NonilexJan 15

Early on in her tenure as Trump’s AG, #PamBondi scrapped a #Biden era policy that banned the #DOJ from pursuing #reporters’ phone records & notes while investigating #leaks.

The message was unmistakable: #Trump era investigators would welcome a confrontation. And now they have one.

#law #Constitution #democracy #FreePress #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #journalism #FourthEstate #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #SevenMountainMandate
https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/15/media/fbi-hannah-natanson-washington-post-doj-search?cid=ios_app

‘Tip of the iceberg’: The FBI search of a reporter’s home has newsrooms bracing for more

Inside The Washington Post, the impact was immediate. Reporters called the search “incredibly disturbing.” Hannah Natanson, whose home was raided, urged her Post colleagues to keep reporting.

CNN
Show threadNonilexJan 15

This week, the #DOJ took the extraordinary step of obtaining a search warrant for the home of a #WashingtonPost reporter #HannahNatanson. #FBI agents arrived early on Wednesday & seized Natanson’s phone, 2 computers & her Garmin watch.

Inside the WaPo newsroom, the impact was immediate.

#law #Constitution #democracy #FreePress #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #journalism #FourthEstate #censorship #authoritarianism #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny #SevenMountainMandate

Show threadNonilex

#Reporters called the search “incredibly disturbing” & unprecedented. #HannahNatanson met with #WashingtonPost lawyers & security experts, scrambled to line up her own outside legal counsel, & urged her colleagues to keep reporting.

Until now, Gabe Rottman of the Reporters Committee for #FreedomOfThePress said, the #DOJ had “never executed a search warrant at the home of a reporter in a national security leak case.”

#Trump #law #Constitution #FreePress #FirstAmendment #journalism #censorship

Jan 15 at 9:30pmWeb
Show threadNonilexJan 15

But now that the line has been crossed, some #journalists & #media lawyers expect it will happen again.

#Trump allies at the #DOJ have been “itching to do this,” a law enforcement reporter told CNN.

#PamBondi’s revised policy, which went into effect last May, weakened her predecessor Merrick Garland’s protections for the media & reflected Trump’s personal frustration with the #press.

#law #Constitution #democracy #FreePress #FirstAmendment #FreeSpeech #journalism #FourthEstate #censorship

Show thread🕯️Curious Magpie 🕯️Jan 15
@Nonilex the line was crossed when Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist, was dismembered by Saudi Arabia and the US president, Trump, dismissed it. Repeatedly. It's just a matter of time for the line to fade into the distance.