FBI agents searched the home of the Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, on Wednesday, 14 January, as part of an investigation into the alleged sharing of classified government information.
Natanson has covered U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to fire large numbers of federal workers and reorient the civil service towards his policy agenda.
However, according to media, during the search of Natanson's Virginia home, the investigators told her she was not the target of the probe.
The investigation was linked to the case against Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a technology specialist for a U.S. government contractor, the Washington Post reported.
Perez-Lugones was charged last week with unlawful retention of national defence information. Prosecutors allege he took screenshots of classified intelligence reports and printed them, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators later found documents marked “secret” in a lunchbox in his car and in his basement, an FBI document said.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the search was carried out at the request of the Defence Department.
Bondi defended the investigation, saying on X that the administration “will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information” that pose a threat to national security.
The probe comes after the Justice Department's 2025 decision to reverse a longstanding policy that largely barred prosecutors from seizing journalists’ records.
Press-freedom advocates criticised the search as an escalation in pressure on the media.
Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute, said searches involving journalists were “hallmarks of illiberal regimes” and warned against allowing such practices to become normalised.
U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently clashed with major news organisations and is currently pursuing lawsuits against several outlets, including the BBC, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said on Wednesday they attacked two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, calling the st...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overn...
Foreign direct investment in Georgia fell sharply in the second quarter of 2026, while China surged to become the country’s largest investor,...
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
A TV channel was struck during a live broadcast on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Russian strikes on Kyiv killed at least three people, the city's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Meanwhile, drones hit civilian infrastructure in Russia's southwestern Saratov region.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said its forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) allegedly launched two ballistic missile attacks against a U.S. Navy warship over the past two days.
U.S. special envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Sunday on efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Indonesia has reopened Jakarta's main airport and four others after volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau forced widespread flight cancellations, though fresh eruptions have kept authorities on alert.
Four people were killed, including a child, in Ukrainian strikes on the Russian port city of Novorossiysk overnight, according to the governor of the Krasnodar region. Ukraine's drone forces commander, Robert Brovdi, said Russian military ships were destroyed in the attacks.
Foreign direct investment in Georgia fell sharply in the second quarter of 2026, while China surged to become the country’s largest investor, highlighting Tbilisi’s deepening economic ties with Beijing as relations with the West remain strained.
North Korea has built a new uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex in the northwest of the country and begun operating an expanded site at Kangson, near the capital Pyongyang, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog has said.
Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in East Jerusalem and banned 12 British nationals from entering the country, escalating a diplomatic row with London over Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 9th of September, covering the latest developments.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment