Report: FBI Still Investigating Journalist Michael Hastings
Al Jazeera obtains declassified documents on deceased Rolling Stone journalist following FOIA lawsuit.
"The FBI documents also stated that in addition to Hastings' report, the agency also submitted one copy of a "blog entry relative to the aforementioned articles" and "one copy of Emails Express Discontent," which is an article about Bergdahl published on June 7, 2012 by the Associated Press that was based on Hastings' Rolling Stone report.
The "blog entry," however, appeared to be lifted from the comments section of the Idaho Statesman newspaper. The comment was apparently written by Gary Farwell, the father of Matthew Farwell, who contributed reporting to the Rolling Stone story and is identified at the bottom of the story as "a former soldier who deployed to Afghanistan."
The undated comment says, in part: "My son, Matthew, had gathered information for three years and did the reporting on the RS story. He introduced Michael Hastings to the Bergdahl’s and they interviewed the family several months ago."
Gary Farwell was unavailable for comment and Matthew Farwell declined to comment. Will Dana, the managing editor of Rolling Stone, told Al Jazeera that he is "concerned" about the FBI documents and said he was unsure why this report by Hastings sparked the FBI’s interest."
Within days after Hasting's death in a fiery car accident, an FBI spokeswoman issued a public statement denying he was under investigation, "At no time was Michael Hastings under investigation by the FBI."
The spokeswoman's comments followed an email Hastings sent to colleagues the day before he died that read: "The Feds are interviewing my close friends and associates." However, that email was referring to the "NSA," according to the subject line.
Hastings, who wrote for BuzzFeed and Rolling Stone, famously brought down U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal in a 2010 Rolling Stone cover story. He was most recently covering Edward Snowden's leak of the NSA's classified domestic monitoring program.
Leopold notes that FBI bureau spokeswoman Laura Eimiller -- who had previously said that Hastings was not under investigation -- told Al Jazeera she still stands by her original comment. "Being referenced in an FBI file does not make one the subject of an FBI investigation," she added, referring to the pages the agency released Monday.
You can view the 3-page FBI report on Michael Hastings online here.