Which side are you on?

As the “Justice Department” prepares to haul five New York Times reporters before a grand jury to investigate leaks over the adequacy of missile defenses on Donald Trump’s Qatari Air Force One, the White House Correspondents Association is on it.

With a press release.

New York Times image

“The White House Correspondents’ Association stands with the New York Times reporters who were targeted for doing their jobs to uphold the public’s right to know how its government operates. The WHCA condemns any act of intimidation against journalists, including attempts to pressure them into revealing sources.”

Whether the organization that represents journalists working at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is ready to do more than a two-sentence condemnation over this latest and blatant slap in the face of the First Amendment remains a mystery.

Even as it prepares to host Trump on July 24 at a rescheduled if scaled down version of its annual dinner (subscription required) where the WHCA plans to honor one of the Times reporters for “the most fair, impartial, objective news reporting … that has the courage to not fear and the discipline to not favor.”

Trump is clearly embarrassed by the revelations that the multi-million bribe, er, gift from Qatar was long on glitz gold and short on security measures — like an air defense system that has been standard on previous versions of the Boeing 747s that transport presidents around the globe.

The lead reporter on that initial story is Tyler Pager, the aforementioned recipient of The Center For Integrity In News Reporting Award.

The subpoenas are but the latest challenge to the WHCA’s credibility, which has to date folded like a cheap suit, starting with the exclusion of The Associated Press for its refusal to rename the Gulf of Mexico and then allowing Press Secretary Karolyin’ Leavitt to decide who sits where in the press room and on presidential trips.

After a gunman prematurely ended the April dinner, un-affectionately known as Nerd Prom, WHCA President Weija Jiang of CBS News said they would work with the regime to host a smaller awards ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria, formerly known as the Trump International. In return, Trump declared:

"I don't know whether or not I will give the same rather nasty statements, at least as it concerns certain people," Trump wrote in June. "But we will soon find out."

We got the answer last week when, in the words of New York Times lead newsroom lawyer David McCraw:

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.

“This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs.”

Nor was it the first time THIS YEAR the “Justice Department” targeted journalists. In January, feds descended on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her electronic devices in search of a leaker.

In the words of First Amendment attorney Ted Boutros, who represented CNN in the Trump 1.0 jihad against former anchor Jim Acosta (subscription required):

“To go to their houses and serve the subpoenas when they know where David McCraw is, they know where The Times is, they know the drill on this. Instead, it’s really a bush league maneuver in so many ways. So unprofessional to serve these grand jury subpoenas without notice to anybody.”

“There are all these flashing red lights that say intimidation, harassment, retaliation for speech and journalism, and I think it’s deeply troubling for the First Amendment and our democracy.”

In both recent instances, the “Justice Department” has declared the reporters are not the subject of the leak investigation. Merely what they consider to be a quicker and easier route to finding the sources.

First Amendment be damned.

Boutros expects the court will allow a full hearing before deciding whether to compel the journalists to testify.

Meanwhile, the 80-year-old would-be King of All Media, continues to throw his ample weight around.

In another one of his late night Truth Social screeds he took aim at Maggie Haberman, the Times journalist who lives rent-free in his head, over the best-selling “Regime Change” book she co-authored with Times colleague Jonathan Swan.

After Haberman questioned his physical and cognitive fitness during an appearance on MS Now, the Portly POTUS bloviated:

“Maggot Hagerman has covered me incorrectly for ten years. She has made a living off her bad reporting, and will pay the price when our Multi Billion Dollar Lawsuit against The Failing New York Times gets to Court.”

Glossing over his reference to the Islamic State of Japan, Trump insisted he remains sharp as a tack based on yet another exam designed to determine a person’s potential for dementia, not their intelligence.

“I just finished a perfect physical at Walter Reed, I do it every six months, and I requested another Cognitive Test, the only President to do so, three times, and I aced them all.”

And Trump took time out to mourn the passing of his chief sycophant, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, to say he would agree to additional interviews with CNN anchor Jake Tapper because the cable network he despises is on a “normal path” as it stands to be swallowed up by David Ellison’s Paramount.

Ya think Jake will ask Trump about his health?

The WHCA has a few days to decide if it has “the courage to not fear and the discipline to not favor” and stand up to Trump the way honoree Tyler Pager and his colleagues are doing.