The FBI’s raid of journalist’s home was the product of decades of backsliding | Seth Stern and Chip Gibbons

Thu, 15 Jan 2026

The trend of invading newsrooms, in violation of federal law, has now spread to the highest levels of the federal government

The raid of a journalist’s home, along with the jailing of their alleged source, are shocking acts of authoritarianism. And they are in line with Trump’s willingness to use the national security state as a weapon against the press, which is a serious threat to our democracy. But those weapons were not invented by Trump nor did he pioneer their use against free press.

The raid of Hannah Natanson, is a shocking escalation, not a rupture. The United States has been backsliding to this point – at both the federal and local levels – for quite some time.

Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer

Chip Gibbons is the policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent. A journalist and researcher focusing on the US national security state, Gibbons is currently working on The Imperial Bureau, forthcoming from Verso Books; based heavily on archival research and documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act