A federal magistrate judge has temporarily barred the FBI from reviewing electronic devices seized from a Washington Post reporter during a search of her home, pending further court proceedings over the legality of the search and the protection of journalistic materials.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter issued the order this week after the newspaper and reporter Hannah Natanson requested that federal authorities be prevented from examining the contents of the seized devices.
The ruling preserves the status quo while the court considers whether the search violated First Amendment protections and federal rules governing investigations involving journalists.
The FBI executed the search on January 14 at Natanson’s Virginia residence, seizing multiple phones, laptops, recording equipment, a hard drive, and a smartwatch.
The search is tied to a criminal investigation involving a Pentagon contractor accused of unlawfully retaining and mishandling national defense information.
“The outrageous seizure of our reporter’s confidential newsgathering materials chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on these materials. We have asked the court to order the immediate return of all seized materials and prevent their use. Anything less would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant,” a Washington Post spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Federal prosecutors allege the contractor, Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator in Maryland who has a top secret security clearance, removed classified and sensitive defense documents without authorization and improperly stored them at a private residence.
Investigators believe Perez-Lugones may have shared or attempted to share information with individuals outside authorized government channels, prompting a broader inquiry into potential unauthorized disclosures.
Natanson covers “the Trump administration’s reshaping of the government and its effects,” according to her X bio. She penned a story last month headlined, “I am The Post’s ‘federal government whisperer.’ It’s been brutal,” that detailed her experiences talking to government employees and its effects on her personal and work life as she fielded thousands of messages.
Authorities have not publicly accused Natanson of wrongdoing. Instead, investigators sought her devices as part of an effort to trace the flow of information connected to the contractor and to determine whether classified material may have been transmitted or accessed electronically.
In court filings, The Washington Post argued that allowing federal agents to review a reporter’s work devices could expose confidential sources, internal communications, and unpublished reporting materials, raising serious concerns about press freedom and newsgathering protections. The newspaper has asked the court to order the return of the seized property and to prohibit its use in the investigation.
Porter scheduled a hearing for early next month and instructed the government to respond to the newspaper’s motion. Until the court rules further, federal authorities are prohibited from accessing or analyzing the seized materials.
The case has drawn attention from media organizations and civil liberties groups, who say it raises important questions about the limits of federal investigative authority when journalists and source confidentiality are involved, particularly in national security cases.
The underlying investigation into the Pentagon contractor remains ongoing. Federal officials have not yet announced whether additional charges or arrests are expected.
Previous reporting suggested that Perez-Lugones may have leaked information regarding the U.S. raid in Venezuela to detain now-deposed President Nicolas Maduro.
Those reports claimed that information about the raid had been leaked to the Washington Post and the New York Times in the hours before it took place, but that both publications decided against publishing the information to ensure U.S. forces were not compromised prior to conducting the operation.
Maduro has since made a court appearance in New York City and has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking, among others.