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In an extraordinarily troubling move, the White House took steps to force reporters from The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal to testify before a grand jury about federal leaks. Earlier this month, however, it withdrew the subpoenas after facing pushback from the news outlets.

The Department of Justice issued a subpoena for Post reporter Ellen Nakashima this spring regarding reporting about a national security matter. Meanwhile, three reporters for the Journal also received subpoenas for their reporting on national security.

Ultimately, none of the journalists ever testified, but it doesn’t make the ordeal any less concerning.

CNN’s Brian Stelter and Hannah Rabinowitz wrote, “The Justice Department subsequently withdrew the subpoenas, at least for the time being, though the episode remains a troubling example of President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against the news media.”

The Post had not publicly commented until the paper reported on the news Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the Post said in a statement, “The unwarranted subpoena of our reporter Ellen Nakashima — a clear violation of constitutionally guaranteed press freedom — was another sign of the government seeking to compel journalists to become instruments of its investigations. We will continue to stand fully behind the journalism of The Washington Post and fight all efforts by any administration that violates our First Amendment rights.”

According to The Washington Post’s Perry Stein, Post executive editor Matty Murray sent a memo to staff that said, “With the news out and the subpoena withdrawn, I want to reiterate our unwavering support for the First Amendment rights enshrined in our constitution, the legal protections afforded journalists, and our unblinking support of our journalists and press freedom.”

In May, CNN’s Rabinowitz and Kaitlan Collins reported that Trump himself pushed the Justice Department to issue subpoenas to reporters covering the war in Iran in an effort to flush out their sources.

Rabinowitz and Collins reported, “He delivered the message on a sticky note — the word ‘Treason’ in Sharpie — placed atop a stack of printed articles he handed to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a White House meeting, the officials said.”

At that time, the Journal reported that it received grand jury subpoenas dated March 4 for records of its reporters.

When asked by CNN, Blanche said that “reporters are not our targets.” However, he added that the Justice Department is “not going to stop investigating people who work in this administration who think it’s OK to leak classified information.”

The Washington Post’s editorial board published a strong editorial Tuesday criticizing the administration’s attempts to go after reporters to reveal their sources.

The board wrote, “The free press depends on confidential sources, and many of the most consequential stories in U.S. history wouldn’t have been possible if whistleblowers couldn’t trust that their identities would be protected. Sources risk their jobs, physical safety and prison time for sharing some information. It’s not just national security but reporting on organized crime, government misconduct and more.”

The board added, “The Post treats commitments to protect confidential sources with the utmost seriousness. This newspaper will never be intimidated by legal harassment. Support for press freedom, at home and abroad, will always be a core institutional value.”

Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders issued this statement on the matter:

“We are not shocked, but we are disappointed in the Trump administration for sinking to a new low in its efforts to suppress information from the American people. Subpoenaing journalists to appear before a grand jury under the guise of ‘national security’ is straight out of the dictator’s playbook. Fortunately, in the United States, newsrooms are fighting back and winning. RSF commends The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal for protecting their journalists from these obvious and outlandish attacks. As America marks 250 years of freedom from tyranny, RSF and the broader press freedom community will continue to stand for the freedom of the press that informs Americans and holds petty politicians to account.”

National Press Club president Mark Schoeff Jr. said, in part, in a statement, “The decision to subpoena journalists and seek to compel their testimony before a grand jury represents one of the most aggressive actions against a free and independent press in recent memory. Reporters were one step away from being forced to participate in a criminal investigation because they were doing their jobs. That should alarm every American who values a free press.”

New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s new book, “Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump,” hit bookshelves Tuesday. We’ve gotten a few teasers in recent days, including a story based on the reporting for the book that appeared in the Times two weeks ago: “Inside the White House Freakout Over the Epstein Files.”

Another story drawn from the book revealed how the administration debated whether or not to limit habeas corpus rights for undocumented immigrants.

The authors reportedly conducted 1,000 interviews for the book, including Trump himself, as well as campaign officials, White House staff members, officials serving in government departments and agencies, former aides, donors, lawmakers, friends and business associates.

But some of the book’s details include highly sensitive meetings in the Situation Room with only a small number of people. How in the world did Haberman and Swan get such details?

