We’re back to this game again: the illegal retention of classified information. If anything, what the past few years have shown me is how many politicians run fast and loose with these rules. Joe Biden took documents relating to the Afghanistan War and left them at numerous locations. He kept some in his garage. John Bolton emailed sensitive materials to his wife's and daughter’s email accounts. And Donald Trump’s home got ransacked, though that investigation never came up with anything. And now, it’s The Washington Post’s turn to deal with one of their own reportedly sitting on such information.
The legal issue that’s engulfed The Washington Post centers on reporter Hannah Natanson, who covers the Trump administration’s remaking of the federal bureaucracy. She got slapped with a search warrant by FBI agents at her home yesterday, while The Post got a subpoena relating to her work documents (via WaPo):
The Washington Post stenographer who got raided by the FBI over leaked Pentagon information wrote an entire article complaining about having too many leaker sources and calling herself a “federal government whisperer.” In the article, she openly admits soliciting information on… pic.twitter.com/PNUEepom3n
— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) January 14, 2026
🚨BREAKING: The FBI searched Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home and devices on Wednesday as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of sharing government secrets, according to multiple reports. pic.twitter.com/efJGCtW2N4
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 14, 2026
BREAKING: FBI executes search warrant at home of Washington Post reporter amid probe into government contractor with top secret security clearance, Fox News confirms pic.twitter.com/jOmafmWA8g
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 14, 2026
FBI executes search warrant at a @washingtonpost reporter’s home as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified materials. Agents searched her home and seized her phone and Garmin watch. @PerryStein https://t.co/r4GU6Zmsa9
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) January 14, 2026
The FBI executed a search warrant Wednesday morning at a Washington Post reporter’s home as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified government materials.
The reporter, Hannah Natanson, was at her home in Virginia at the time of the search. Federal agents searched her home and her devices, seizing her phone, two laptops and a Garmin watch. One of the laptops was her personal computer, the other a Post-issued laptop.
The Post also received a subpoena Wednesday morning seeking information related to the same government contractor, according to a person familiar with the law enforcement action. The subpoena asked the Post to hand over any communications between the contractor and other employees.
It is exceptionally rare for law enforcement officials to conduct searches at reporters’ homes. Federal regulations intended to protect a free press are designed to make it difficult to use aggressive law enforcement tactics against reporters to obtain the identities of their sources or information.
In an email to The Post’s newsroom, Executive Editor Matt Murray called the search an “extraordinary, aggressive action” that is “deeply concerning and raises profound questions and concern around the constitutional protections for our work.”
Again, Trump’s home got raided, so we’re past this extraordinary and unprecedented nonsense. No doubt, this paper cheered when federal agents ransacked Mar-a-Lago and later handed the 2024 GOP nomination to Trump on a silver platter.
In principle, mishandling classified documents is a crime. You all know this, so please: no one is above the law, and stop trying to make this like some police-state tale. It’s not. Obama seized phone records of AP reporters and tried to get Fox News reporter James Rosen labeled a co-conspirator regarding a story that involved a State Department leak. Trump isn’t the only president who’s going hard after leakers.
