FBI searches Washington Post reporter's home in classified document case

The FBI executed a search warrant at a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home on Jan. 14 as part of a probe into a system administrator suspected of illegally retaining classified documents, the news organization reported.  

Hannah Natanson, who covers the federal government, was at home when the FBI searched the property and her devices, seizing a phone, Garmin watch and both a personal and work laptop, according to the news organization.  

The FBI’s investigation centers on Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a government contractor with a top secret security clearance who has been accused of accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports, the Washington Post reported, citing an FBI affidavit. 

The Washington Post reported that its journalist was not accused of wrongdoing and that the outlet received a subpoena related to the investigation into Perez-Lugones.

In an email to the newsroom, Executive Editor Matt Murray said the outlet was told "Hannah, and The Post, are not a target" in the investigation, the news organization reported.

Murray also described the search as an "extraordinary, aggressive action" by the federal government and said the outlet was in communication with Natanson, authorities and its legal counsel.

"In the meantime, the best thing all of us can do is to continue to vigorously exercise those freedoms as we do every day," Murray said.

In a statement posted on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search warrant was executed at the request of the Pentagon and the Department of Justice. She accused the reporter of "obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor."

Bondi said a leaker was in jail but did not name the person or provide further details.

"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," Bondi said.

Perez-Lugones is charged with unlawfully retaining national defense information, according to court records. An affidavit in support of the charge doesn't specifically accuse him of leaking information to a journalist. A magistrate judge ordered him released from custody ahead of trial, but also allowed federal prosecutors to appeal that decision before he is actually released. A district judge is reviewing that appeal.

The FBI referred USA TODAY to Director Kash Patel's statement on X, which said in part that the reporter "was found to allegedly be obtaining and reporting classified, sensitive military information from a government contractor – endangering our warfighters and compromising America's national security."

He said the FBI would not have further comment amid the ongoing investigation.

The Washington Post is reviewing and monitoring the situation, the newspaper confirmed to USA TODAY. 

First Amendment, press advocacy groups concerned by search

The search warrant is raising First Amendment worries from press freedom advocates.

"Anytime the government goes into the home of a reporter, for whatever reason, I think we need to take great notice of that," Gene Policinski, senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum, told USA TODAY.

He noted, though, that it's "very early in the process" and that more facts about the matter will unfold as the investigation continues.

Policinski referenced legislation and court rulings that highlight the clashing priorities that can exist between the government and the press.

A 2001 Supreme Court case, Bartnicki v. Vopper, established that the First Amendment protects a person's right to disclose illegally intercepted communications if they were not part of the illegal interception itself, particularly when the content includes matters of public interest.

But there's also the Espionage Act of 1917, which makes it illegal to obtain information, capture photographs, or copy descriptions of any information relating to national defense, with the intent for that information to be used against the United States or for the gain of any foreign nation.

"It's the public's right to know versus the nation's rights to protect its secrets," Policinski said.

Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said it's both "very rare" and "highly disturbing" for the federal government to search a reporter's home.

Calvert was among several experts who referenced the Privacy Protection Act of 1980, which generally requires the government to get a subpoena to obtain journalists' work products.

While Calvert said it's not unusual for administrations to have a combative relationship with the press, President Donald Trump's administration is "taking it farther than any other administrations in the past."

Its search of a reporter's home could have an "immense" chilling effect within the journalism industry, he said.

Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, said the organization was "deeply alarmed" by the search, "especially against the backdrop of the administration's escalating war on press freedom."

"Intimidating journalists for source information undermines the fundamental principle that the press should be free to hold the government accountable," Leventoff said. "Congress should act urgently to protect journalists, sources, and the First Amendment from this kind of abuse of power by reintroducing and passing the PRESS Act."

The organization has long advocated for such legislation, which stands for the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act and was passed in the House in 2024. The legislation sought to protect journalists and their sources from government probes.

Other groups decry search

A slew of other First Amendment and press freedom groups decried the FBI search.

Knight First Amendment Institute Executive Director Jameel Jaffer said such probes "can deter and impede reporting that is vital to our democracy" and called for Congress and courts to "scrutinize" any explanation from the Justice Department about the raid "carefully."

"Searches of newsrooms and journalists are hallmarks of illiberal regimes, and we must ensure that these practices are not normalized here," he said.

Freedom of the Press Foundation Chief of Advocacy Seth Stern described the raid as an "alarming escalation in the Trump administration's prolonged war on press freedom."

"The administration may now be in possession of volumes of journalist communications having nothing to do with any pending investigation and, if investigators are able to access them, we have zero faith that they will respect journalist-source confidentiality," Stern said.

Clayton Weimers, executive director of Reporters Without Borders' United States branch, similarly called the search a "serious and highly unusual step for the FBI to take," while the Society of Professional Journalists described it as an act of press intimidation.

"This is not just about one reporter, one newsroom or one investigation," the organization wrote in a statement on its website. "This is about whether journalists can promise confidentiality to sources without fear that federal agents will show up at their door. It is about whether investigative reporting can survive in an environment where lawful newsgathering is treated as suspect."

Natanson received a Peabody Award in 2024 for coverage of gun violence in schools and was part of a group of reporters who won a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting on the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to Natanson’s profile on the newspaper's website. 

Contributing: Aysha Bagchi and Anna Kaufman

BrieAnna Frank is a First Amendment reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected]. 

USA TODAY's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.