They appeared on “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart on Monday night, and Stewart, in typical hilarious manner, asked the question everyone wanted to hear.

Stewart said, “You have information here from inside the Situation Room, where they’re having a meeting to discuss the damage from the Epstein files. There’s only five people in the room? Six? … Without giving away the secret, who’s the rat?”

Both Haberman and Swan laughed. But then Stewart followed up by asking another question that many really want answered: Was Trump the source for the highly secret meetings?

Haberman said Trump was not in the meetings written about in the book. Swan followed up by saying, “They had the Epstein meetings without him because they knew he didn’t want to talk about Epstein.”

There have also been rumors that there were tapes of the meeting and those tapes could possibly be where the Times reporters got their information. Stewart asked them point-blank if that was the case.

Swan said they would not talk about that, and Haberman said, “We appreciate you. We’re not going to talk about sourcing.”

Stewart then got big laughs from Haberman, Swan and the audience when he said, “No. And I wouldn’t. And I wouldn’t ask you to. What I would do is … I’m going to say a name …”

Check out the entire interview for not only some laughs, but real insight into the book.

With the book finally out, we are learning more juicy details about how things are done in this second Trump administration.

Mediaite’s Sean James wrote: “5 Wildest New Trump Bombshells From Star NYT Reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan’s Book.”

Topping that list was Trump apparently being startled when he learned he had slapped a 125% tariff on certain goods from China. It led the president to say, “Holy (expletive)!” when he found out.

Another detail that is actually not all that surprising: Trump appears surrounded by “radicalized” MAGA zealots. Haberman appeared on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MS NOW show on Monday and said, “They believe there is something almost mystical about him. That he can hear frequencies that maybe they can’t. And they hate the mainstream media more than they hate things they see him doing, that they have concerns about.”

Writing about “Regime Change,” New Yorker editor David Remnick called it a “vivid, rigorous, and unavoidably depressing chronicle of the first year of Trump’s second term in the White House.”

Remnick added, “‘Regime Change’ is exceptional. It transcends its genre. Although some of the material is familiar from the Times and other sources and from Trump’s own relentless self-exposure, the book is packed with news that will stay news.”

He also wrote, “As July 4th approaches, the water in the Reflecting Pool—refurbished by Trump’s ‘pool guy’ with a no-bid contract—turns green with algae. It is a dismal time in the capital. Haberman and Swan have done admirable work, but one turns the final pages of ‘Regime Change’ hoping that their next book is the story of transition, from the era of Trump to one of democratic renewal. That chapter cannot come soon enough.”

Meanwhile, in her “Fresh Hell” newsletter, journalist Tina Brown called the book a “flabbergasting feat of political reporting.”

Brown added, “In sum, ‘Regime Change’ brings cool coherence to the inferno of our times. One realizes with mounting panic that Trump’s degradation of every political norm, treasured alliance, and human decency in public life shows that the Founding Fathers’ verities we celebrate on America’s 250th anniversary are in the rear-view mirror.”

During her appearance on “The Daily Show,” Haberman was very complimentary of CNN host and White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins.

Haberman talked about how the White House makes it difficult for reporters, saying, “They have structured — this White House — the press corps so that it is primarily people, or half people who they consider to be friendly to them. They control the media pool that is in there now. They control seats.”

Then Haberman said, “Routinely the only person really challenging him aggressively — and not rudely or unprofessionally — is Kaitlan Collins. And she takes an enormous amount of (expletive), and she keeps a total straight face. But she doesn’t have backup.”

Mediaite’s Joe DePaolo has more on Haberman’s comments about what it’s like to cover Trump on a daily basis.

The case of Nancy Guthrie, the missing 84-year-old mother of NBC “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, continues to take heartbreaking and troubling turns. Nancy has been missing since disappearing from her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Feb. 1.

On Monday, news broke that a second note sent to the Guthrie family through the media claimed Nancy had died. The note was sent days after her disappearance. It followed up on an earlier note asking for cryptocurrency in exchange for Nancy’s release. The second note did not ask for money and didn’t offer an apology. It simply claimed that Nancy had died.

