The law firm representing The Tennessee Star in its federal lawsuit demanding the FBI release the complete materials left by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on Monday contacted the FBI to request an immediate explanation for the agency’s reported decision to release 1,299 pages of the killer’s writings to independent journalist Megyn Kelly.
Kelly has reported that the FBI gave Hale’s written materials to her organization over the weekend, and in a Monday podcast shared details purportedly from the manifesto left by the killer, who killed six at a Christian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, that match Hale’s 2023 manifesto.
The Star legally obtained the killer’s 2023 journal in June 2024, and subsequently published in full last September.
In a Monday message to his counterpart at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is defending the FBI in the lawsuit filed in May 2023 by Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), the parent company of The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, attorney Dan Lennington of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty requested the agency explain its behavior.
“We filed a FOIA request and FBI denied the request. We then filed a lawsuit. We’ve been litigating for almost 2 years and spent a lot of money in this case. FBI’s official position is that the documents are so sensitive that they cannot comply with federal law and the documents must remain secret. Now FBI is releasing those same documents to the media, contrary to its positions in litigation,” wrote Lennington.
The attorney requested of the DOJ attorney, “Can you confirm whether this is correct?”
As FBI Director Kash Patel previously indicated he would release Hale’s writings, blaming his predecessor for the agency’s longstanding refusal to release them to The Star in a December 2023 interview, SNDM and Leahy earlier this year extended a settlement offer that would have seen the lawsuit dropped in exchange for Patel dropping his agency’s opposition to the release of Hale’s documents.
Lennington informed the DOJ on Monday that this settlement offer may now be off the table.
“If it is true, we may need to address this issue with the Court. It appears to be a significant abuse of this process. If true, we need to reconsider our settlement offer,” wrote Lennington. “Please confirm receipt of this email and provide an update as soon as possible.”
In response to a Monday press inquiry, the FBI referred The Star to the Department of Justice.
Kelly directs media inquiries to her company, Devil May Care Media, which did not respond to a Monday comment request from The Star prior to press time.
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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].
Photo “Kash Patel” by FBI.
Their once was a hit song that had the words “meet the new boss, same as the old boss”.
That is where the USA is now at.
I can’t wait to hear the canned response from the Federal Bureau of Incompetence.