• Michael Hastings dies in mysterious car crash after warning editor FBI was investigating him for NSA story
By Ralph Forbes
Hard-hitting and courageous journalist Michael Hastings, who exposed corruption in the military-industrial complex and the shadowy world of intelligence, died on June 18. His Mercedes C250 coupe ran a red light, racing down North Highland Avenue in Los Angeles in excess of 100 miles per hour, and then slammed into a tree. The car exploded into a fiery inferno, flinging its 540-pound engine quite a distance away.
“It sounded like a bomb went off in the middle of the night,” a witness told a local Los Angeles television news. “The house shook. My windows were rattling.”
Hastings wrote for the popular Rolling Stone magazine and the website “BuzzFeed.”
The strange scene occurred only hours after Hastings sent a panicked email to his editor with the subject “FBI Investigation, re: NSA.” It read:
“. . . 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. . . I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the [radar] for a bit.”
Hours before his death, Hastings had reached out to WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson, telling her “that the FBI was investigating him.” After his death, WikiLeaks reported that the Hastings case “has a very serious non-public complication.” As usual, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) denied they were investigating Hastings.
Hillary Clinton was infuriated by Hastings digging up the truth, crumbling the State Department’s story about what happened in Benghazi. For example, “Ambassador” Steven’s diary found by reporters at the scene—contradicted Hillary’s and Obama’s official version. After Hastings asked too many hard-hitting questions, Hillary’s personal spokesperson, Philippe Reines, sent Hastings an email on September 23, 2012, which read:
I now understand why the official investigation by the Department of the Defense as reported by The Army Times The Washington Post concluded beyond a doubt that you’re an unmitigated asshole.
How’s that for a non-bullshit response?
Now that we’ve gotten that out of our systems, have a good day.
And by good day, I mean Fuck Off
Other stories that Hastings broke included one that took down the now-infamous General Stanley McChrystal after the journalist reported the top military official’s candid thoughts.
Hastings’s final story, “Why Democrats Love to Spy on Americans,” blasted the Obama regime as “North Korea-esque” for NSA spying. Hastings’s final words to America on June 7, 11 days before his death—were a threat to Big Brother: “Perhaps more information will soon be forthcoming.”
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the military have a long history of making critics of the establishment disappear. The CIA’s now declassified Assassination Manual reads: “For secret assassination . . . the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated.”
Ralph Forbes is a freelance writer based in Arkansas. He is also a member of AFP’s Southern Bureau. Contact him at [email protected].
