The FBI on Friday gave Judicial Watch a small portion of the 1,299 pages left by transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale, who killed six on March 27, 2023, with heavy redactions on portions of the killer’s full 2023 journal that was already published in full by The Tennessee Star last year.
The Star last September published about 90 pages that Hale wrote in her 2023 journal, which was recovered by law enforcement in her vehicle after the attack, alongside a spiral notebook that reportedly contained an operational plan for the attack. In 2023, conservative comedian and pundit Steven Crowder published two pages from the spiral notebook.
Despite Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirming earlier this month that Hale left 1,299 pages, the FBI provided Judicial Watch with just 112 pages of content written by the killer, or about 9 percent of the total documents.
Of these pages, all are heavily redacted, featuring black-and-white images that are sometimes of poor quality. About 60 were already made public by The Star last year, while several more pages appear to contain bank account balances and receipts, which Hale allegedly used to document and track her purchases of weapons and ammunition.
The remaining pages are heavily redacted, with entire entries rendered unreadable by the FBI’s actions, but appear to offer more insight into the killer’s final months prior to the attack, as well as her desire to kill her father, and her plans to attack various public places.
These pages were released to Judicial Watch as the lawsuit filed against the FBI by both Star News Digital Media Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, seeking to compel the agency to release all of Hale’s writings, remains unresolved.
Leahy and SNDM first sued in May 2023, after the FBI denied a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Star.
About one year ago, U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger sequestered the killer’s writings for an in-camera review, which typically precludes parties in a lawsuit from sharing specific materials with the public until the process is complete.
Trauger is still conducting this review, and was actively conducting it when the FBI conditionally released all 1,299 pages written by Hale to Megyn Kelly earlier this month. Kelly was allowed to analyze and describe the killer’s writings, but the FBI restricted her from outright publication.
Both Leahy and SNDM are additionally suing to compel the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the killer’s writings. Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled against Leahy and SNDM last year, leading to an appeal that Leahy stated he expects to win.
After The Star legally obtained the killer’s writings last year, when Myles was conducting her own in-camera review of the materials, she demanded Leahy appear in court to explain why he should not be held in contempt and jailed because of reporting by The Star. When it became clear Leahy legally obtained the killer’s writings, Myles changed the purpose of the hearing.
Leahy and SNDM had previously extended a settlement offer to resolve the federal lawsuit after FBI Director Kash Patel was nominated to lead the agency, as Patel had previously argued that it was his predecessor, former Director Christopher Wray, who stood in the way of the manifesto’s release.
Attorney Daniel Lennington at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty informed their counterparts at the Department of Justice, who are representing the FBI in the lawsuit, that the deal may be off the table after the agency conditionally released the documents to Kelly despite the ongoing litigation and in-camera review by Trauger.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Audrey Hale Notebook” by Judicial Watch.
What are they trying to hide? failure by Vandy? Failure by her private mental health folks? Failure of the police to follow up on an advanced indication of HER intent? I want to know the truth.