Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

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Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby friendlyskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:48 am

Michael Hastings Sent Email About FBI Probe Hours Before Death
The Huffington Post | By Melissa Jeltsen
Posted: 06/22/2013 6:02 pm EDT | Updated: 06/23/2013 4:17 am EDT

FOLLOW: Michael Hastings, Michael Hastings Buzzfeed, Michael Hastings Death, Michael Hastings Email, Michael Hastings Fbi, Media News
Hours before dying in a fiery car crash, award-winning journalist Michael Hastings sent an email to his colleagues, warning that federal authorities were interviewing his friends and that he needed to go "off the rada[r]" for a bit.

The email was sent around 1 p.m. on Monday, June 17. At 4:20 a.m. the following morning, Hastings died when his Mercedes, traveling at high speeds, smashed into a tree and caught on fire. He was 33.

Hastings sent the email to staff at BuzzFeed, where he was employed, but also blind-copied a friend, Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, on the message. Biggs, who Hastings met in 2008 when he was embedded in his unit in Afghanistan, forwarded the email to KTLA, who posted it online on Saturday.

Here's the email, with the recipients' names redacted.

Subject: FBI Investigation, re: NSA
Hey (redacted names) -- the Feds are interviewing my "close friends and associates." Perhaps if the authorities arrive "BuzzFeed GQ," er HQ, may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues.

Also: I'm onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit.

All the best, and hope to see you all soon.

Michael


Rumors that the FBI was investigating Hastings began the day after his death, with a couple of mysterious WikiLeaks tweets.

In a rare move, the FBI issued a statement denying that Hastings was under investigation. The Los Angeles Police Department also said it had found no evidence of any foul play in his death.

Hastings, an accomplished war correspondent and sharp political reporter, was best known for writing a critical Rolling Stone profile of General Stanley McChrystal that led to his resignation.

It's unclear what "big story" Hastings was working on prior to his death, but it might have to do with yet another military bigwig, this time retired general David Petraeus.


The LA Times reported that Hastings was researching a story about a privacy lawsuit brought by Jill Kelley, the Florida socialite who took center stage in the Petraeus cheating scandal, against the Department of Defense and the FBI. According to a person close to Kelley, the paper said, Hastings had plans to meet a representative of hers to discuss the case next week.
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby friendlyskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 11:51 am

Well, well, well.

If your tin foil hatometer didn't go off when this story broke, you shouldn't be posting here. I mean, seriously, a guy who got a general fired gets into a totally sober, one-car accident with a tree? AHEM. Now this little tidbit comes to light....
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby friendlyskies » Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:02 pm

Had to check Prison Planet to see what Alex Jones thought.... heck, they've been on this since Thursday! Anyway, the story has loads of links:

LA Times Reports Hastings Was Going Into Hiding Before His Death

Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
June 22, 2013
Despite FBI assertions to the contrary, journalist Michael Hastings was under investigation by the FBI. In an email sent out hours before his death, Hastings said his “close friends and associates” were being harassed by the FBI and he was going to “go off the radar for a bit,” in other words into hiding.
At 2:32 into this video, Michael Hastings says the Obama administration is at war with the press.
“Perhaps if the authorities arrive” at the news website Buzzfeed, they “may be wise to immediately request legal counsel before any conversations or interviews about our news-gathering practices or related journalism issues,” he wrote.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT6YiTBjEhI[/youtube]

Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith added that Hastings had told friends and family “he was concerned that he was under investigation” for his journalism.
Wikileaks also confirmed that Hastings was under investigation by the FBI.
The establishment media is attempting to portray theories about the journalist’s death as unfounded and irresponsible conspiracies. “Since Hastings’ death early Tuesday, wild conspiracy theories have bloomed on the Internet, implying that he was murdered by powerful forces wanting to silence him,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday, insinuating that Wikileaks is attempting to exploit the journalist’s death.
During a Reddit interview last year, Hastings said the military had repeatedly investigated him. “The Pentagon has launched three investigations into stories I’ve done over the past 18 months under the pretense of finding the wrongdoing we were exposing. But the investigations were really about creating a Pentagon approved official document to criticize journalism they don’t like,” he said.
Hastings also talked about government attempts to control the internet. “On the one hand, we’re already bombarded with so much government propaganda, it might be hard to notice,” he wrote. “But I think we’d definitely see a more direct targeting of certain communities within the U.S. with propaganda that was produced overseas. I think what we’d also see is all sorts of disturbing online and internet initiatives produced by the government. The Pentagon is already trying to do this.”
Prior to his death, Hastings was working on a story about Jill Kelly, the military socialite who received email messages from Paula Broadwell, the biographer who had an affair with former general and CIA director David Petraeus. Kelly believes the FBI leaked her name to the media to discredit her.
Earlier this month, Buzzfeed posted a final article by Hastings, “Why Do Democrats Love to Spy On Americans.”
As we noted on Thursday, Hastings was renowned for being “only interested in writing stories someone didn’t want him to write — often his subjects,” according to Buzzflash editor Ben Smith. “He knew that there are certain truths that nobody has an interest in speaking, ones that will make you both your subjects and their enemies uncomfortable. They’re stories that don’t get told because nobody in power has much of an interest in telling them.”
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby nowonmai » Sun Jun 23, 2013 1:29 pm

They used a Nicaraguan wet team to dazzle him from a Russian helicopter with the same dazzle gun that was used by MI6 to kill Lady Di, then obvs had to destroy the helicopter and the wet team to close the loop. Simples.

I feel sure James Gandolfini was probably involved too.
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby Sri Lanky » Tue Jun 25, 2013 3:10 pm

Mr. Hastings was set on fire...alive.
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby Kurt » Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:01 pm

One conspiracy theory deserves another.

What I would do if I really wanted to mess with someone I would make some cryptic posts and e-mails saying that someone was after me and in case anything happened my friends should know I would never harm myself.

Then I would kill myself, with a suicide note and everything.

Instant imortality and I would damn my enemy, real or perceived, with suspicion for the rest of their days....or until they found this post.

Now maybe that is what hastings did. Don't think he'd kill himself? White Americans top themselves off all the time. It would be as suspicious as a young, black male being murdered by another young black male...a few pleas to watch for the warning signs of suicide and a link to a suicide hotline and then just sit and wait for the next dude to kill himself.

So why could this not be a conspiracy against the FBI instead of a conspiracy against Hastings?
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby nowonmai » Tue Jul 02, 2013 1:22 am

or alternatively he was just a shit driver.

I think it was a nano UAV flown personally by Petraeus from his underground command centre at his home, the demented general flew it into his car imitating a wasp and the jocular journalist jacknifed as he jerked the wheel to jilt the unwanted jasper. Afterward Petraeus went to an all night party at Dick Cheney's where they compared notes on their corset collection and laughed inappropriately loudly til dawn.
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby friendlyskies » Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:59 pm

Karen Silkwood
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Re: Hastings' "big story," FBI investigation, before crash

Postby nowonmai » Thu Jul 04, 2013 11:54 pm

Hats off.
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