Jan. 14 (UPI) — The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson on Wednesday morning as part of an investigation into a government contractor.
The FBI executed a search warrant at Natanson’s home, seizing electronic devices including a phone and laptop computers and a Garmin watch, The Washington Post, CNN and The Hill report. The reports are based, at least in part, on unnamed sources.
The investigation centers around a government contractor who has allegedly retained classified government materials. Natanson was informed that she is not the focus of the probe, unnamed sources told the Post and CNN.
According to the warrant, the FBI is investigating Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a system administrator from Maryland with a contract with the Pentagon who has top-secret security clearance. The FBI alleges Perez-Lugones has been taking classified reports home and keeping them.
Natanson was then allegedly reporting on the leaked information, Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media.
“This past week, at the request of the Department of War, the Department of Justice and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Washington Post journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally leaked information from a Pentagon contractor,” Bondi wrote. “The Trump administration will not tolerate illegal leaks of classified information that, when reported, pose a grave risk to our Nation’s national security and the brave men and women who are serving our country.”
Bondi also wrote that the leaker has been detained.
Natanson had been covering Trump’s second term as president, focusing on cuts to the federal employees.
Bondi and the Trump administration have pushed for access to journalists’ sources and research materials, breaking from norms. Trump also pursued action against reporters during his first term.