The gang that couldn’t authoritarian straight

The only positive thing you can say about Trump’s DOJ is that they’re too incompetent to be as evil as they would like to be:

The Justice Department said on Thursday that it would withdraw the subpoenas that sought phone records and grand jury testimony from New York Times journalists who had reported on the security capabilities of President Trump’s new Qatari-built Air Force One jet.

“The government is prepared to unilaterally withdraw the subpoenas at this time,” Sean Buckley, one of the highest-ranking officials in the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan, said at a hearing in U.S. District Court.

The government’s move came after Judge Arun Subramanian grilled Justice Department lawyers for nearly an hour over their handling of the subpoenas, which The Times had sought to quash. The newspaper called the subpoenas an effort to intimidate its reporters.

A taste of today’s proceedings:

Judge: You didn't tell the judge that the subpoena was about reporters, about the New York Times? Sullivan: We did not. It was an oversight. Later we did legal research. Judge: Wouldn't it have been relevant to know there had been public reporting? A: Yes— Inner City Press (@innercitypress.bsky.social) July 23, 2026 at 11:40 AM

Whoopsie! And by the way, this isn’t some rogue outliers in the department — it came straight from the top:

Keep in mind that these failed subpoenas were personally authorized by Todd Blanche, who is set to become the next Attorney General — unless a few GOP senators stand in the way

[image or embed]— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) 1:03 PM · Jul 23, 2026

The Senate remains free to use its advise and consent power to stop Blanche’s permanent appointment if it wants.