US Justice Department Seizes Trump-Criticizing Washington Post Journalist, Targets 1,169 Federal Officials
The US Justice Department has clashed head-on with press freedom by targeting the home of a Trump-critic reporter without subpoena, targeting 1,169 federal sources.
The FBI attempted to seize the home of a Washington Post reporter on the 14th based on messages exchanged with the reporter during the arrest of a target of a Pentagon leak investigation.
The FBI also raided the reporter's private residence without a subpoena or investigation, apparently in an attempt to secure sources for the journalist, who has primarily written critically of the Trump administration.
In recent months, Washington Post reporter Hannah Nathanson has contributed to several articles on the US military pressure campaign against Venezuela, including the recent arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, and cited Trump administration documents detailing sensitive diplomatic meetings at the Vatican.
The New York Times reported on the 14th that “the Justice Department did not answer questions about why it did not request cooperation from the Washington Post or reporter Natanson, nor did it disclose whether it issued a subpoena to reporter Natanson as a less intrusive means of obtaining information.” The Times added that “such actions would have allowed the Post to challenge the information in court or negotiate restrictions on the material handed over, and would have protected confidential sources unrelated to the investigation.”
Reporter Netanson reported in the Washington Post on December 24th, under the headline “I’m the Post’s ‘Federal Whisperer.’ It’s been a real struggle,” with the subtitle “One reporter’s effort to show how Trump is changing the government got 1,169 new sources and nearly collapsed.”
The article is reproduced verbatim.
At 11:30 p.m., two hours after my usual bedtime, my fiancé put his hand on my wrist.
“You have to stop,” he said. “Don’t answer them.” As he spoke, I felt my iPhone vibrate twice: two more messages, two more. They wanted to tell me how President Donald Trump was changing workplace policies, laying off colleagues, or shifting agency missions.
It was Valentine's Day weekend, and the weather was terrifying outside, and the government was busy firing tens of thousands of trainees for "performance" without evidence.
Less than two weeks ago, I clicked on Reddit to check for a tip I couldn't quite remember. My colleague, veteran federal affairs reporter Lisa Line, suggested I share my contact information on r/fednews.
It was a forum where some 300,000 federal employees posted every few seconds, sharing their fates under a president who was trying to downsize the bureaucracy. I had low expectations and felt disempowered—as an education reporter, I wrote, "Whoever's willing to talk."
I then added my contact information to Signal, an encrypted messaging app.
The next day, I woke up at sunrise to dozens of messages—a pattern that has dominated my mornings ever since.
I didn't realize it then, but this year had transformed me, what a colleague called "the federal whisperer." I had a new field, a new editor, and 1,169 contacts on Signal, all current or former federal employees who had decided to trust me with their stories.
But on Valentine's Day that year, the number of unread messages on Signal was much lower, but still overwhelming: 256. Resting my thumb on the screen, I looked up to see my fiancé's face.
I reached my pinky out to the dark circles under his eyes. "I'm sorry," I said. Just as I was about to apologize for canceling dinner and leaving the roses he'd bought me on the kitchen table, my phone vibrated again. I looked down at number 257.
"You can't even give me five seconds of attention," he said, rolling away. I waited until he fell asleep. Then I opened Signal and continued typing.
<Copy of message included with article>
Signal message sent February 4th
USAID Humanitarian Assistance Division staff are on administrative leave starting tonight. … Administrative leave only has a start time and date, not an end date.
Signal message sent February 13th
DOGE is investigating FEMA and CISA at DHS headquarters. That's all I can offer. Good luck. I'm deleting this conversation.
Signal message sent February 23rd
Before the election, I had no intention of leaving federal service, but now I'm desperately applying to return to the private sector. The things I loved—working from home, stability, and serving the greater good—have all been taken away from me.
The messages came from representatives wearing sunglasses I grew up watching on television, and from various small organizations I never knew existed. (There was a Historic Preservation Advisory Committee in the US? An Appalachian Regional Committee?)
<Article below>
Almost everything felt urgent.
Department of Veterans Affairs employee: "Tonight... staff are being laid off. These are psychologists who treat patients. We'll know more in the morning."
Social Security Administration employee: "All our data could be in the hands of unscrupulous people."