Tuesday morning’s “Today” show did a story on the latest news. After the story, Savannah Guthrie, through tears, said, “I’m not involved in our coverage, but I can’t pretend I’m not here. And so, since I am, I wanted to just take the opportunity to ask people — to really, to beg people — to come forward. Somebody knows something.”

She added, “This is a news story today that is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live, every day. And we are in agony. Please do the right thing. … We love our mom, and we’ll never stop looking for her, ever.”

Semafor’s Max Tani and Rohan Goswami deliver this big scoop Tuesday: “The Daily Wire, one of the biggest players in conservative media, is in talks to take on at least $100 million in investment, with an eye on an initial public offering in a few years’ time.”

Tani and Goswami added, “The company, which was founded by conservative podcaster Ben Shapiro in 2015, has been in talks with Highmount Capital to lead a funding round that would value the company at $750 million, according to documents reviewed by Semafor.”

It has been a rough spell for The Daily Wire.

As Tani and Goswami explained, “Once seen as the Fox News for the next generation of conservatives, the Daily Wire has stumbled over the last several years. Strategic missteps and internecine fighting have led to key departures and audience attrition. The company parted ways last year with CEO Jeremy Boreing, who had spearheaded its expansion into big-budget scripted film series. The move came at the same time that Shapiro clashed with former Daily Wire employee Candace Owens and other media personalities on the right, including Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon. The Daily Wire’s paid subscriptions — which make up about three quarters of the company’s revenue — dropped by a third in 2025 from a year ago, to roughly 850,000 people. Ad revenue, which is 20% of its revenue, has also dropped every year since 2022.”

In addition, Semafor’s reporting shows that even though The Daily Wire has 3.2 million subscribers on YouTube, recent YouTube videos have had only tens of thousands of views, and the outlet has begun to lose subscribers.

Still, Tani and Goswami write, “Even if the $1 billion price tag or the potential IPO price remain far-fetched for a business that relies heavily on a handful of individual personalities like Shapiro, the Daily Wire’s significant paid subscription business easily makes it one of the biggest players in this era of political digital media.”

Documentarian Ken Burns, shown here in June of 2024 in College Park. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

My colleague Amaris Castillo is out with the latest article for The Poynter 50 — a series reflecting on 50 moments and people that shaped journalism over the past half-century. She has a terrific piece about perhaps the most influential documentarian of our time in “How Ken Burns helps shape America’s understanding of its own history.”

Burns is known for documentaries about topics that represent the American experience, including the American Revolution, the Civil War, the Vietnam War, baseball, jazz and country music.

Castillo writes that “there is a difference between journalism and what Burns does. In his interview with Poynter, the filmmaker referenced the famous quote attributed to the late Philip L. Graham: ‘Journalism is the first rough draft of history.’”

Burns told Castillo, “It’s a wonderful phrase, but I’d like to suggest that nobody ever turns in a rough draft. And I’m not in the rough draft. I’m in the polished shine.”

Be sure to check out Castillo’s terrific piece.

As I mentioned in Tuesday’s newsletter, Linda Cohn is retiring from ESPN after 34 years. She has anchored more episodes of “SportsCenter” (more than 5,650) than anyone. Her final appearance on “SportsCenter” will be this Friday.

The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, who can be a tough critic, had high praise for Cohn, writing, “Linda Cohn never got her own ‘SportsCenter,’ never got to be paired in a star tandem like Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann and never had the legendary catchphrases like Stuart Scott. But if you wanted the best face on ESPN’s most famous promotion for the program, ‘This is SportsCenter,’ it very well should be Cohn’s. She was SportsCenter, just that reliable presence with the facts, some light quips and the highlights. You knew you were going to get a great show. At ESPN internally, the executives in charge have often preached about putting the show before the individual, while rewarding the people who do the opposite the most handsomely. Cohn did very well in her career, but never had the full marquee. But she was as good as anyone, putting the games and news she was narrating first. She really was everything the network should be.”

And here’s Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann with “‘SportsCenter’ officially reaches the end of its golden age.”

Wall Street Journal sports columnist Jason Gay with “The World Cup’s Juicy TV Rivalry: The Egomaniac and the Loudmouth.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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