Bar complaint filed against Trump-appointed prosecutor
The Freedom of the Press Foundation has filed a disciplinary complaint with the Virginia State Bar against the federal prosecutor who signed the search warrant request for Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, saying he omitted laws that would have prevented the warrant from being granted.
According to a letter shared by legal reporter Adam Klasfeld, who writes "All Rise News," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg used a leak investigation into a government contractor to obtain the warrant last month that led to the seizure of the reporters' electronic devices.
"The government has said that Natanson is not a target of its investigation," the release said.
The group cited a New York Times report published on Feb. 5, 2026, which said the warrant application neglected to mention the Privacy Protection Act of 1980. It's "a federal statute that limits search warrants for journalistic work product and documentary materials," the organization explained.
The warrant application, which was attached to the press release, also "made no mention of this controlling legal authority."
"The Privacy Protection Act prohibits searches of these materials except when there is probable cause to believe that the reporter (or other target of a search, since the Act is not limited to professional journalists) has themselves committed a crime to which the materials relate," the group continued.
It's a problem for Kromberg, the letter said, because his signature appeared on an application that violates the "Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.3, 'Candor Toward the Tribunal,' which provides that a lawyer shall not knowingly 'fail to disclose to the tribunal controlling legal authority in the subject jurisdiction known to the lawyer to be adverse to the position of the client.'"
It also highlights that candor is particularly important in a case where there is no adverse authority to argue against such a warrant in court.
The group also objects to the possibility that the omission was an accident, given that the story was national news at the time.
"We request that this office take appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including disbarment, and that it expedite disciplinary proceedings due to the dire consequences for First Amendment freedoms if illegal newsroom raids and seizures of journalists’ work product are allowed to go unchecked," the letter closes.
Trump's prosecutors have struggled across the country as they endeavor to meet the president's demands. Two U.S. attorneys have been removed after judges said that their appointments violated the rules. Jim Saranteas wrote for The Constitution Society's Law and Policy Analysis forum that Bar Associations should get involved after the Trump administration tried to extort law firms with an executive order that threatened them by name.
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