Overview
- Agents executed a warrant at Hannah Natanson’s Virginia residence and took her phone, a personal laptop, a Washington Post–issued laptop, and a smartwatch.
- The inquiry centers on Aurelio Pérez Lugones, a Maryland systems administrator charged with unlawful retention of national defense information, not on Natanson, according to reports.
- Attorney General Pam Bondi said the operation followed a Pentagon request related to a leak of classified intelligence.
- Press freedom groups and legal scholars described the home search as an unusual escalation that raises First Amendment concerns, citing risks to newsgathering and source protections.
- Bondi in April rescinded a Biden-era policy that had restricted efforts to obtain journalists’ records, and the investigation remains active with the FBI declining comment.