Is it possible that the government had something to do with Michael Hastings‘ death?
The celebrated journalist died in a car crash in Hollywood this week at the age of 33. Police reported on Thursday that there wasn’t any sign of foul play.
The Los Angeles coroner’s office said Thursday that it has formally identified the late journalist Michael Hastings as the victim in a fiery car crash that took place on Tuesday.
It had been widely presumed that the body that had been found in the fatal accident in the city’s Hancock Park district was that of Hastings, who died at 33. Though reports said that the body had been burned beyond recognition, the Associated Press said that the coroner had matched his fingerprints to prints that the FBI had on file.
The wreck stirred unsubstantiated conspiracy theories on the Internet, suggesting he was the victim of government efforts to silence the reporter.
The theories transpired because of Mr. Hastings’ 2010 article that led to the resignation of a top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan.
The online rumors were stoked by a Twitter posting from the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks on Wednesday, saying Hastings had contacted a WikiLeaks attorney “just a few hours before he died, saying that the FBI was investigating him.”
Speaking to New York’s Joe Coscarelli, Buzzfeed editor Ben Smith, who was Hastings’ boss in the last year of his life, acknowledged that Hastings had been telling his friends the same story.
“Before his death, Michael told a number of his friends and colleagues that he was concerned that he was under investigation,” Smith said.
Source: Huffington Post
