What are the possible effects of the FBI searching reporters' homes on press freedom and public trust in the media?

The FBI searched the home and devices of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, who covers the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal government, a Post spokesperson confirmed to Axios. Why it matters: Searching a journalist's home is an extraordinary step — even past administrations that aggressively pursued leak investigations stopped short of raiding reporters' homes. "While we won't know the government's arguments about overcoming these very steep hurdles until the affidavit is made public, this is a tremendous escalation in the administration's intrusions into the independence of the press," Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press president Bruce D. Brown said in response to Wednesday's news."The Justice Department should explain publicly why it believes this search was necessary and legally permissible, and Congress and the courts should scrutinize that explanation carefully," said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute. Zoom in: According to the Washington Post, Natanson was at her Virginia home when agents arrived. The FBI warrant said the search was part of an investigation into a Maryland system administrator accused of "accessing and taking home classified intelligence reports," per the affidavit cited by the Post. A spokesperson confirmed the Post is reviewing and monitoring the situation. Between the lines: Natanson is part of a team that covers Trump's overhaul of the federal workforce. She previously covered education and won a Peabody in 2024 for her work. In 2022, she was part of a team of Post journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Jan. 6 insurrection. Zoom out: The move signals a dramatic escalation in the Trump administration's war on leaks. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Justice Department would resume seizing reporters' phone records to find leakers.In April, Bondi rescinded former Attorney General Merrick Garland's policy restricting federal prosecutors from forcing jou