Internal Services employee: "The team is figuring out how to get it..." The data sent to DOGE "points to the US DOGE Service, Elon Musk's cost-cutting team."
Some of these tips, things I realized while scrolling through my phone, were news—a scoop, in journalistic terms—that needed to be made quickly.
But these were topics I'd never covered before, like the potential leak of hundreds of thousands of internal government records. People were saying our national security was at stake, but I didn't know how to write a story like this, or even who in our newsroom knew. My colleagues told me to join the internal Slack channel, #federal, and then talk to Mike Madden, the Washington economics editor who coordinated our DOGE coverage.
I quickly started copying and pasting the tips, scraping out any identifiable details. With my phone vibrating every few seconds, I trotted around the building, searching for Mike. Gracefully overlooking the fact that we'd never met (and that I didn't work for him), he led me around the seventh floor: to the technology reporting team. He covered national security. He led me to the White House editors. Eventually, The Washington Post developed a dedicated section covering the Trump administration, and getting tips for Signal became almost my entire career.
In those first few months, stories poured in from talented and dedicated colleagues across the newsroom: Trump had fired 15 independent auditors in a late-night purge.
DOGE was feeding sensitive Department of Education data into an AI to target spending cuts. Federal officials privately warned that Musk's attacks on the government were illegal. The government suppressed two reports, fearing Trump's wrath, that the freeze on US aid to Africa and Gaza was having a serious impact.
Many Post articles reported news the public would otherwise have been unaware of. Some came from my own signal.
"We just shifted the market," one reporter marveled at the scoop that the military planned to cut 8% of the defense budget.
"You're a Washington Post tipper," another colleague joked.
"You look really bad," my wife said at work.
<Quote from the message>
Signal message sent April 3
I plan to end my telecommuting contract the same day it's announced... I'm not sure how this is legal.
Signal message sent April 29
I've worked in government my entire life, and this is the first time I've ever done something like this. It's getting serious. ... All internal procedures and rules have been ignored.
Signal message sent April 29
Dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence groups within federal agencies leaves us vulnerable. We are deeply concerned about the dangers facing our nation.
<Article below>
It looked bad to me. I barely slept.
Stories poured in quickly, and tips came in even faster. I kept worrying: What if something was wrong? What if someone got in trouble?
After consulting with Post lawyers, I developed the most secure sourcing system possible.
If I wanted to include someone in a story, I asked them to send me a photo of their government ID and then tried to forget about it. I kept notes reporting conversations on an encrypted drive, never including anyone's name.
I used a private browser with no search history to Google facts and identities.
I renamed all my Signal chats by agency—"Transportation Employee," "FDA Reviewer," "EPA Scientist"—until the app stopped accepting new nicknames. (I then started moving my contacts to a two-person group chat, where I could even change their names.)
I bought privacy screens for my iPhone and computer.
I always carried two of them, walking them around the house from room to room.
I kept posting to r/fednews, wanting to show that I was using what they were telling me. I shared every article on Reddit, ending with a "please contact me" request from my Signal.
And that's exactly what happened, but it was becoming a problem.
I'm an "inbox zero" type: I can't get through the day without receiving every email, Slack, text, and Signal message. When I'm sick, my fever dreams are filled with red circled iPhone app notification badges.
I was going to bed replying to Signal messages. I was waking up to reply to Signal messages.
I was having weekly dinners with my parents, looking at my phone on my lap, copying Signal tips into Slack. I canceled five engagements in a row with the woman who was to be my bridesmaid at my wedding.
"You know," my fiancé said one day when I came back from walking the dog, holding up my phone, "you didn't stop to check the signal one last time.
I can't remember the last time I finished a sentence."
"I'm sorry," I told him. I told him the Post was doing an important story. I mentioned Inbox Zero. I started crying. "If I don't respond," I said, "I feel like I'm letting them down."
<Message Quote>
Signal Message Sent May 17
We really have no idea what's going to happen next. I can't live like this. I don't want to work for an agency that doesn't respect or value me. After years of working to protect human health and the environment, this is a hard truth to accept.
Signal Message Sent May 17
I'm deeply concerned about how prepared our country will be for the upcoming hurricane season, with ASPR and FEMA crippled... due to restructuring and all the changes already underway, as well as the mass exodus of career federal agents.
