Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy announced on Wednesday he and Star News Digital Media Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, will ask the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop its opposition to the release of the written documents left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale prior to her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of six.
Leahy announced the decision during the Wednesday broadcast of the Michael Patrick Leahy Show, when he explained The Star has “decided to turn our attention back to Freedom of Information Act, transparency requests that we’ve had going some time related to the Covenant killer manifesto,” in the wake of the 2024 elections.
“I’m going to break some news right now,” said Leahy before announcing, “I just spoke, literally just about half an hour ago, with our counsel at the Wisconsin Institute of Law and Liberty. We have agreed that we will be asking the Department of Justice, publicly, to remove their objections to releasing all the Covenant Killer documents.”
He confirmed, “There will be a formal request, probably before January 20.”
Both Leahy and SNDM are plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit which seeks to compel the FBI to release Hale’s handwritten documents. As a federal agency, the FBI is defended against the lawsuit by the Biden-Harris DOJ.
The lawsuit remains ongoing, as U.S. District Court Judge Aleta A. Trauger is examining Hale’s handwritten journals and documents after receiving them from the FBI for in-camera review in April.
Leahy pointed to the mandate that the voters had delivered to President-elect Donald Trump when he announced the request, telling his audience on the John Fredericks Radio Network, “There’s been a presidential election. Donald Trump has been elected president; there’s going to be a new Attorney General.”
He explained, “I think the new Attorney General, I think the new Department of Justice, I think they’re going to look very kindly on our request.”
Hours after Leahy revealed the request, President-elect Donald Trump announced his nomination of Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01) to serve as Attorney General of the United States in a post to Truth Social.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The Attorney General of the United States,” wrote Trump. The president-elect later added, “We must have Honesty, Integrity, and Transparency at DOJ. Under Matt’s leadership, all Americans will be proud of the Department of Justice once again.”
Leahy stated after Trump’s announcement, “With the nomination of Bannon-friendly Representative Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, the likelihood the request will be honored appears very high.”
Despite the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the FBI withholding dozens of journals and other documents written by Hale amid pending litigation, The Star obtained The Covenant Killer’s 2023 journal from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation in June.
Hale, who was born a biological woman but identified as a transgender man at the time of her attack, wrote extensively in her journal about her transgender ideology, obsession with former classmates, and plans to commit the shooting.
In total, The Star published about 50 articles revealing its contents before releasing the complete journal in September, when Leahy obtained legal representation for SNDM following the July 4 ruling by Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles that not one page of the journal would be released due to the copyright claims advanced by the Covenant Children’s Trust, which claims to own the rights to Hale’s works.
Myles additionally ruled that MNPD does not need to release investigation files related to Hale’s killings until after the case concludes. Police spokesman Don Aaron told The Star on Tuesday it is MNPD’s “goal” to complete the final, documentation phase of its investigation by January 1, 2025.
Both SNDM and another plaintiff confirmed their appeals of Myles’ decision earlier this year.
Watch Leahy’s announcement on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show:
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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 “DOJ Building” by Sebmol. CC BY-SA 3.0.
