Award-winning journalist goes lacking right after FBI raids house

Brady Knox

October 19, 06:57 PM Oct 19, 06:57 PM

An award-profitable countrywide security producer has absent lacking after the FBI raided his property months in the past.

James Gordon Meek disappeared without the need of a trace back in April adhering to a mysterious, intensely-armed raid on his Washington, D.C., penthouse condominium, Rolling Stone described on Tuesday. The explanations for the raid and his disappearance, as properly as his latest whereabouts, show up to be totally not known by the general public.

“He fell off the facial area of the Earth,” a previous colleague instructed the information outlet. “And people today asked, but no one particular realized the respond to.”

Meek was a credentialed journalist for ABC News, obtaining received a number of awards for breaking various significant instances, including uncovering a United States military services go over-up of the deaths of 4 Unique Forces soldiers in Niger, which he manufactured into a documentary, 3212 Un-Redacted. He is also a previous senior counterterrorism adviser and investigator for the Home Homeland Security Committee and was doing the job on a reserve about the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan.

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The FBI raid on his condominium in April associated at the very least 10 "closely armed" brokers, occupying a number of unmarked autos, like an armored tactical automobile that an eyewitness reported could have conveniently been mistaken for a tank, the report mentioned, citing Meek’s neighbor John Antonelli. The total operation was believed to have taken all over 10 minutes.

Sources acquainted with the subject matter told Rolling Stone they were not aware if the FBI took Meek away throughout the raid or if he left on his own accord. However, he hasn't been witnessed considering the fact that. These resources also assert that the FBI uncovered labeled substance on his laptop computer.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Meek's law firm reported that Meek is "unaware" of allegations that he possesses classified files but that if he did, it would be properly within his scope as an investigative reporter. Whichever the scenario, he hasn't been billed with any criminal offense. The assertion produced no mention of Meek's whereabouts.

An FBI agent appeared to verify the raid to the information outlet, declaring brokers were being current on the early morning of April 27 “at the 2300 block of Columbia Pike, Arlington, Virginia, conducting court docket-authorized law-enforcement activity. The FBI are unable to remark further because of to an ongoing investigation.”

Meek's very last write-up from ABC, in accordance to his creator website page, is from April 14, about the trial of a single of the "ISIS Beatles." His previous submit on social media, responding to a tweet conversing about U.S. checking of Russian troop ways, was posted on Twitter at 4:59 a.m. on April 27. His neighbor and eyewitness to the raid explained that he noticed the unmarked law enforcement motor vehicles "just ahead of dawn," this means his previous write-up was just moments ahead of the raid and his disappearance.

Thanks to a lately handed law that bars legislation enforcement from seizing the records of journalists, the raid would have had to have been authorized by Deputy Legal professional Normal Lisa Monaco, for every the report. Observers consider that the raid on Meek might have been the 1st case of the Biden administration sending legislation enforcement from a journalist.

A spokesperson for ABC Information instructed the outlet that Meek abruptly resigned from his post again in April with no rationalization, in spite of owning a great deal of time still left on his agreement. Close to the very same time, he also canceled his other tasks, which include his ebook on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which he struck a deal for with Simon & Schuster.

Seemingly one of the only hints about Meek's disappearance arrives from the co-author of the Afghanistan withdrawal ebook, Lt. Col. Scott Mann.

“He contacted me in the spring, and was seriously distraught, and informed me that he had some really serious individual troubles going on and that he necessary to withdraw from the challenge,” Mann instructed Rolling Stone, relaying the last time he read from Meek. “As a man who’s a combat veteran who has witnessed that kind of pressure — I really don't know what it was — I honored it. And he went on his way, and I continued on the challenge.”