By Andrew Goudsward and Katharine Jackson, Reuters
The Washington Post Building in Washington, DC. Photo: ANDREW HARNIK
FBI agents have searched a Washington Post reporter's home on Wednesday (US time) as part of an investigation into sharing secret government information, officials said, in a move that advocates said threatened press freedom.
The reporter, Hannah Natanson, has covered US President Donald Trump's campaign to fire hundreds of thousands of federal workers and shift remaining workers to implementing his agenda.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said federal agents had executed the search at the request of the Defense Department. Trump's Justice Department last year reversed a policy that had barred prosecutors from seizing records from reporters in most circumstances.
Natanson wrote a story in December about her personal experience covering the effort titled "I am The Post's 'federal government whisperer.' It's been brutal." In it, Natanson related the relentless pace of calls and messages she received from former and current federal employees frustrated by the changes.
The Washington Post said on X that investigators told Natanson she was not a focus of the probe. Natanson could not immediately be reached for comment.
The newspaper reported that Natanson was present for the search of her Virginia home on Wednesday. It reported that the search was linked to the case against Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a technology specialist for a US government contractor who was charged last week with unlawful retention of national defence information.
Prosecutors alleged that Perez-Lugones took screenshots of classified intelligence reports and printed those documents, according to a criminal complaint.
'Secret' documents at contractor's home
Investigators also found documents marked "secret" in a lunchbox in Perez-Lugones' car and in his basement, according to an FBI affidavit.
"The Trump Administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation's national security," Bondi said on X.
Press-freedom advocates said the search was a dramatic escalation in the administration's ongoing attacks on news media.
"Searches of newsrooms and journalists are hallmarks of illiberal regimes, and we must ensure that these practices are not normalized here," said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute.
Trump has often taken an antagonistic approach toward the news media and has filed lawsuits against the BBC, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and a newspaper in Iowa. All four outlets are fighting Trump in court. Others, including CBS and ABC, have paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits by Trump alleging unfair coverage.
Under owner Jeff Bezos, the world's fourth-richest person, the Washington Post has shifted its formerly left-leaning opinion section to the right, but its news coverage remains nonpartisan. Amazon.com, which Bezos founded, donated US$1 million to Trump's inauguration last year and Bezos was one of several tech moguls who were featured at the ceremony.
-Reuters