Incident details
- Date of incident
- January 20, 2026
- Targets
- Georgia Fort (Independent)
- Legal orders
-
-
subpoena
for
communications or work product
- Jan. 20, 2026: Pending
- Feb. 3, 2026: Unknown
-
subpoena
for
communications or work product
- Legal order target
- Third-party: T-Mobile (telecom company)
- Legal order venue
- Federal
Subpoena/Legal Order
A Jan. 20, 2026, administrative subpoena issued to T-Mobile by the Department of Homeland Security in St. Paul, Minnesota, requesting information about the cellphone account of journalist Georgia Fort.
Independent journalist Georgia Fort’s telecommunications were the target of an administrative subpoena issued to T-Mobile by a Department of Homeland Security agent in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 20, 2026.
The subpoena, issued by the agency’s Homeland Security Investigations arm without judicial oversight, was revealed in an Aug. 6 motion by Fort. The motion sought to dismiss her ongoing prosecution on charges connected to coverage of a Jan. 18 anti-deportation protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul.
Journalists Don Lemon and Junn Bollman were also indicted on the same charges.
The subpoena asked T-Mobile to provide information related to Fort’s account with the company and her call information, such as incoming and outgoing calls and their duration, as well as records of text messages.
A representative for T-Mobile told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that it takes its “responsibility to protect customers’ privacy and personal information very seriously,” but did not say whether it had complied with the demands.
In addition to Fort’s cellphone data, DHS had sought information related to her YouTube account, including through a search warrant that was denied twice and an administrative subpoena to YouTube that the company did not comply with.
Attorneys for Fort characterized the T-Mobile and YouTube subpoenas as “clandestine attempts to use this prosecution as a vehicle to obtain Fort’s journalistic materials,” and “evidence of the government’s bad-faith motive.”
Update: This report has been revised to include a comment from T-Mobile.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
