FBI searches WaPo reporter's home and devices

The FBI searched the home and devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who covers the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government, a Post spokesperson confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: Searching a journalist's home is an extraordinary step — even past administrations that aggressively pursued leak investigations stopped short of raiding reporters' homes.

Zoom in: According to the Washington Post, Natanson was at her Virginia home when agents arrived.

• The FBI warrant said the search was part of an investigation into a Maryland system administrator accused of "accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports," per the affidavit cited by the Post.
• A spokesperson confirmed the Post is reviewing and monitoring the situation.

State of play: In a statement, Washington Post Executive Editor Matt Murray said The Post has been told that neither Natanson nor the outlet are a target of the investigation that led to the search of her home and devices.

• "We have been in close touch with Hannah, with authorities and with legal counsel and will keep you updated as we learn more,' he wrote.

Between the lines: Murray and press freedom advocates have expressed serious concerns about the incident.

• "This extraordinary, aggressive action is deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work," Murray said. "The Washington Post has a long history of zealous support for robust press freedoms. The entire institution stands by those freedoms and our work."
• "While we won't know the government's arguments about overcoming these very steep hurdles until the affidavit is made public, this is a tremendous escalation in the administration's intrusions into the independence of the press," Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press president Bruce D. Brown said in response to Wednesday's news.
• "The Justice Department should explain publicly why it believes this search was necessary and legally permissible, and Congress and the courts should scrutinize that explanation carefully," said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute.

Context: Natanson is part of a team that covers Trump's overhaul of the federal workforce.

• She previously covered education and won a Peabody in 2024 for her work. In 2022, she was part of a team of Post journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Zoom out: The move signals a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's war on leaks.

• Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would resume seizing reporters' phone records to find leakers.
• In April, Bondi rescinded former Attorney General Merrick Garland's policy restricting federal prosecutors from forcing journalists to reveal their sources.

What they're saying: On Wednesday, Attorney General Bondi confirmed that the Department of Justice and FBI, at the request of the Department of Defense, executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist.

• Bondi said the reporter obtained "classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor" and that the leaker "is currently behind bars."
• "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," she said.

The other side: "Attorney General Bondi has weakened guidelines that were intended to protect the freedom of the press," Jaffer said, "but there are still important legal limits, including constitutional ones, on the government's authority to use subpoenas, court orders, and search warrants to obtain information from journalists."

• The Washington Post Guild, the labor union that represents Natanson, said the search "should shock and dismay everyone who cares about a free and independent press."
• NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss called the raid a "a direct assault on the First Amendment and a threat to every working journalist."

The big picture: Press freedom experts have been sounding the alarm on what they believe are overreaches by the government to intimidate journalists.

• The Society of Professional Journalists and more than 20 other press freedom and First Amendment groups this week called on Congress to drop a subpoena for investigative journalist and author Seth Harp.
• The House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Harp over a social media post in which he shared publicly available information, the groups noted.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional context.