The FBI raided Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home in an investigation connected to a leak of classified information from a Pentagon contractor on Jan. 14.
Natanson’s Virginia home where her phone, two laptops, and Garmin watch were taken into custody. Prior to the search, Natanson’s reporting was primarily on the federal workforce under President Donald J. Trump’s transformation of the federal government.
The FBI also subpoenaed The Post regarding information about the Pentagon contractor that was said to have leaked classified information and documents found in his lunchbox.
“Natanson has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and the criminal complaint filed against Perez-Lugones does not accuse him of leaking classified information he is alleged to have taken,” according to a Washington Post article “FBI executes search warrant at Washington Post reporter’s home” by Perry Stein and Jeremy Roebuck on Jan. 14.
“Federal authorities in Maryland charged Perez-Lugones, a Navy veteran, on Friday [Jan. 9] with unlawfully retaining national defense information. He had his initial court appearance that same day and remains in federal custody in Maryland.”according to the Washington Post.
The search and seizure started a deeper conversation about press rights and freedoms under the Trump administration.
“Speaking to reporters in the afternoon, President Trump made an apparent reference to the case, saying the government had caught ‘a very bad leaker’ of information related to Venezuela. He suggested that similar investigations were underway, saying: ‘There could be some others, and we’ll let you know about that. We’re hot on their trail.,’” according to a New York Times article “F.B.I. Searches Home of Washington Post Journalist in a Leak Investigation” by Benjamin Mullin, Devlin Barrett, Charlie Savage and Erik Wemple on Jan. 14.
A Virgina Judge ruled the government is unable to use any materials seized during the search after The Washington Post filed a lawsuit on Jan. 21.
“The Justice Department has internal guidelines governing its response to news media leaks. In April, Bondi issued new guidelines restoring prosecutors’ authority to use subpoenas, court orders and search warrants to hunt for government officials who make ‘unauthorized disclosures’ to journalists.The new guidelines rescinded a policy from Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration that protected journalists from having their phone records secretly seized during leak investigations,.” according to a Washington Post article “Washington Post seeks court order for government to return electronics seized from reporter’s home” by Michael Kunzelman on Jan. 21.
The seizure has left some students at Delta College questioning whether this will restrict the release of information to the public.
“I feel like this was a warning or intimidation tactic by the Trump administration in order to instill fear in those digging deep into his actions,” said Delta College student Kimberly Avalos, 19.
Avalos said this sort of action could impact the trust reporters have to build with anonymous sources.
“I believe this is going to affect lots of sources who may not want to talk to journalists, if their identity could possibly be exposed or they can get possibly hurt as a result,” said Avalos. “It feels like they are breaking the law because she [Hannah Natanson] did not commit a crime, but they were able to take and search her things. Trump having the FBI do this seems like something a dictator would do in order to keep reporters quiet.”
The concerns are shared by members of The Collegian staff.
Editor-at-large Zackary Kirk-Newton said the Trump administration’s actions threaten press freedom.
“I don’t think it’s hyperbolic to say that press freedom is in real danger under the current administration, especially with moves like this raid, which shows a level of aggression that we frankly haven’t seen before. What form that takes in the future, I’m honestly not sure,” said Kirk-Newton.
Kirk-Newton said the Trump administration is actively furthering their efforts to restrict journalists.
“I don’t think Trump has made it a secret that he’s not fond of journalists. He also has made what seemed to be retaliatory moves against people he felt wronged him in the past, we saw this with John Bolton. These two factors combined make me think that there absolutely will be moves to restrict the press going forward.”
