FBI searches reporter's home, raising concerns about intimidation of free press

Geoff Bennett:

In a highly unusual move, the FBI searched the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of an investigation involving a government contractor accused of mishandling classified information.

Agents executed a search warrant at the home of Hannah Natanson, who has been reporting on President Trump's overhaul and downsizing of the federal government. They seized her phones, laptops, and a smartwatch, though agents reportedly told Natanson she is not the target of the investigation.

The inquiry centers on a system administrator in Maryland who has been charged with unlawful retention of national defense information. Press freedom advocates are sharply criticizing the search, warning it represents a dangerous escalation that threatens investigative journalism and raises serious First Amendment concerns.

We're joined now by Gabe Rottman, vice president of policy at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Thanks for being here.

Gabe Rottman:

Thanks for having me.

Geoff Bennett:

So the criminal complaint against this contractor does not mention any ties to The Washington Post reporter, yet the attorney general, Pam Bondi,on X said that the search was requested by the Pentagon "at the home of a Washington Post journalist, who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor."

So what questions does that raise and what concerns does the FBI search of her home trigger more broadly?

Gabe Rottman:

Well, so I think there's two points to make there.

One, it is notable that the attorney general is pointing out that the Department of Justice has a suspect in custody and in fact has charged that suspect. And so it raises the question as to why the Justice Department and the FBI would take the extraordinary step of executing a search warrant at the home of a reporter and seizing her electronic devices.

The other point that I would make here is that this is actually something that we haven't seen before. Again, we're talking about the FBI raiding the home of a journalist in a national security leak case. At the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, where I work, we track these cases closely.

We are not aware of another case where the Justice Department has executed a search warrant in a national security leak case against a journalist or against a news outlet. It's unprecedented.

Geoff Bennett:

And we hadn't seen this before because Attorney General Pam Bondi reversed protections that had previously discouraged such seizures. Is that right?

Gabe Rottman:

So the closest analog to this case that we're aware of is a then-FOX News correspondent named James Rosen who had a search warrant executed for his e-mail back in 2010 during the first Obama administration.

That was hugely controversial at the time. It led the department to reform its existing policies on how it handles these types of investigative steps. But I think what's really important to note is that, even in that case, we were talking about two days' worth of e-mail.

Here, the Justice Department has seized her work computer, home computer, her phone, and a smartwatch. And the volume of that information is orders of magnitude more than what they got in the Rosen case.

The other thing to note about the Rosen case is that one of the reasons it was controversial is because there's a federal law passed in 1980 that is supposed to restrict the ability of law enforcement at the federal, state and local level to do newsroom raids.

That law can only be pierced if the department argues that the journalist has committed a crime. In the Rosen case, that case was so controversial because the department said it had no intent to prosecute Rosen, but, at the same time, it represented to a judge that Rosen had violated the Espionage Act.

There's concern that the same thing has occurred here in part because of the way that Attorney General Bondi has revised those internal policies.

Geoff Bennett:

In your view, is the administration trying to send a message here with the search?

Gabe Rottman:

I can't speculate as to the motives of the administration.

But we know from long experience that, when the government seeks to investigate and intrude into the news gathering process, especially when it comes to interactions between journalists and confidential sources, that confidential sources are going to be less likely to come forward with information that the public needs to hold the government accountable.

Geoff Bennett:

Noah (sic) Rottman, thanks again for your insights and for coming in. We appreciate it.

Gabe Rottman:

Thank you very much.