Signal Message Sent May 20
The soul of America is at stake.
<Article below>
Later, after feeling a little more composed, I tried again.
While many federal employees are losing their livelihoods, sleeping in or working on weekends is a terrible thing. I told my fiancé that worrying about it felt foolish and selfish. It was a time when working people risked their livelihoods to talk to me.
I showed him our articles about how law enforcement at the U.S. Postal Service was aiding Trump's "mass deportation" campaign and how DOGE was trying to collect personal information on millions of Americans.
I told him that shortly after we published our article about the Social Security Administration's proposed cuts to phone service, the agency had scrapped the idea.
I told them, "People inside government agencies shouldn't talk to me about things like that."
But they did. I read him a few messages explaining why they had helped.
"I never thought we'd end up leaking information like this," a Justice Department employee wrote. "I've always felt a duty to do the right thing for our country and its citizens... I believe in transparency."
"I want to continue to fight for the rule of law," a Health and Human Services employee wrote. "Even if it's just a small part of me."
"I understand the risks," a Defense Department employee wrote. "But getting the truth and facts out is far more important."
And from someone in the military: “I am sharing this because the public needs to know the realistic consequences of this decision. … I encourage you to cover this story before it's too late."
My fiancé nodded. I didn't mention the worst message I'd ever received.
<Quote from message below>
Signal message sent February 23
I think about jumping off a bridge several times a day.
Signal message sent March 21
I want to die. I've never felt that way before.
Signal message sent May 21
I'm examining how much I'm worth, alive and dead.
<Article below>
Unsure how to respond to people's despair, I had coffee with my colleague William Wan, whose harrowing and deeply human reporting on mental health has long been an admirer.
He said, "We need to write about this," and so we spent months running feature stories on the struggles of federal workers.
We told the story of a Midwestern veterans' agency worker doubling his antidepressant medication; a California Forest Service biologist seeking treatment; and an NIH employee in the South who was self-destructive. I was so consumed by my thoughts that I limited my medication at home. I attended the funeral of Monique Lockett, a Social Security Administration employee, who died at her desk from a stress-related heart attack. William spent time with the widow and children of Caitlin Cross-Barnet, a federal health researcher who committed suicide in February.
And yet, the messages kept coming.
One day, a woman wrote to me via Signal, asking me not to respond. She lived alone, sent the message, and planned to die that weekend. Before that, I wanted at least one person to understand: Trump had destroyed the government, and with it, her life.
I called William, and I felt fear rise like hot liquid in the back of my throat.
He told me to stay calm. He told me to send the woman a list of crisis resources, starting with the 988 National Suicide Hotline. He told me to remember that reporters are not trained therapists or counselors, just human beings trying their best.
"You have to try to help, but no matter what she does or what you say, it could happen eventually," William said. He said, "It's not your decision."
I did as he said, refreshed the app, checked for replies, and fell asleep.
The next morning, a message appeared under her name: "This person is not using Signal."
<Excerpt from message below>
Signal message sent December 10
It's been a really tough year maintaining a "hold the line" mentality, but I'm still here to stay connected and be of genuine help to the public.
Signal message sent December 10
Should we quit? Are we wasting our time? Should we stay and try to keep this public service from falling apart, even though it's something we love, or should we find another job?
<Article below>
I still wake up to between 30 and 100 Signal notifications.
Some are even telling: Trump's proposed foreign aid plan includes a surprising $50 million for polar bears in Greenland.
Amidst the US military buildup in the Caribbean, the Venezuelan president has requested Russian missiles. The Forest Service recently concluded in a confidential report that the loss of personnel has left land "abandoned, filled with impassable trails and dangerous bridges."
Other messages offer updates on post-government job openings: photos of pets, vacation photos. Good and bad diagnoses. Images of sparkling snow.
Others have closed their Signal accounts, for reasons I will never know.
Sometimes, sources ask how I'm doing as the long year draws to a close.
"I'm just grateful," I reply, "for talking to me."
Hannah Netanth, a reporter who has written a series of highly read articles on politics, has covered the appeals of laid-off federal workers in the Washington Post.
