Senate Democrats on Monday demanded answers from Todd Blanche, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general, about subpoenas he authorized to New York Times journalists, including whether President Trump had pressured the Justice Department to issue them.
In a letter to Mr. Blanche that came as Republicans are pressing to confirm him, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee argued that federal prosecutors violated internal standards when they issued subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony and phone records from several Times journalists who had reported on the security vulnerabilities of the jet that Qatar gave to Mr. Trump to use as Air Force One.
“The government’s conduct involved a series of bad-faith efforts to conceal notice of these subpoenas and intimidate journalists and their families following the publication of a story that allegedly enraged President Trump,” the Democrats wrote.
The letter raised new questions about the leadership of Mr. Blanche, the acting attorney general, ahead of a planned vote of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday on whether to advance his nomination to the full Senate.
With Democrats unified in opposition, Republicans cannot afford any defections. So far, two Republicans, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, have said they are undecided about Mr. Blanche, though they have not cited the subpoenas when asked about their concerns.
The Justice Department withdrew the subpoenas last week after a federal judge raised similar questions about whether prosecutors had followed the law and the department’s internal regulations on investigations involving news reporters.
The Democrats asked for a briefing from Justice Department officials on whether prosecutors followed their own rules. They also raised a number of questions about the department’s investigation, including whether Mr. Trump or any White House aides directly ordered the Justice Department to subpoena the reporters. The letter was led by Senator Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California.
Democrats sent the letter as the Senate proceeded with a vote to lay the groundwork for the confirmation of Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan who is Mr. Trump’s choice to be the next director of national intelligence. At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Clayton said the subpoenas had been issued according to the department’s regulations, but offered few details.
That same day, Mr. Blanche told the Judiciary Committee that federal prosecutors hoped to ask the reporters who had given them classified information concerning Mr. Trump’s plane. He likened reporters to “material witnesses” to a car crash.
The Democrats took particular issue with that statement, writing in their letter that Mr. Blanche had conflated “constitutionally protected news gathering and source protection” with eyewitness observation.
The government began a leak investigation this month after The Times reported that federal officials had significant concerns about the security of Mr. Trump’s plane.
The Democrats accused the Justice Department of violating its own guidelines for “reasonable and timely notice” for media subpoenas by waiting more than a week to notify The Times that it had issued subpoenas for the phone records.
The letter argued that the subpoenas, which sought phone records dating back to Jan. 1, months before The Times published its articles, violated guidance that subpoenas be issued only for “essential” information.
And it argued that the Justice Department had improperly targeted journalists’ relatives when it issued subpoenas for the phone records of the mother of one reporter and the spouses of two others.
The Times made similar arguments in a motion it filed seeking to quash the subpoenas.
