Federal authorities searched the Virginia residence of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday, Jan. 14, seizing multiple devices, including two laptops (one personal, one issued by the newspaper), her phone, and a Garmin watch, according to The Washington Post. The search is tied to an investigation involving government contractor Aurelio Perez-Lugones, who is accused of illegally possessing classified government materials. Investigators told Natanson that she is not the target of the probe.
Attorney General Pam Bondi alleged that Natanson “was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor.” Bondi did not name Natanson in her statement but noted, “The leaker is currently behind bars,” and added, “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.”
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…
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 14, 2026
Perez-Lugones, a system administrator who worked in Maryland, is accused of accessing classified intelligence reports and taking them home. An FBI affidavit states that documents were found in his lunchbox and in the basement of his residence. He was charged last week with illegally retaining classified documents, though he has not been formally accused of leaking the materials.
Natanson, who covers the federal workforce, has not been accused of wrongdoing. The search of a reporter’s home as “highly unusual.” Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, said, “Searches of newsrooms and journalists are hallmarks of illiberal regimes, and we must ensure that these practices are not normalized here.”
Two Post employees, said the raid rattled staff. “We’re all scrambling to figure out what additional precautions we need to take,” one employee said. Another added, “We’re horrified for Hannah, who’s a wonderful reporter, and scared for ourselves, trying to think through how best to further protect sources and secure our reporting and devices.”
While the FBI has investigated reporters who publish sensitive government information in the past, a search of a journalist’s home is highly unusual. Bondi also recently reversed a policy from the Biden administration that restricted the government from searching reporters’ phone records as part of leak investigations. Bondi wrote in an internal memo at the time, “This conduct is illegal and wrong and it must stop.”
In December 2025, Natanson published a first-person account of receiving a flood of tips from federal employees as President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) conducted large-scale workforce reductions. She wrote that employees reached out with concerns, including messages from individuals who said they were suicidal, ultimately connecting with 1,169 sources over the course of the year.
