The FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a government contractor who is accused of illegally retaining classified government documents.
A Post spokesperson said the paper was reviewing and monitoring the situation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X on Wednesday that the search was done at the request of the Department of Defense.
Natanson covers the Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce, including the culling of thousands of career workers across the federal bureaucracy. Her coverage has produced a trove of scoops, including how the U.S postal service was aiding in the administration’s mass deportation efforts and the ouster of more than a dozen inspectors general across federal agencies.
Federal agencies routinely investigate internal leaks, especially when classified information may be involved. Officials rarely search the homes of reporters.
Bondi eased Biden-era DOJ guidelines regarding the seizure of journalists’ records, but even in those cases, she wrote, the department would employ “enhanced approval and advance-notice procedure” before it tried to obtain a reporter’s records. It is unclear if the department gave Natanson advanced notice of the search.
The agents searched her devices and seized a phone, two laptops, including her Post-issued laptop, and a Garmin watch, Natanson told the Post.
Natanson told the paper that the agents told her she was not a focus of the probe. Instead, the Post reported, the affidavit said the agency was investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland with a “top secret” security clearance who was charged last week after he allegedly was found with classified documents in his lunchbox and his basement.
Officials accused Perez-Lugones of accessing a classified system, taking notes of his findings and bringing those notes home, according to the Baltimore Sun. He also allegedly took a screenshot of a classified intelligence report about a foreign country.
Bondi claimed on X that Natanson was “obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor” and that the “leaker is currently behind bars.”
“I am proud to work alongside Secretary Hegseth on this effort,” she wrote. “The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation’s national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country.”
FBI Director Kash Patel on X accused Natanson of “obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor – endangering our warfighters and compromising America’s national security.”
Natanson documented roughly a year of her reporting on the federal workforce in an impassioned first-person account for the Post last month, highlighting how her coverage was made possible by government employees willing to speak to her – and the impact this reporting had on her life.
“I’d never thought I’d be leaking info like this,” a Justice Department staffer wrote to Natanson. “I’ve always felt a sense of duty to do what’s right for the country and the citizens … I believe in transparency.”
Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press President Bruce D. Brown said in a statement that the search marked one of “the most invasive investigative steps law enforcement can take,” as it requires agents to adhere to certain policy restrictions before they enter a reporter’s home.
“While we won’t know the government’s arguments about overcoming these very steep hurdles until the affidavit is made public, this is a tremendous escalation in the administration’s intrusions into the independence of the press,” Brown said.
Current and former Post staffers also rallied to Natanson’s defense on social media.
“I stand with @hannah_natanson, a terrific reporter whose excellent coverage speaks for itself,” Post reporter Dan Diamond wrote on X.
Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, wrote on Bluesky: “A clear and appalling sign that this administration will set no limits on its acts of aggression against an independent press.”
