FBI investigating leaks to journalist who wrote explosive article on Kash Patel: Sources

Key Points:

• In July, Attorney General Garland ordered a review of DOJ practices regarding subpoenas and compulsory orders targeting reporters, leading to a new media policy in October 2022 that required higher-level approvals for such actions and limited subpoenas to cases where journalists are suspects.
• Garland emphasized that the policy aimed to protect press freedom by preventing law enforcement from unreasonably hindering newsgathering activities, recognizing the essential role of a free press in democracy.
• In April 2025, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi repealed Garland’s policy, lowering the standards for obtaining reporters' records and testimony, but still maintained that such measures should be a last resort.
• Recent FBI actions include investigating a reporter for alleged stalking related to coverage of an FBI security detail and conducting a rare search of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, though Natanson is not a suspect and courts have barred the government from accessing her devices.
• Natanson was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for public service for her reporting on mass firings during the Trump administration, while the FBI’s probe primarily targets a systems administrator accused of leaking classified information.