FBI Raid on WaPo Reporter’s Home Became In accordance with Sham Pretext
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The Washington Submit headquarters in D.C. on Jan. 14, 2026, the day the home of Washington Submit reporter Hannah Natanson became once searched by the FBI. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Photos
Lauren Harper is Freedom of the Press Foundation’s first Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy.
On Wednesday morning, the FBI raided the home of Washington Submit journalist Hannah Natanson in an alarming escalation of the Trump administration’s war on press freedom. The raid could maybe well even be viewed as a straight away end result of Authorized loyal Overall Pam Bondi’s resolution final year to reverse media protections for journalists from having their files looked for the length of leak investigations — a resolution that became once a sham from the commence.
The search of Natanson’s home became once allegedly piece of an investigation into a authorities contractor, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, who is accused of illegally conserving labeled files. Press freedom advocates acquire stated the raid violates federal regulation and endangers First Amendment freedoms. The Submit additionally purchased a subpoena connected to Perez-Lugones on Wednesday morning, basically basically based on the paper’s possess reporting.
Bondi laid the groundwork for this problematic search virtually a year ago, when she rescinded Biden-technology media pointers that safe journalists from being compelled to expose their sources or having their files searched.
A Freedom of Data Act keep a matter to filed by Freedom of the Press Foundation showed that Bondi’s pretext for reversing these protections became once nonsense.
The genesis of Bondi’s evisceration of media protections goes support to reporting on Venezuela final spring that the Trump administration didn’t love. In March 2025, the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans it claimed were members of the Tren de Aragua gang to El Salvador. To assemble so, the administration alleged the crowd operated in coordination with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s authorities. The connection between Tren de Aragua and Maduro became once an very critical pretext, for the explanation that Alien Enemies Act handiest permits for the deportation of voters of an enemy authorities, now not suspected pals of an self sustaining organization. In other words, if Maduro wasn’t directing the crowd, the Act shouldn’t follow.
Shortly after the Trump administration invoked the Act, journalists blew a gap within the administration’s claims.
The Unique York Instances and Washington Submit every reported on the existence of labeled intelligence community assessments showing that nearly all see companies overwhelmingly did not factor in Tren de Aragua became once coordinating with the Maduro authorities, seriously undermining the administration’s rationale for its deportations.
Bondi responded to the reporting by claiming that leaks about the memo were “illegal and irascible” and made it more complicated to “retain America win.” Bondi relied on these unsubstantiated claims in her resolution to roll support the Justice Department’s existing media protections, a switch that has made it simpler for the Trump administration to attempt journalists and their sources.
I filed a FOIA keep a matter to for the intelligence community memo the identical day Bondi reversed the DOJ’s media pointers. I didn’t factor in her claims that public awareness of the memos triggered any injury to national safety, and I do know that companies are required to rob public curiosity into legend when reviewing even well labeled files for free up.
No longer handiest did the legitimate disclosure support up preliminary stories that the Trump administration had no foundation for invoking the Alien Enemies Act, nevertheless it additionally showed the files would be released without making it any more difficult to supply protection to America, and that Bondi’s claims that journalists were endangering America became once an evident falsehood to invent it simpler to intimidate them from contradicting the administration.
Bondi’s accusations about journalists and her reversal of media protections acquire long gone unchecked and are in actuality being weaponized by regulation enforcement in opposition to journalists and their sources.
In accordance with the Washington Submit, investigators told Natanson she became once now not the level of curiosity of the probe, and Perez-Lugones has now not been accused of leaking the files he allegedly retained. But given the administration’s note list, every implication that a leak to a reporter endangers national safety could maybe well serene be viewed as suspect, as could maybe well serene their classification claims. More likely, they’re alive to on their possess reputational safety.
Each and each presidential administration classifies too a lot files, to the tune of 75 p.c to 90 p.c of files being overclassified, and argues that a huge swath of files must be safe beneath the guise of national safety. The Trump administration is arguably the worst, claiming the entirety from kitchen cupboards to international movies are issues of national safety.
Even when files meets the components for classification, companies are purported to rob public curiosity within the files into legend when making declassification choices. I even acquire studied authorities secrecy for over 15 years and tracked every Trump administrations closely. I even acquire beneath no circumstances viewed them rob a honest-faith manner to this rule.
Congress could maybe well serene acquire stepped in years ago to supply protection to journalists by passing a federal protect bill or reforming the Espionage Act so national safety journalists and whistleblowers aren’t handled love international spies. But as an different of standing up for the press, its latest actions menace normalizing the very valid and escalating threats in opposition to them.
Excellent final week, the Home of Representatives passed a motion to subpoena journalist Seth Harp for “leaking labeled intel about Operation Absolute Unravel, together with doxxing a Delta Force commander.” This motion passed unanimously even supposing journalists can’t “leak” files and acquire a constitutional comely to post labeled files as lengthy as they form it lawfully.
Your whole federal authorities needs a refresher course: The public has a comely to know what the authorities is doing and why; whistleblowers acquire the comely to work with the press, even when the files is classed; and each American could maybe well serene be petrified by the authorities claiming it has the comely to raid journalists’ homes.
