The FBI doesn’t investigate journalists often, but when it does, it tends to be because a reporter has a confidential source who’s been accused of leaking sensitive information to a news organization. Earlier this year, for example, the FBI searched the home of Hannah Natanson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The Washington Post, seizing devices as part of a criminal case involving an alleged leak of classified information.
The bureau does not, however, have a record of investigating journalists for writing an article the FBI director doesn’t like. Nevertheless, The New York Times reported:
The F.B.I. began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms. Williamson broke federal stalking laws, the person said.
The Times’ report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the investigatory steps “prompted concerns among some Justice Department officials who saw the inquiry as retaliation for an article that Mr. Patel and his girlfriend, Alexis Wilkins, did not like, and who determined there was no legal basis to proceed with the investigation.”
The bureau made no effort to deny the accuracy of the latest reporting, telling the Times on the record that investigators “were concerned” about “aggressive reporting techniques,” though the FBI also confirmed that it is not pursuing a case against the reporter.
That this matter apparently will not proceed further is good but doesn’t change the apparent fact that the FBI launched an investigation into a reporter in response to an article that bothered the bureau’s scandal-plagued director.
To be sure, the administration-wide offensive against the free press over the past 16 months has been staggering — Donald Trump himself has suggested “evening shows” should not be “allowed” to criticize him, adding that reporting he disapproves of is “really illegal” — but this latest news from the Times suggests the problem is intensifying.
For his part, Patel appeared on Fox News on Wednesday night and denied that he misused the FBI because of a story he didn’t like, but quickly added, “The reality is … that this same reporter delivered a baseless story which caused a direct threat of life to my girlfriend. … We are going to protect, not only me and my loved ones, but every American that is threatened.”
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