A federal judge temporarily blocked the Justice Department from searching Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s devices, which were confiscated under an FBI search warrant last week as part of a federal investigation into leaked classified materials.

U.S. Magistrate Judge William Porter said on Wednesday that federal prosecutors cannot search Natanson’s devices as he weighs whether the government must turn the devices back over to the reporter, Reuters reported. Natanson and the Post argue that the FBI’s seizure of Natanson’s devices violates the First Amendment.

Porter said that Natanson and the Post “demonstrated good cause in their filings to maintain the status quo” until he can fully review the case. The judge also ordered the government to respond to the Post’s legal filing by January 28, with a hearing scheduled for early next month, the Post reported.

Journalists who publish classified information are protected under U.S. law, provided they obtained the classified material without coercion and did not ask anyone to break the law.

The FBI seized two laptops, a phone, and a Garmin watch from Natanson as part of an investigation into a government contractor accused of leaking classified government materials. Natanson is not the target of the investigation, which is focused on Aurelio Perez-Lugones, a contractor with top-secret security clearance who allegedly took classified intelligence reports to his home.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week that Natanson was reporting on classified information that was “illegally leaked” by a “Pentagon contractor.” Bondi added that the accused leaker, whom she did not publicly identify, is in jail.

Natanson focuses on “covering the Trump administration’s reshaping of the government” and was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Post. She has described herself as “the federal government whisperer” and wrote in an article published last month that she connected with more than 1,000 sources within the Trump administration after posting her phone number to an online forum for federal government employees. She said federal workers who reached out to her often expressed frustration with the administration.

The Washington Post condemned the federal government’s search of Natanson’s home and seizure of her devices.

“The outrageous seizure of our reporter’s confidential newsgathering materials chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on these materials,” the Post said.

Last year, Bondi ended a policy implemented under former President Joe Biden that prohibited federal agencies from searching reporters’ devices to identify a leaker. Bondi said that under her leadership, federal authorities would search reporters’ devices and records only when necessary and after all other investigative avenues had been exhausted.

A group of 37 cartel members accused of committing crimes across the United States was flown in from Mexico Tuesday night as the Trump administration looks to crack down on the criminal organizations and increase pressure on the Mexican government.

Among the dozens of cartel members were human smugglers, arms traffickers, and alleged members of the Sinaloa Cartel, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste, Cártel del Golfo, Gulf Cartel, La Linea, and the former Beltrán-Leyva Organization, according to the Department of Justice.

The FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration said that Mexico participated in the transfer of the fugitives, which was the largest of its kind and the third time the Mexican government has used its National Security Law to send fugitives north. Mexico’s cooperation signals a new willingness to crack down on cartel crimes alongside the United States.

“This is another landmark achievement in the Trump Administration’s mission to destroy the cartels. These 37 cartel members – including terrorists from the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG, and others – will now pay for their crimes against the American people on American soil. We are grateful for this collaboration with our international partners and will deliver swift, comprehensive justice for members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations who have spent years preying on the American people,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement after the operation.

Credit: Department of Justice

One of the individuals transferred was Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez, who allegedly provided CJNG with grenades and engaged in illegal immigrant smuggling, firearms trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, and narcotics trafficking for the cartel, according to the Justice Department.

Additionally, Eduardo Rigoberto Velasco Calderon and Eliomar Segura Torres were brought over after they allegedly laundered drug money for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion and the Sinaloa Cartel by transferring the funds through cryptocurrency transactions, according to the DOJ.

Heriberto Hernández Rodriguez was also brought over from Mexico. He’s a member of Cártel del Noreste and is allegedly responsible for drug trafficking, kidnappings and assassinations, and procuring weapons for the cartel, according to the DOJ.

The cartel member allegedly commanded hundreds of sicarios and ordered the killings of multiple people between 2006 and 2022.

He also allegedly headed security for the cartel’s stash houses in Mexico, “which served as staging points for thousands of kilograms of marijuana, cocaine, and methamphetamine to be transported into the United States for distribution,” the DOJ said.

The first Sinaloa cartel leader to be hit with terrorism charges, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, was also brought to the U.S. He also faces drug trafficking and money laundering charges.

Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, allegedly worked together to produce and traffic tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States as they led “one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world,” according to the DOJ.

Mexican authorities raided multiple drug sites allegedly controlled by the father and son duo in December 2024, seizing 1,500 kilograms of fentanyl, which was the largest known seizure of fentanyl in world history.

The son was killed during a capture operation last year in Mexico, before his father was captured by the Mexican military weeks later.

The transfer comes as President Donald Trump continues to threaten U.S. military action against cartels operating in Mexico.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump last week, saying such an operation would be “unnecessary.”