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DOJ issued grand jury subpoenas compelling Washington Post and Wall Street Journal reporters to testify about sources

On June 23, 2026, the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas ordering reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify about their confidential sources, then withdrew the subpoenas after they became public. The Associated Press confirmed the issuance and withdrawal via sources familiar with the matter. The subpoenas targeted newsgathering activity, not disclosures of classified information, making them a direct threat to press-source confidentiality at two of the country's largest newspapers.

Jurisdiction
federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On June 23, 2026, the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas to reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, ordering them to appear before a federal grand jury and testify about their confidential sources. The subpoenas were withdrawn the same day after The Washington Post reported their existence and the action became public. The Associated Press confirmed both the issuance and the withdrawal via sources familiar with the matter, and The New York Times independently corroborated the account.

The subpoenas did not arise from allegations of classified information leaks — the category in which journalists have historically been treated as witnesses rather than targets. Instead, they targeted newsgathering activity itself, compelling reporters to expose the source relationships that underpin their reporting. Issuing a grand jury subpoena against a journalist for their sourcing is a recognized chilling mechanism: even a subpoena that is withdrawn has already signaled to every potential government source that speaking to those reporters carries legal risk.

The action fits a documented pattern of press-freedom pressure from the Trump administration. The DOJ under Attorney General Pam Bondi has engaged in retaliatory litigation and jawboning directed at critical media, while the FCC under Chair Brendan Carr threatened TV broadcast license revocations and the Pentagon under Secretary Hegseth imposed a pre-publication approval policy requiring reporters to sign agreements waiving the right to gather uncleared information. The withdrawal of these subpoenas under public pressure is consistent with prior administration retreats after legal or reputational exposure.

Why we recorded this

A free press depends on reporters being able to cultivate confidential sources without the government turning its grand jury apparatus on them. The Justice Department's decision to issue subpoenas compelling reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify about their sources—regardless of the subsequent withdrawal—is a coercive act that chills source relationships at the nation's two largest general-circulation newspapers. Deploying the compulsory power of a grand jury against journalists for newsgathering, even briefly, signals to potential sources that speaking to the press carries legal risk. The withdrawal under public pressure does not erase the threat; it confirms the administration was willing to make it.

Sources

  1. Justice Department withdraws subpoenas that sought reporters' grand jury testimony, sources say — Associated Press primary accessed June 24, 2026
  2. DOJ issued subpoenas to force Post, WSJ reporters to testify before grand jury — The Washington Post secondary accessed June 24, 2026
  3. Justice Dept. Issued, Then Withdrew, Grand Jury Subpoenas of Journalists — The New York Times secondary accessed June 24, 2026

See also