By Andrew Goudsward
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia, Feb 20 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Friday sharply questioned Justice Department lawyers about their handling of a search of a Washington Post reporter’s home last month.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter pressed government lawyers to explain why they did not mention a 1980 law restricting searches of journalists when they sought approval to search the home of reporter Hannah Natanson as part of a national security investigation.
“How could you miss it? How could you say it doesn’t apply?” Porter asked during a hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
Porter, who ultimately approved the search, revealed that he had rejected prior versions of the proposed warrant.
DOJ LAWYERS’ CONDUCT IN QUESTION
Porter became the latest judge in a high-profile case to question the conduct of DOJ lawyers under President Donald Trump’s administration. Others have accused the Justice Department of making legal errors and defying court orders, claims the department has denied.
DOJ attorney Gordon Kromberg told Porter that prosecutors determined the 1980 law, known as the Privacy Protection Act, did not apply in situations in which the reporter was a participant in potential criminal conduct.
The FBI searched Natanson’s Virginia home and seized cellphones and laptops last month as part of an investigation into the alleged leak of classified information to Natanson by a government contractor. The Washington Post has said the paper and Natanson are not targets of the probe.
A press freedom group has filed an ethics complaint against Kromberg, accusing him of withholding information from the judge. Porter told Kromberg he may be correct that the law did not prohibit the search, but vented frustration that prosecutors had not referenced it as a factor to consider.
Friday’s hearing centered on the Post and Natanson’s legal challenge to the search and demand that the government return the seized materials. Their lawyers described the search of a reporter’s home based purely on newsgathering activity as unprecedented in the U.S.
Porter has temporarily blocked the government from searching the material while the challenge plays out.
Simon Latcovich, an attorney for the Post, said the raid “froze Ms. Natanson’s newsgathering” and risked exposing more than 1,000 confidential government sources.
Justice Department lawyers argued the search was a necessary part of an investigation into the unlawful disclosure of U.S. government secrets. They said the DOJ planned to have a group of FBI agents not involved in the investigation, known as a filter team, review the seized material and separate anything not relevant to the probe.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; editing by Andy Sullivan, Rod Nickel)
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