The US government has banned three New York Times journalists Donald Trump News

The bailout is the latest example of the government’s crackdown on media outlets facing court challenges.

US attorneys have withdrawn the subpoenas seeking to compel Three New York Times reporters to testify about their sources for the story about the Air Force One flight delivered to US President Donald Trump and Qatar.

Justice Arun Subramanian criticized the state’s lawyers for what he saw as sloppy work during deliberations in court on Thursday.

“Subpoenas are not the first thing to do; they are the last thing to do,” said an angry Subramanian.

“When you see things like this, if it was criminal, what I would do is ask the parties to show reasons why the ban should not be issued,” he said.

The Trump administration has sought to cover up the incident as it pressures journalists to reveal their sources, a request that has raised concerns about the freedom of the US press as the president and his allies continue to fight against critical media and political opponents.

However, such efforts have been largely rejected in court. The US government recently withdrew similar subpoenas that sought to compel journalists such as the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.

Lawyers for the New York Times challenged the validity of the grand jury subpoenas as well as the telephone subpoenas of several reporters and their family members. The editor-in-chief of the paper and the general counsel were present at the event on Thursday.

The administration says it is pursuing whistleblowers to the media to hear a story about Trump taking an old example. Air Force One a flight back from a meeting in Turkey, not the one gifted from Qatar.

The Secret Service is said to have advised that the new plane, which the government has spent $400m on to restore and refurbish, does not have security requirements such as antimissile capabilities.

“Journalists are not the target; confidential information is,” the Justice Department said in reference to the subpoena request.

Access to information from official sources is a cornerstone of journalism, and national security reporting in particular, and is considered essential to press freedom. Efforts by the US government under both Democratic and Republican administrations to compel journalists to reveal their sources have been seen as an attempt to weaken those protections.