Second judge rules Trump administration can't review reporter's devices

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: USA Today

May 5, 2026, 6:02 p.m. ET


A federal judge kept an order in place barring President Donald Trump's administration from reviewing devices seized in the FBI’s raid of a Washington Post reporter’s home as part of a leak investigation in January. U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga’s May 4 order said a previous ruling, which declared that the court would conduct the review to determine what, if any, content is relevant to the investigation, “was not clearly erroneous or contrary to law.”

The FBI executed a search warrant at reporter Hannah Natanson’s home on Jan. 14 as part of a probe into Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a government contractor accused of illegally retaining classified documents. Devices including a phone and both a work and personal laptop were seized in the search.

Allowing the government to review the materials “is the equivalent of leaving the government’s fox in charge of the Washington Post’s henhouse,” U.S. District Judge William Porter wrote in his Feb. 24 order.

Trump’s administration appealed the order in March and said the government should be permitted to search the devices using a “filter protocol” that would “'segregate information that is outside the warrant’s scope, privileged, or otherwise protected, and would send all other information within the scope of the warrant to the prosecution team.'". Trenga rejected the federal government's arguments, keeping Porter's order in place as litigation continues.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/05/05/second-judge-rules-trump-administration-cant-review-reporters-devices/89951142007/

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REFERENCE (includes earlier references) - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143660540

[OldBaldy1701E]

1. "...the government should be permitted to search the devices using a "filter protocol"..."

A 'filter protocol'??

[Dr. T]

2. Essentially a strip search of the reporter's electronic devices.

I'd like to see the same on Faux News reporters. It would be hilarious when it is revealed that the source for most of their stories is a 40-year-old virgin living in his parent's basement.

[republianmushroom]

3. Believe these ruling, with this govt., are a day late and a dollar short.

[FakeNoose]

4. Confiscating her phone and computers are tantamount to illegal search and seizure

Reporter Hannah Natanson can't and won't reveal her sources, but the FBI says "F.U. we'll take them anyway."
If this were allowed to happen (by permission from a federal judge) we might as well hang it up right now.

I'm wondering how the FBI investigators got a search warrant in the first place? Maybe they didn't reveal that she's a WaPo reporter? Not sure about that, but the judges made absolutely the correct decision in this case - both of them!