The Trump administration on Friday issued subpoenas to some New York Times journalists over a story they published on security concerns involving the president’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One aircraft.

The subpoenas seek to compel the reporters, Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager, and Eric Schmitt, to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday. 

“The subpoenas were delivered by federal agents who showed up at reporters’ homes,” The Times said on Saturday.

The newspaper described this move as “an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organisations.”

David McCraw, The Times’s newsroom lawyer, in a statement on Friday, said, “The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.

“Our journalists report the facts and advance the American public’s right to know how their government is operating, and their taxpayer dollars are being used. This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

The U.S. Department of Justice said the subpoenas issued were not targeted at journalists but a crucial move to tackle the leaking of national security information.

“To be clear, reporters are not the targets; those leaking classified information are,” the DoJ said.

“Every administration has addressed the crime of leaking national security information. To the extent that we have to investigate breaches of national security, that’s something that we will continue to do. 

“We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information,” it added.

Earlier in the week, President Donald Trump travelled in the new aircraft to a NATO summit in Turkey. 

Mr Trump, however, left Turkey for the Mildenhall Royal Air Force Base in Suffolk, England, using an older Air Force One jet.

The newspaper had published stories alleging that Mr Trump had to continue his trip to England in an older Air Force One jet because the Qatari-gifted plane was not secure enough, based on Secret Service advice.