A government contractor who allegedly leaked classified information in a case linked to the search of a Washington Post journalist’s home was indicted by a grand jury on Thursday.
Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones is charged with five counts of unlawfully transmitting and one count of unlawfully retaining classified national defense information, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Perez-Lugones allegedly “repeatedly accessed classified reports” and removed them from his sensitive compartmented information facility to then share with a reporter, according to the DOJ’s release.
“Illegally disclosing classified defense information is a grave crime against America that puts both our national security and the lives of our military heroes at risk,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the release. “This Department of Justice will remain ever-vigilant in protecting the integrity of America’s classified intelligence.”
The DOJ also said Perez-Lugones had previously been charged with retaining national defense information.
The indictment follows the FBI’s search of Post reporter Hannah Natanson’s Virginia home. Federal agents took several devices, including two phones, two laptops, a recorder, a portable hard drive and a Garmin watch, according to the newspaper.
Natanson has reported on the Trump administration’s efforts to cut down on government spending by shrinking the federal workforce.
On Wednesday, the Post submitted a request to a judge to order the return of these materials.
The newspaper wrote in its request that this seizure “violates the Constitution’s protections for free speech and a free press and should not be allowed to stand.”
“It is a prior restraint and a violation of the reporter’s privilege that flouts the First Amendment and ignores federal statutory safeguards for journalists,” the Post wrote. “The seizure chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on protected material.”
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