In re application of RCFP to unseal judicial records related to search warrant executed on Jan. 14, 2026
Case Number: 1:26-mc-00001
Court: U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
Client: Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
Background: On Jan. 14, 2026, the FBI executed a search warrant at the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor charged with illegally retaining classified materials.
According to the Post, after searching Natanson’s home, agents seized her electronic devices, including her phone, personal laptop, work laptop, and smartwatch. The Post reported that the newspaper was also served with a subpoena seeking information related to the same government contractor.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the search in a social media post, writing that “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 serving our country.”
Because the search and seizure of a journalist’s property is a rare and extreme measure, the execution of the warrant immediately drew exceptional public interest. But judicial records related to the search warrant are filed under seal.
Attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed this application to unseal all of the court records related to the search warrant, arguing that the government “cannot justify wholesale secrecy here, where the public’s ability to understand a search with serious consequences for a free press is at stake, and where any basis for secrecy is undercut by the information that is already public.”
Related: In a statement, Reporters Committee President Bruce D. Brown called the FBI’s search of Natanson’s home “a tremendous escalation in the administration’s intrusions into the independence of the press.” Read the full statement.
Filings:
2026-01-14: Application of RCFP to unseal judicial records
2026-01-14: Memorandum of law in support of application of RCFP to unseal judicial records