence journalists.
* Under Acting AG Blanche's tenure, CPJ documented actions including rescinding source protection policies, issuing grand jury subpoenas for Iran war reporting, searching a journalist’s home and seizing devices, arresting/charging journalists with federal felonies, and restricting press access to immigration courts.
* The DOJ has not publicly announced criminal investigations into targeted killings of American citizens by the Israeli Defense Forces in 2022 or wounding of American citizen Dylan Collins in 2023.
* The FBI opened investigations into *New York Times* and *The Atlantic* journalists following their reporting on Director Kash Patel’s alleged behavior.
* CPJ endorsed the Privacy Protection Updates Act to bolster safeguards against searches of journalistic material, noting the DOJ ignored the original Privacy Protection Act of 1980 during an FBI raid.

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senate Judiciary Committee members to hold acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accountable by questioning him about anti-press actions at the Department of Justice during his confirmation hearings. This request stems from federal grand jury subpoenas issued by the DOJ on July 10 to *New York Times* reporters who covered security concerns regarding President Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One. These subpoenas seek testimony on July 15, coinciding with Blanche's first confirmation hearing. José Zamora of CPJ asserts that the Justice Department has used its authority to silence journalists for reporting on the administration and calls for Acting AG Blanche to address these press freedom violations and reaffirm commitment to the First Amendment.
Blanche served as acting attorney general since April and was confirmed as deputy attorney general in March 2025. The context provided includes documented instances during his tenure involving retaliation and intimidation of journalists from the DOJ, such as rescinding source protection policies, issuing prior grand jury subpoenas for Iran war reporting, searching a journalist’s home and seizing devices, arresting journalists, and restricting press access to immigration courts. Furthermore, the Department has reportedly failed to launch criminal investigations regarding targeted killings of American citizens by the Israeli Defense Forces in 2022 and 2023, despite FBI investigations into journalists following their reporting on Director Kash Patel’s alleged behavior. The DOJ also ignored the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 when the FBI raided a reporter's home and seized devices.

The narrative presents a friction point between executive authority, press freedom protections, and the investigative mandate of the Department of Justice. The pattern emerging is one where official government actions targeting journalists—including subpoenas, raids, and legal action against reporters—are framed within broader national security or administrative contexts, thereby obscuring the direct violation of First Amendment rights. The repetition of incidents involving surveillance and suppression, such as the documented history of retaliation under Blanche’s tenure and the failure to investigate specific international accountability cases (Abu Akleh, Collins), suggests a systemic challenge to external oversight mechanisms when state actors are involved.
The juxtaposition of the DOJ's stated mission with its operational record—specifically ignoring established privacy laws and failing to pursue investigations into international incidents—suggests a hierarchy where political objectives supersede established legal and journalistic safeguards. The call for accountability is not just about specific subpoenas but about reinforcing the principle that federal agencies cannot unilaterally weaponize authority against the press, regardless of perceived administrative necessity. This calls into question whether the commitment to upholding the rule of law is being applied equally across all actors within the DOJ structure when external pressures are present.
The implications point toward a tension between institutional accountability (as demanded by CPJ and advocates) and the operational reality of federal law enforcement. The persistence of patterns where formal investigations into high-profile killings or surveillance are withheld, even in cases involving American citizens, suggests that accountability mechanisms operate differently depending on the nature of the alleged subject matter, creating an uneven playing field for journalistic protection. This raises the question of who bears the responsibility when institutional structures fail to pursue justice against documented abuses.