Journalism advocacy groups criticised the subpoenas as a threat to press freedom and constitutional rights.
The National Press Club urged the Justice Department to “immediately” withdraw the subpoenas.
“When federal agents arrive at the homes of journalists with subpoenas, it is not ordinary law enforcement,” the club said in a statement. “It is an extraordinary assault on the freedom of the press that strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”
Clayton was recently nominated by Trump to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press called on the US Senate Intelligence Committee to hold Clayton accountable when he appears for his confirmation hearing next Wednesday.
“When the public’s right to know is crushed, as the Trump Administration is trying to do with its subpoenas against The New York Times, all of us suffer irreparable harm, as does the freedom upon which this nation is built,” Stephen J Adler, chairman of the Reporters Committee, said in a statement.
Trump said on Wednesday that he would use an older Air Force One “for old time’s sake” to fly from Ankara to the Royal Air Force base at Mildenhall in Britain while the new plane stopped at the same base so US service members stationed there could tour the aircraft.
Video late on Wednesday showed Trump boarding the new Air Force One gifted by Qatar at the British base as it prepared to fly to the US.