FBI Barred From Accessing Devices Seized From Reporter

UPDATE Jan 22, 2026 12:30 AM CST

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that the FBI cannot examine the electronic devices it seized from the home of a Washington Post reporter last week—at least for now. The judge, responding to a motion filed by the newspaper and the reporter in question asking that the devices be returned, ordered that the government agency can hold on to them but not access any of the information they hold until the judge further reviews the case, NBC News reports. The government has until next Wednesday to respond, and a hearing has been set for early February. This marks the first time the US government has searched a reporter's home while probing a national security media leak. The journalist's phone, recorder, smartwatch, portable hard drive, and two laptops—both work and personal—were seized.

Jan 14, 2026 9:18 AM CST

Federal agents turned up at a Washington Post reporter's home Wednesday morning, executed a search warrant, and left with her electronics as part of an investigation into a government contractor who allegedly took home classified documents, the Post reports. The FBI searched the Virginia residence of reporter Hannah Natanson and seized her phone, two laptops—one personal, one issued by the Post—and a Garmin watch, according to the newspaper.

The Post reports that agents told her she is not the target of the investigation. The warrant names Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a Maryland-based systems administrator with a top-secret clearance. An FBI affidavit alleges Perez-Lugones accessed classified intelligence reports, brought them home, and stored them in places including his lunchbox and basement. Per the AP, he was charged earlier this month with unlawful retention of national defense information.

Natanson covers the federal workforce, and the Post describes her as contributing to its "most high-profile and sensitive coverage during the first year of the second Trump administration." The AP adds that she "recently published a piece describing how she gained hundreds of new sources, leading a colleague to call her 'the federal government whisperer.'" Both the Post and New York Times describe the search of a journalist's home as extremely unusual. As the Times explains, "It is exceedingly rare, even in investigations of classified disclosures, for federal agents to conduct searches at a reporter's home. Typically, such investigations are done by examining a reporter's phone records or email data."