The Times reported, "Netanth reported in the first person her experiences talking to federal employees, and Ms. Netanth said she created 1,169 sources after sharing her contacts and asking for stories of upheaval under the Trump administration." The search of her home raises the possibility that the identities of those individuals are now in the hands of the Justice Department, according to court documents. “In recent months, investigators suspected that Mr. Perez-Lugones had illegally mishandled classified information about an unidentified country,” the official said. “When agents tried to arrest Mr. Perez-Lugones, he was messaging a reporter, and investigators found classified material in their chats,” the official said, indicating that the reporter was not directly targeted by the investigation.
Jamil Jaffer, director of Columbia University’s Knight Institute for the First Amendment, told the Times that this “could have a chilling effect on legitimate journalistic activity,” adding that “there are important limits to the government’s authority to conduct searches related to First Amendment activity.”
Bruce D. Brown, president of the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the search “one of the most intrusive actions law enforcement can take,” adding that “federal law and policy limit searches to the most extreme cases, which is necessary to ensure that they do not dampen the public interest in the free flow of information to the news media beyond this particular case.” "It is for the purpose of," he said.
"Until the affidavit is released, the government will have to overcome this very steep hurdle," Brown said. "While we don't know what the government's argument will be, this is a tremendous escalation of the administration's infringement on the independence of the press."
Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a social media statement on the 14th that the search was at the Pentagon's request to "search for evidence at the home of a journalist who obtained and reported on classified and illegal leaks from Pentagon contractors."
DoJ regulations governing the use of search warrants and subpoenas in leak investigations state that the information sought must be "essential" and that the government must first make "all reasonable efforts" to obtain alternative sources.
DoJ regulations require the government to first negotiate with the journalist before conducting an investigative search of a news organization, with some exceptions.
The Times reported that the regulations state that the attorney general must "need to negotiate if such negotiations would pose a significant threat to the credibility of the investigation, pose a risk of serious harm to national security, or create an imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm." "Whether it is determined that there is a warrant for the arrest is included," the court documents stated.
According to court documents, the arrested contractor was a systems engineer for the U.S. Navy and had been under investigation for accessing and printing classified information from government systems since October of last year, and was already incarcerated.
Mr. Netans, whose home was searched and seized two laptops (one for company use and one for personal use), a cell phone, and a smartwatch, primarily covered the mass layoffs of government employees in the early days of the Trump administration.
He has reported on numerous whistleblowers' "criticisms and complaints" in his articles.
The Washington Post editor-in-chief condemned the search as "an unusual and aggressive act" and stated that the newspaper and its reporter were not initially subpoenaed.
The Washington Post ran a story titled "FBI Executes Search Warrant at Washington Post Reporter's Home" with the subheading "The search was part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of illegally storing classified government data."
The article appeared to mention Perez-Lugones in remarks before the White House bill signing ceremony on the 14th. "The leaker has been found and is now in jail." And that's the leaker on Venezuela, and a very serious leaker," he said, adding that "there is no law in the United States that explicitly criminalizes a journalist obtaining or publishing classified information."
The Post went on to say, "The Post also received a subpoena early this morning requesting information related to the same government contractor, a person familiar with the law enforcement action said." The subpoena asked The Post to turn over all communications between the contractor and other employees.
The New York Times reported, "Trump addressed the incident this afternoon, telling reporters that the government had identified a 'very malicious leaker' of information about Venezuela." He suggested similar investigations may be underway, saying, "There may be others, and I'll let you know about them. We're closely following them."
Post Editor-in-Chief Matt Murray wrote to staff in a message to the network, "Neither Mr. Nathanson nor the newspaper is at the center of this investigation. Nevertheless, this extraordinary and aggressive action is deeply troubling and raises deep questions and concerns about the constitutional protections for our work."
President Trump told reporters on the 14th, "We've identified the person who leaked information about Venezuela, and there may be others."
President Trump's remarks appear to be aimed at "hunting down federal government leakers."
See <Trump's Mass Federal Layoffs: NYT Reveals 49 Musk X AI Team Leads Massive Federal Layoffs, February 28, 2025>
<Musk's Federal Government Layoffs as White House Staff Without Appointment 'Unconstitutional', February 25, 2025>