Washington, D.C. — On Friday, Demand Progress and 16 other press freedoms, human rights, and civil liberties groups asked Congress to investigate the FBI’s unprecedented raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home. In a letter sent to House and Senate committee leadership, the organizations warned that the FBI’s search possibly violates federal law and raises the possibility that the government is trying to threaten the press, uncover whistleblowers and chill newsgathering activities. In addition to launching an oversight investigation, the letter also asks Congress to obtain and disclose the government’s warrant materials, including any associated affidavits, and authorization paper trail related to the search of the reporter’s home.
“By raiding Hannah Natanson’s home and seizing her devices, the government threatened bedrock principles of our Constitution and a free society,” said Demand Progress Policy Director Emily Peterson-Cassin. “Congress has a responsibility to investigate whether the government is undermining the First Amendment and a free press by targeting and threatening a reporter like this.”
“Congressional intervention is necessary because the FBI’s January 14, 2026 raid of Natanson’s home represents a perilous escalation in the executive branch’s use of law enforcement powers against the free press and a citizenry that depends on fearless newsgathering,” stated the letter. “While the Department of Justice has publicly justified this intrusion as a necessary step in a classified leaks investigation involving federal contractor Aurelio Perez-Lugones, the available facts suggest a far more disturbing motive: the weaponization of legal process to engage in a fishing expedition into more than 1,000 confidential sources cultivated by Natanson inside the federal workforce.”
The groups behind the letter include American Society of Journalists and Authors, Amnesty International USA, Defending Rights & Dissent, Demand Progress, Democratic Messaging Project, Freedom of the Press Foundation, Journalism & Women Symposium (JAWS), National Press Photographers Association, PEN America, People For the American Way, Public Citizen, Radio Television Digital News Association, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Society of Professional Journalists, The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA and The Media and Democracy Project.