The Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the Virginia home and electronic devices of Hannah Natanson, a journalist with The Washington Post who covers the Trump administration’s reshaping of the federal government, according to confirmation from the Post.
The search, conducted pursuant to a warrant, is tied to an investigation involving a Maryland system administrator accused of accessing and removing classified intelligence reports, court filings cited by the Post indicate. The newspaper said it has been told that neither Natanson nor the Post is a target of the investigation that led to the search.
Natanson was at home when agents arrived, the Post reported. A spokesperson said the newsroom is reviewing and monitoring the situation and has been in contact with Natanson, authorities and legal counsel.
The episode has drawn sharp concern from press freedom advocates because searches of journalists’ homes are rare. Even during prior administrations that aggressively pursued leak investigations, authorities generally stopped short of raiding reporters’ residences.
The development comes amid broader changes to federal leak-investigation policy. Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the Justice Department would resume seizing reporters’ phone records to identify leakers, and in April she rescinded restrictions put in place by former Attorney General Merrick Garland that limited prosecutors’ ability to compel journalists to reveal sources.
Bondi said Wednesday that the Justice Department and the FBI, at the request of the Department of Defense, executed the warrant at a Washington Post journalist’s home. She said the reporter had obtained classified information that was illegally leaked by a Pentagon contractor, who she said is now in custody. The administration has argued that unauthorized disclosures can endanger national security and service members.
Press advocates counter that significant legal and constitutional limits still apply. The Knight First Amendment Institute said the government should publicly explain why the search was necessary and lawful, and urged congressional and judicial scrutiny. The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press described the search as an escalation that threatens the independence of the press.
Natanson, a member of the Post team covering changes to the federal workforce, previously reported on education and shared in major journalism awards, including a Pulitzer Prize in 2022 and a Peabody Award in 2024.
Source: Axios