The FBI carried out a search warrant on a Washington Post reporter’s Virginia home on Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of keeping classified government materials.
The agency raided the home of reporter Hannah Natanson while she was on site. Investigators said she is not the focus of the investigation, which centers on Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Maryland-based system administrator who has been accused of accessing and taking classified intelligence reports home, according to the Washington Post.
FBI agents seized various devices belonging to Natanson, including her phone, a Garmin watch, and two laptops, one personal and the other issued to her by the Washington Post.
Natanson covers the federal workforce in the Trump administration.
This FBI raid comes nine months after Attorney General Pam Bondi revoked a Biden administration Justice Department policy that barred the department from seeking journalists’ records and testimony in investigations surrounding leaks. Bondi said the policy had been “abused,” leading officials to engage in politically charged leaks to “media allies.”
Bondi also said the FBI and the Department of Justice carried out the raid “at the request of the Department of War.” She added that the individual leaking information to the reporter is now 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,” Bondi said on X.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also said the Trump administration has “zero tolerance” for leaking classified information and will continue its crackdown.
The Washington Examiner contacted the FBI, the Washington Post, and Natanson for comment.