At a press conference during the NATO summit, Trump was questioned about why he wasn’t returning on his new Qatari gift, Bribe Force One.
Trump responded, “It’s flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases where we can show it to the people, and we’ll be going home by, uh, normal methods. But we, uh, we have it going to Europe to a couple of bases, actually one in particular, but it’s gonna go to a couple of bases.”
This response was misleading. The aircraft was indeed bound for a military base, but not for public display.
The plane’s journey was necessitated by its lack of essential security features, rendering it unsafe for presidential travel.
The New York Times covered this, prompting an investigation by the DOJ, which sought to subpoena the three journalists responsible for the article.
On Thursday, the DOJ under Trump retracted the subpoenas, citing legal errors.
Prior to their withdrawal, a hearing took place where a judge publicly chastised the DOJ, delivering a stern reprimand.
