Press freedom groups condemned the FBI’s search of a Washington Post reporter’s home as part of a leak investigation Wednesday.
The probe focuses on a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified documents; the Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who covers President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the federal workforce, wasn’t accused of wrongdoing. Still, the incredibly rare move reflects the Trump administration’s hostile posture toward the media.
“Reporters can’t help but wonder whether this is also a fishing expedition,” CNN’s media analyst wrote. Natanson wrote last year that more than 1,100 current or former US employees reached out to her during the mass public-sector firings, with colleagues dubbing her “the federal government whisperer.”