Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement on Wednesday said that the Trump administration executed a search warrant of a Washington Post journalist who reported on “classified and illegally leaked information.”
Bondi wrote, “This past week, at the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor. The leaker is currently behind bars. I am proud to work alongside Secretary Hegseth on this effort. 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.”
The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor whom is accused of illegally retaining classified government materials. Natanson is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Marty Baron, the Post’s former executive editor, took this as an affront to free speech.
“It’s a clear and appalling sign that this administration will set no limits on its acts of aggression against an independent press,” Baron said.
A warrant obtained by the Post cited an investigation into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Maryland-based system administrator with a top security clearance who has been accused of keeping classified materials. The outlet said the investigation found documents in his lunchbox and his basement.
In April, Bondi resumed the practice of seizing reporters’ phone records to find leakers, which is a reversal from Biden-era policy set by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“I have concluded that it is necessary to rescind Merrick Garland’s policies precluding the Department of Justice from seeking records and compelling testimony from members of the news media in order to identify and punish the source of improper leaks,” she wrote in an internal memo at the time.
