Looks like the editors of the Grey Lady have been rattled by President Trump's threats.

President Trump's demands that Attorney General Jeff Sessions investigate the New York Times over its publication of a scathingly critical anonymous op-ed allegedly penned by a "senior administration official" have clearly rattled the grey lady. That much is made clear in a statement issued by the Times Friday afternoon where the paper's editors said they're "confident the DOJ understands that the First Amendment protects all American citizens and that they would not participate in such a blatant abuse of power."

Michael Grynbaum, a former New York City Hall reporter who now covers media, TV and politics for the paper, tweeted the statement:

In response to a question from a reporter aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump said he believes Sessions and the DOJ should launch an investigation because the president believes that whoever wrote the op-ed represents a serious national security threat.

"Yeah, I would say Jeff should be investigating who the author of this piece was because I really believe it's national security," Trump said, according to CNN. [...] Asked whether any legal action would be taken against The New York Times, Trump demurred: "Well, we're going to see." [...] "We're going to take a look at what he had, what he gave, what he's talking about, also where he is right now," Trump said. "Suppose I have a high level national security and he has got a clearance -- we talk about clearances a lot recently -- and he goes into a high-level meeting concerning China or Russia or North Korea or something and this guy goes in. I don't want him in those meetings."

Trump also railed against the op-ed's anonymous author during a rally in Montana Thursday night, where he said that "for the sake of our national security, the New York Times should publish his name at once...I think their reporters should go investigate who it was - that would be a good scoop."





For its part, the DOJ has chosen to maintain an ominous silence, with one spokeswoman refusing to confirm or deny whether an investigation has been launched.

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment on the mater, saying "we do not confirm or deny investigations."

Sessions is already on thin on with the president (it's widely believed that he won't make it to 2019), so there's certainly some incentive for him to launch the investigation. And of course, anybody who remembers the Pentagon Papers could tell you that this wouldn't be the first time the DOJ has investigated the New York Times...